I bought the demo M2-600M monoblocks from D-Sonic. I have been listening to them for 4 days now and they already far exceed my expectations. I am still juggling around power cords and screwing around with component placement now that these tiny boxes freed up a huge chunk of turf behind my speakers. I'm using these in a music only system that has recently suffered a catastrophic OTL amplifier failure. I can't afford to fix the amps and am hoping (like a QB throwing a Hail Mary at the last second) these new-fangled class D amps may offer at least some of the magic I used to have.
Due to all the setup issues I still need to plod through until I know I have done my best to hear them at their best, I can't honestly compare them meaningfully to a pair of amps I have had for nearly 25 years the cost then 4x as much as these. At this early stage, I will say that I already know there is a lot of magic in these things and I suspect that I haven't heard them at their best yet. I believe that they may be the most transparent and revealing amps I have ever heard and that they will be ruthless about reproducing everything good or bad in from of them in the chain. I suspect they may get me closer to the correct VTA & azimuth settings. Very musical, bass power and articulation that just don't quit, gorgeous reproduction of strings and horns, All are right up there, but they are not tube amps. After the first two nights with them, I realized that part of the "tubiness" I was missing had nothing to do with the sound of the amps or even with the sense of hearing at all. I Missed the heat and the orange glow - sight and touch senses. I rectified that with a couple of candles and turning up the room temp a couple of degrees. I think I will suggest to Dennis to throw a few lumps of charcoal and some candles in the box whenever he is shipping an amp to someone who whines about it not having tubes.
If you guys want, I can come back with more observations about the amps as they get settled in. I am really excited about these amps filling some really big shoes in my system. |
There is no way for me to know how far along they are in the burn-in process because they were demos and not absolutely brand new. Mr. Deacon had loaned them out to someone for a short while. I would like to put at least 250 more hours on them before doing too much critical listening, but it's hard to resist the urges to pop up and fix something I know is wrong. Last night I listened to a Japanese reissue of Jon Faddis' 1976 "Youngblood" album where he works out with Dizzy's rhythm section. At the very end of Gershwin's Prelude # 2 there is a massive crescendo. While Jon is blowing away like the angel Gabriel, Micky Roker ends the piece with massive cymbal crashes whose transients sound all crumpled up in the in the mix with the horn. The last 5 seconds of the tune almost set me to packing up the amps for an airplane ride back to Texas. I went at it again today and figured out that my VTA was set imperfectly even though I thought I had nailed it months ago. I dialed it in again after a few hours of really hard work listening to more records and all is fine again. It seems to me that these amps are so revealing and play so cleanly at high volumes that very small changes in tonearm/cartridge geometry are easily heard. Obviously, these amps are not a drop-in replacement in my system and will require a lot of TLC to sound their best. |
Further adventures with D-Sonic m2 600m monos. Sorry about the long gap since I last posted about my efforts to fit these in as replacements for a well-loved pair of Atma-Sphere 100w otl's that had recently passed away after more than 20 glorious years of service. They had been purchased back when I had more money than time, but retirement has reversed that balance and I needed to find a new pair of monos that could fill their shoes in the system that had grown up around the OTLs. The remaining system reflects my priorities in balancing vinyl vs CD/SACD; MSRP for the vinyl side including cables, tweaks, stands is approximately $25k while the silver discs are handled nicely by an OPPO 95 with about $1k of accessories. Speakers are a near-mint pair of Sell B-Type 5-sided columns that are capable of playing magnificent bass into the very low 20's and do everything else quite nicely as well.
When last I posted, I had finally gotten the new amps burned in for several hundred hours when someone on this board suggested that they may need more than 1000. Not wanting to shortchange any readers out there, I chose not to post until they had been fully broken in, but I started critical listening sessions after about 300. There, the adventure really began. By the 300 hour mark, the amps sounded good enough to make me sit up and take notice that they were no joke despite their comically tiny size. They were entirely uncolored but the thing that really clamored for attention was how much more detailed they presented harmonics and how visceral the soundstage had become. It is this incredible ability to portray even the subtlest whispers of detail over the rest of the music playing (or mixed) that defines one of many areas where these amps excell. But, as any 'phile who has achieved this kind of transpanency knows, accurate, high-resolution reproduction is a 2-edged sword that reveals other problems previously masked. Thus began my series of adventures with these amps.
