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In Reply to: So, you are telling me that Panny, Sony, etc. (digital amps) are better than Rowland, Pass, ML, etc.? posted by Gateway on August 21, 2004 at 15:30:34:
I will be trying the $99 Teac A-L700P amplifier, which is a Tripath unit. I don't know if it's in the same league as a Panasonic SA-XR50, but if one wants to fork out the least green to try a digital amp, this is the way to go.I just want to get an idea if there's potential in the technology. I did listen to a Spectron and TACT amp about five years ago. I was not impressed at all with the Spectron, but the TACT had a beguiling "tube-like" character. But I thought it was overly "dark" sounding.
I will do a comparison to the $200 Samson Servo 260, my current "budget" reference. Likely in the "B" system, with the efficient Athena AS-F2 speakers. The Samson made me sell my Marsh A200S amplifier, to give you an idea of the performance level I'm dealing with here.
Follow Ups:
I got the TEAC several months ago and have ran it over 300 hours. Playing just stock, was disappointing. It never really began to show any real promise, with thin bass and only decent mids and mediocre highs. It only sounded okay, but not great. I understand that the digital amps can take forever to break in, but I just kinda gave up and ordered a JVC RX-F10. Outa the box, it sounded damn good. Way better than the TEAC, and seems to be steadily improving.There's something about the JVC's sound that is appealing, smooth, rich and deep. The highs are still a bit forward and slightly harsh, but I've only got 50 hours on it. I'm delighted at this point. I do wonder about this digital sound. Its wonderful, but its different...it doesn't sound "organic" to me, but it has some sort of clear 'hyper-reality' to it. I do think its really really good. If money were no object, perhaps I would get an expensive tube set-up, but listening to it is quite pleasurable, and I couldn't justify an extra $2-3000 to refine the sound another 5%. But that's just me and my situation right now.
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