All specs aside, good or bad, it's the appearance that kills it for me. Why make the gear look like some off brand X-Box controller, of a non-standard chassis size? Even if they were the greatest thing on the planet, I couldn't do it.
Does Anyone Know Much About Chord Electronics Amplifiers?
As much as I know, reading the specs, looking at different models, monoblocks, integrated stereo amps, etc., it seems that all of these models until the recent Etude, is the same topology, the same guts, power supply, and measurements, going back to 20 years, the only difference seems to be the boxes and varying watts they put their tech into.
Could this be right? Maybe some Chord experts could assist.
Here's an example:
Let's say you have an old pair of CHORD SPA 612 Monoblocks - rackmounted model
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: –1dB, 0.2Hz to 44KHz. –3dB, 0.1Hz to 77KHz.
SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO: BETTER THAN –103dB. ‘A’ WEIGHTED TWO-THIRDS POWER.
HARMONIC DISTORTION (THD+N) BETTER THAN –75dB
CHANNEL SEPARATION: -95dB
Now the new Ultra Series Monoblocks
Frequency Response:
-1dB @ 0.2Hz to 46kHz and -3dB 0.1Hz to 200kHz
Signal to Noise Ratio:
Better than -84dB
Channel Separation:
Better than 90dB
It doesn't even give the THD+N for the new one. It seems pretty comparable across the board, with the older model having slightly better signal to noise, and slightly better channel separation, yeah?
As far as the frequency response, gee, what does 77kHz vs. 200Khz even matter to the human ear?
It makes me wonder if Chord has been just repackaging the same tech, which would be good for finding deal on older amps, without being hit hard by the price of a new amp.
Could this be right? Maybe some Chord experts could assist.
Here's an example:
Let's say you have an old pair of CHORD SPA 612 Monoblocks - rackmounted model
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: –1dB, 0.2Hz to 44KHz. –3dB, 0.1Hz to 77KHz.
SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO: BETTER THAN –103dB. ‘A’ WEIGHTED TWO-THIRDS POWER.
HARMONIC DISTORTION (THD+N) BETTER THAN –75dB
CHANNEL SEPARATION: -95dB
Now the new Ultra Series Monoblocks
Frequency Response:
-1dB @ 0.2Hz to 46kHz and -3dB 0.1Hz to 200kHz
Signal to Noise Ratio:
Better than -84dB
Channel Separation:
Better than 90dB
It doesn't even give the THD+N for the new one. It seems pretty comparable across the board, with the older model having slightly better signal to noise, and slightly better channel separation, yeah?
As far as the frequency response, gee, what does 77kHz vs. 200Khz even matter to the human ear?
It makes me wonder if Chord has been just repackaging the same tech, which would be good for finding deal on older amps, without being hit hard by the price of a new amp.