Installing these amps caused me to take a good hard look at all aspects of my system from set-up to VTA/SRA setup, and I had to rethink much of what i had previously believed about audio. They are so transparent that I could easily hear differences in VTA height, allowed by the JMW micrometer's smooth on-the-fly adjustments. I eventually began to measure the thickness of records before cleaning & playing, and I set the VTA mathematically for each. Later, while screwing around with some leftover brass footers and some isoblocks and oak shelves, I jury-rigged a pair of isolation platforms that really made the amps sing. The improvement was so stunning that I spent the next 4 months installing legitimate maple isolation platforms under every single component and power supply box. The amps now stand on 3 large brass footers to a 2" by 15" round maple platform that sits on 4 Mapleshade iso-blocks which sit on an 18" x .75" granite table mounted on a delightful faux French Provincial 12" fluted column that is now spiked through the carpet to the floor. There are 10 platforms in all, the prize being a 21"x27"x4" monster for the VPI SSM. These amps really respond well to vibration control and good cables. This fact was only briefly mentioned in passing in the 6Mooons review where his were set up on what turned out to be a $1k set of footers on Lord knows what kind of platforms. I ended up using a pair of PS Audio power cords that retailed for $1800 each, and a bi-wire set of silver ribbon speaker cables that cost well over the cost of the cables. Additional gains were had by experimenting with physically isolating different components and power supplies as far away from the amps as practical, and by severely reforming my cable-dressing practices.
In all, I have implemented more than 50 changes to my system set-up and usage procedures as I continue to try to maximize the joy and bliss that music coming from this rig brings. I would not have gone down this path had the D-Sonic amps so honestly pointed the way. I cannot hope to cover all in just one posting, but I am willing to focus on different aspects in further postings if anyone is still interested.
Apologies again for the long delay between postings. Please do not reply telling me that all the changes I made sounds like 50 excuses, I already know that. The real reason I have stayed away is that I would rather listen to the system than think about equipment. I can break out laughing or crying or get up and dance to some of my favorite records now. Sometimes I can't believe that my system sounds this good. For all the number freaks out there, the only scale I can think of that makes any sense to me is that my system sounds at least 2 or 3 times as good as I had ever imagined it could in my wildest dreams. |
Guido, I find my self still unable to answer both questions due to the many significant changes I made to my system due to the installation of these superb little amps. I also reversed my own thinking on the priority and value of a serious, planned, methodological approach to EMI/RF control that was triggered by a surprisingly large and unexpected improvement while engaged in an experiment I had devised to prove to myself that isolation platforms were bunk. I had bought the footers for my TV system's main speakers. I had been intrigued mostly by the beauty of Maple platforms, but figured I had the rack & support concerns covered. Going from such a beginning to giving each box its own 2-4" maple platform complete with decoupling (isoblocks) under each and with coupling provided by Herbie's balls, Mapleshade micro-points and a few exotic material cones made for such a huge improvement in so many ways that I could no longer assign credit or blame to any other components, especially my previous amps that, probably too, would have sounded better in a more mature system.
