Circle Labs A200 Integrated amplifier review - It will appeal to both tube and SS lovers……
Oh my you have gone all out on those cables! I bet your system sounds so wonderful. Congrats! Your Circle Labs separates are very special indeed. I love the Horning Aristotle speakers as I have listened to them several times at Colin’s place. They are so dynamic and effortless sounding. Very fast and musical at the same time. Yes, I think about those Horning speakers too much 🙂.
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Wow! That is some great new gear you have! That Circle Labs preamp is said to be very pure and imparts no personality of its own on the music. This is a good thing! I love my Mojo Audio Evo dac. Did I say I love your system?! My A200 is just a joy to listen to day in and out. Happy for you. Bill |
Colin answered your questions and I will only add this. All tubes, both preamp and power tubes, must be biased. If they are not, then they will burn up! The method used by Circle Labs is quite ingenious. Being a geeky tweaker I have done a little fooling around with gear. I am a DIY novice at best! The battery is used to supply the needed voltage to the grid of the tube to maintain proper bias. The bias is fixed in that you don’t have to adjust or mess with it in any way. The battery is only supplying low, low voltage and no current so it will last years. This ingenious circuit helps keep parts count to a minimum. This is a very good thing as it helps simplify the circuit, reduce parts count and maintains a short signal path. All this equals better sound when executed well as Circle Labs has done. As Colin stated, you don’t often see this method of biasing.
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Thanks @facten Yes, I should probably clarify that statement. I was really referring to designing gear. I am good with a soldering iron, understanding parts and how they sound, and know how to build very good sounding cables for reasonable money. However, I am not a designer! The preamps I have built from scratch used a 6sn7 circuit I learned from a talented designer with my separate learnings on how to built robust power supplies. Fun for me. I like upgrading gear with parts I know will deliver the sound one is looking for. Kind of like tube and fuse rolling…kind of 😊. |
Regarding the output stage, in keeping with the desire to use as few parts/devices as possible the A200 uses just one pair of high current BJT’s. (bipolar junction transistor). The high current steering control stage does work in single ended class A. A look inside the amp clearly shows exceptional build quality and a well thought out layout. You can read more about the innovation in the preamp section which essentially uses just one tube, a polarizing long life battery, one resistor and a high quality copper foil cap. Innovative design with short signal paths and few parts. I am sure this helps deliver that purity of tone and sound. |
@hilde45, Yes, Colin is a small one man operation. As you can see he carries some highly respected brands such as daRTzeel, Tron, Lamm and Cessaro Horn speakers. These highly respected outfits decided Colin was a person they trusted. His site is very simple and at this point just serves to let interested audiophiles know the facts. You know, the lines he carries and how to get in touch with him. I am sure it will evolve as his business does. Always good for him to see feedback like yours here. I was able to demo the A200 in my home system which is ideal. |
Here is a good article on damping factor. Damping factor can impact the control an amplifier has on the woofers. Higher damping is said to better control the bass giving it more articulation and tightness. Folks argue this from many different perspectives like most things in audio. Do a quick search and you will quickly see all manner of opinions. All I can tell you is the bass performance I am experiencing is simply stellar. My speakers have two 6.5 woofers per unit and are 5 ohm nominal. Bass is fulsome, tight and very articulate at the same time. I would say it is the best bass I have heard from my speakers surpassing amps like the Clayton S50 and Coda #8. All the reviews I have read also state bass performance is first rate. What I really enjoy is how full and meaty the bass is without sacrificing articulation. This is a hard combo to get right in my experience. Some SS amps are over-damped sounding causing the bass to sound thin. The A200 does not suffer from this in the least. https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/audio-myth-damping-factor-isnt-much-of-a-factor |
If your particular source is built from the ground up to sound best using the balanced outputs, then I suppose it’s possible a little SQ is lost when not using a truly balanced integrated amp. This is the only scenario this would ever come into play and the degree of it would depend on the particular source used. |
@audioman58 I respect Coda. Great gear. Owned the #8 amplifier and 07x preamp in the exact same system as the A200. I happen to enjoy the sound of the A200 more for the reasons shared in my review. The A200 is simply an option for those looking for the sonic strengths I outlined and differs pretty substantially from the Coda gear strengths. |