Further clouding the issue of break-in improvement was my discovery of the value of VTA setting for each album, which I had never quite heard in any previous configuration, even when on-the-fly setting was supported by the arm. Before these amps, I was certain that visually leveling the arm/cart was good enough. Don't worry, be happy. With these amps, I can dial in the perfect height in about 3 or 4 trials while playing many kinds of music. Besides spotlighting the VTA settings, it also makes other arm geometry adjustments results more audible as well, much to the further evolution of my system during the first 1000 hours on the amps. It seems to me that there is some controversy about the value and procedures to set anti-skate or whether to even try on VPI arms. Since I had started to trust my own ears instead of solely on others' experiences, I decided to test it by deactivating it on my JMW by flipping up the little weight bar. After some hours of listening, I forgot about the rarely considered non-sonic benefit of anti-skate control - namely control of wide ranging stylus movement during high-level play of seriously wide bass grooves near the center of the record. I was rudely reminded of this property when I lost all self-control and juiced the volume much higher than I usually listen while playing Telarc's 1812 Overture. So began the separation of voice-coil from cone on one of my vintage Snell's 20 woofers. It took about 6 weeks to locate a sonically identical new pair that had a slightly larger frame diameter, requiring a trip to the speaker shop to have the existing holes counterbored 1/8" larger. While in the shop, they were given a checkup that discovered some separation of diaphragm from surrounds on my midranges. These were disassembled and reglued for all 4 drivers. While it was in the shop, Music Direct offered a few sets of Cardas Patented Binding post demos for half price, so I had them installed. While setting up the speakers again, I accidentally ripped the WBT plug from an early set of Siltech gold and silver interconnects I had been using between the TT and phono stage. The guys at the speaker shop seemed talented enough to trust with a repair, so I sent away for a cryo version of the Xhadow all silver ends and had those installed.
As if these weren't enough confounding variables to confuse any attempt at preserving the old setup for comparison, I also discovered the benefits of anti-static treatment after deciding to challenge Pierre's claims that mapleshde's $40 brush was really better than anything else on the market. It is so fine and versatile that I even use it on the stylus for every side I play - not just the records. When used in conjunction with a record vacuum, the improvement to the low-level retrieval is almost like replacing old records with brand new. while it might seem like a good thing to have all your records sound nearly new after even 50 years, all comparisons die when considering that every record was seriously degraded while listening to both the tube amps and the less broken-in D-Sonics.
The best I can do offer now is that by 300 hours, the amps had broken in enough to be taken seriously as indicators of overall system strengths and weaknesses. By the time several of these weaknesses had been addressed, they fit in very well and do just about everything extremely well. I concentrated on highlighting the effects their high transparency and ease have had on showing me important defects in my system and processes, but this is only one characteristic of this amp that exceeds expectations. This is not a one trick pony. I expect to add a posting or two to describe their musicality, bass quality, and soundstage characteristics as well as a few comparisons of how the system itself sounds when switching them off to listen to headphones when played through an Eddie Current triode amp with LCD-s phones. If i can find a way to repair the Atma-Spheres for less that their resale value (currently around $3k), I will probably do a comparison then, but I suspect that I would probably opt to keep the D-Sonics and sell the OTLs. |
I was shocked to learn this weekend that the M2-600Ms do not have the same Pascal technology that I had thought I bought based on the pictures in the 6 Moons review of their big brother. When I talked to Dennis before purchase, he did not mention that they were from different designs. Had I known these use Abletec cores, I probably would not have bought them at all, such is the power of reviews. Fortunately for me, the amps that I have in my house in my system have raised the musical performance bar so high that I can't even get mad. Seriously, I feel thankful and even a bit lucky that I have procrastinated so long in removing the covers to peek inside until today. Had I opened them in January when they arrived, I would have seen the mismatch to the photos and the only thing I would be able to write about firsthand would be to describe how well Dennis Deacon's 30 day return period was honored and the maturing of my system and management procedures probably never would have taken place. Damn me for a heretic in these pages if you must, but I am starting to think that the music they make is more important than who designed the cores. |
Styxtrekr, This is probably more detail than you asked for, but am convinced that environment is at least as important as inheritance in audio systems, and that other readers may want more depth. I am using a Classe DR-6 as a linestage. It runs to the amps in balanced mode currently through StarSound's Sonoran Plateau interconnects. The phono stage is a lozenge-shaped tube unit from a small US company called Thor and runs single-ended through Siltech cables that have been upgraded with Xhadow connectors. Both preamps take PS Audio regenerated power from Synergistics Tesla-treated power cords. The Classe is on full-time but tube-life concerns require the Thor is switched off until needed. Both use AMR Gold fuses.
Support for the components is as follows:
1. The Thor with its separate round power supply gave me fits when first installing the D-Sonics. I had been using Audio Advisors' Spiked, 3 shelf MDF and steel tube Euro racks behind each speaker with the amp on top, Thor in the middle with its power supply on the bottom on one side. The other amp rack held the Classe power supply on the bottom shelf. The middle shelf was empty. All footers were factory stock rubber feet except the main body Thor that had factory-installed Star Points brass cones. This arrangement had served me well for more than 10 years with various lesser cable combinations and 3 different turntables without any noise problems. Inserting the D-Sonics into the same vertical stack as the Thor and its power supply resulted in low-level broadcast of professional baseball games through the speaker on the side nearest the Thor. Moving it to the other channel resulted in the broadcast moving to that side. Sorting this mess out caused me to do some serious research on RF interference, but easily cured by physical placement. I tossed the racks and drafted a pair of knee-high granite end-tables into service for the amps and a beefy rock-maple 3-leg round stool about 6" taller than the end-tables allowed me enough space to separate it from the amp until the ball-game went away. Today, the stool and granite tables have been modified with Herbie's dots and all legs have been threaded to hold stainless steel carpet piercing spikes. While the top of the stool is solid maple and could serve well as a vibration sink, the Thor seemed over-sensitive to RF interference, so I ordered a custom 18" x 4" round maple platform and mapleshade isoblocks. I removed the brass points from the Thor and installed them on its power supply, which now resides on its own 15" x 2" maple platform on a built-in hutch two feet behind and four feet away from the nearest amp. The Thor currently sits on Eden Sound TerraStone footers.
2. The classe is on the center shelf of an early VPI TNT stand. Like all things VPI, it is massive and rigid 4" steel tube legs welded together with steel bars that double as shelves. each leg holds up 25 pounds of lead shot and sand. The bottom of each leg is a welded steel plate threaded for footers. The main rack, fully loaded, probably weighs more than 350 pounds. I am currently using Mapleshade threaded carpet-piercing brass footers. The bottom shelf now supports a PS Audio PPP on its own 18" x 20" x 4" maple platform. The Classe is relatively tall as preamps go, limiting me to only a 2" tall plaform without interfering with the controls. Both Classe and PPP are on Herbie's roller and cup footers. The stand came originally with a beautiful black acrylic top sized for a TNT. At 27" x 21" x 1", it seemed a bit rubbery under the more massive SSM that I have now, so I replaced that with a 4" maple platform of the same dimensions. The original top was threaded for pointed set-screws to couple it to each leg in the base. I judged this to be a point where the platform should be decoupled from the base, so I put the new one on four heavy-duty Mapleshade blocks.
3. I installed Adonis threaded brass points into the old top shelf to spike it to the floor through the carpet and it now supports a pair of 18 x 12 x 3" maple platforms so the Classe power supply and the VPI SDS can have their own isolation platforms, complete with brass footers and isoblocks. The shelf also supports a rock maple vanity seat decoupled by Herbie's Dots. This gives a good foundation to another 20" x 16" x 3" maple platform for the CD player.
4. Future plans include floor jacks in the basement under the main rack and I think I want to buy Revelation Audio silver umbilical cords on both preamps. |
I have been meaning to put up another chapter in my continuing evaluation of the M2-600 D-Sonic mono amps I put into play back in January. While originally a long-shot purchase after the sudden death of a well-loved pair of Atma-Sphere early 90's vinage OTLs. While I wish I could have finished by now, the project has encountered so many issues that I have not been able to keep the rest of my system stable long enough for any kind of meaningful comparison.
To date, I have written several installments concerning changes I have had to make to either my system or record-playing pre-processes in order to get the best out of them. Many of these changes were made in response to the amps' extreme accuracy and transparency spotlighting upstream conditions that had previously been below my threshold of tolerance, if not notice with the other amps. I have not yet begun to describe how they really sound with different musical selections. Nor have I addressed sound-staging or imaging abilities except for early impressions. Neither timbre nor frequency fidelity and extention have been reported yet. I still don't know if I will keep them, but now that I have stopped making changes to my system, I can soon decide.