I should mention my speakers are 5 ohm and 89db efficient. My room is large being 24 feet wide by 32 feet deep with 10 foot ceilings. The A200 drives the speaker and room to listening levels beyond most any audiophile needs. As I have mentioned, I really enjoy hearing the musical nuance and details at lower listening levels with the A200. |
My experience could not be more different than yours. Have you really heard the A200 in your very own system for some days? It is not warm sounding and I find it more resolving and open than Coda. The Coda #8 sounded much more SS like in its presentation than the A200. Some may or may not like this as much. Sorry, but your post does not seem to reflect any real experience with this amp in your very own system. If you have spent quality time with the A200 in your own system, then we just hear differently and have different sonic priorities which is entirely possible. Regarding the power supply. The A200 has 200,000uf of capacitance which is more than double the Coda. It has a large toroidal tranny for EACH channel and does not share one like Coda. The A200 is a true dual mono design. The A200 even has a separate tranny for the preamp (3 trannys inside) with the preamp using a separate all film cap power supply. For its power output I can confidently say it is equally robust to Coda and I am being modest here. These two pieces are very, very different sounding and it will come down to one’s sonic priorities. The A200 is about tone, nuance and purity of sound. They are vastly different designs with a different end customer in mind. |
This has me thinking more about my time with the A200. It is not the sort of amp that wows the listener in the first minutes of listening with sonic feats of strength. Some amps will do this initially, but over time other imperfections begin to reveal themselves. With the A200 I find myself listening to more music than ever before. I am also listening to new artists and engaging in music more as a whole. I find this aspect of having more fun with music an interesting outcome of owning the A200. I find myself growing more fond of the amp with each passing week. So the A200 is all about a longer term relationship as opposed to a one night fling 🙂. |
Wanted to update folks on a new power cord I purchased based on it’s wonderful synergy with the Circle Labs A200. The Hijiri Nagomi power cord. Colin of Gestalt Audio Design is the importer/dealer for these cords. I tested many power cords both from Colin and other sources ranging in price from $400 - $4000. In the end, the Nagomi was magic on the A200. Great depth of soundstage and natural tone that drew me in even deeper. There are some reviews online as I understand many of us may have never heard of this Japanese brand. |
By new I meant a unit with some hours on it vs none. Both the Harbeth and Audiokinesis are great sounding speakers! I will need to read up on those Fink Team Kim. Not familiar with them. I think after a week of play time the A200 will reflect a great big dose of its fully broken in sound. I will let Colin chime in on his experience. My guess is the design principles behind the A200 of minimal parts necessary and short signal paths will shorten the time needed for burn in. |
I have owned many hybrid amps over the years. Monarchy Audio made some fine ones, Aesthetix Atlas, several from Blue Circle Audio, Butler Audio and another one that I can’t seem to remember. All were smooth and had a touch that tube sound we like. As Gestalt Audio stated, the A200 is a different animal. It has the immediacy, transparency and a nice portion of that magical realism found in some SET tube amplifiers. It does not sound like a typical high wattage SS or hybrid amp. I think you will love the tone and musical perspective of this amplifier! |
I had owned the Dali Epicon speakers for 5 years and we enjoyed them very much. I drove them with three different amplifiers. The Coda #8 which is a near 400 watt powerhouse, Clayton Audio S50 highly upgraded and the Circle Labs A200. I found the Dali speakers a pretty easy load in general. My room is very large 34x26 with 10 foot ceilings. Tbe A200 drove the Epicon 6s with absolute ease. Remember the A200 doubles to 200 watts of power into 4 ohms. Plenty of reserve headroom with the A200. The A200 was also the most enjoyable amp sonically. I wanted a larger speaker with more of the dynamics and purity of tone of the best horn designs. While the Dali speakers had great leading edge detail I was ready for more. The Fyne 704s were perfect and while the specs say they 96db efficient, I found they needed the power of the A200 to really get the most out of this speaker. |
Happy for you @sense63 ! Nice speakers also. How long have you had the A200 and what did you own before if I may ask?
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@hchilcoat Wild Oak looks great! It was my wife’s and my favorite finish in the current offerings. |
Hi @ps I would reach out to Colin of Gestalt Audio Design in Nashville. He is the A200 importer/dealer. He also sells/sold Luxman so he could help you better understand the A200 sound vs your Luxman. I love my A200 on my Fyne F704 speakers as well as my previous Dali Epicon 6s. |