I would like to continue to add to his thread but I am concerned I, too, may be attacked for the length of my posts. I know that I do tend to go on at times, but I am not so skilled a writer in the ways of imparting a lot of information with few enough words to satisfy certain other conributors' need for brevity.
Perhaps those who are made offended, angered, disgusted, sickened, challenged, or scared by longer postings could just look away or click 'back' on their browsers when they see so much text. But, please don't start attacking others. I really appreciate the time and effort Guido makes when trying to describe the indescribable to the rest of us. I have not found a dealer I can trust since Salon I Audio closed ten years ago. I was spoiled rotten by the owner for so long I never cared to do much of my own research before buying any equipment. Now, all I have is the internet, and I have sometimes spent hundreds of hours reading about components before purchase. I don't recall too making many bad decisions in life based on too much information.
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njs, how are you supporting your new amp? I discovered a few months after buying my M2-600 monos that they really respond well to fundamental audiophile setup tweaks more so than any other components I have heard to date. I currently have mine on 3-level isolation platforms with coupling brass footers between the amps and a maple platform supported on decoupling blocks (Mapleshade blocks work best). Also, the amps are very sensitive to emi/rf interference but only when placed too near other emi-sensitive equipment such as power supplies for my preamps. They also seem to really like good ICs and PCs. |
Now that i am approaching a full year with these amps, I have to say that they are extremely responsive to improvements in their own setup as well as upstream in the system. I thought they were really good when I first got them, but they continue to surprise and delight as i have made more than 60 changes to my gear since, mostly in component support. Mine are currently powered by Synergistics Research X2 active master couplers. I get the best results to date using a highly shielded balanced Sonoma Plateau copper cable for the signal. output is through a 4' biwire set of Poeima ii silver ribbons. I have upgraded the connectors on my speakers to cardas CPBP posts that I want to also install on the amps. My amps sit on a pair of round-top granite end tables that I modified with carpet spikes and damping material. Each amp sits on Eden Sound triceratops bear paw brass footers resting on a 15"x2" round maple platform. These are decoupled from the granite top with Maplesade isolation blocks. The amps way only 10# each, with the combined weight of each table/platform/footers is about 35#. It took a lot of listening and experimentation to arrive at the current configuration, but the amps are so revealing that the effort was not overly frustrating. |
Tan, good luck with your new amps. I have had my M2-600 pair for a year and a half and I have not yet finished digging all the best sound possible from my system since they replaced an aging pair of Atma-Spheres that died together when an errant power regenerator went crazy. As I have written earlier in this thread, the break-in period is quite lengthy, although the amps show signs of excellence along the way. They are very revealing of problems with component and EMI/RF interference, cartridge setup, cabling, poor recordings, room tuning, etc. and drove me to make more than fifty significant changes in my system since new. They really came into their own when I discovered how much they like heavy brass footers and maple platforms. Most recently, I acquired a used W4S STP preamp and I am astonished at the synergy between them. I currently have my amps plugged directly into their own dedicated Maestro outlets through HCF Top Gun PCs and connected to the STP through heavily shielded Sonoran Plateau balanced interconnects. The STP is powered from a PS Audio Premier using a PS Audio SC Premier cord. All components use Eden Sound Bear Paws or Terra Stones on individual maple platforms suspended on iso-blocks. Care may need to be taken in physical placement of the amps as proximity to some components may result in stray radio programs mucking up the noise floor (a Thor phono stage needed to be relocated in my system).
It seems to me that the more I do elsewhere in my system has caused the D-Sonics to continue to rise to the challenge of making better sounding music. After this much time, The only bone I have to pick with the amps is that they made me work too hard on bringing the rest of my system up to minimum audiophile standards in order to get the best from them. |
