Ice h2O S250 digital amp vs Levinson 333.5


Does anyone have direct experience with the Ice h20 S250 amp as compared to the Levinson dual mono 333.5 solid state amp. I have read lots of threads.

I would like to hear from an experienced audiophile who has properly broken in the S250, uses high end components and cabels, and loves "Real Jazz." (not smooth)

I love all the required attributes including depth.

Thanks
levchappy

Showing 2 responses by muralman1

If you do decide to go with any ICE amp, you will have to adopt a different cabling, sources and preamp strategy. So, it is more expensive than if you go with class AB, which the Pass 300.5 is.

I heard the Pass XA 100, and 300.5 on my speakers and they give a good sound, but don't at all challenge what I have here with ICE amps. Concerning ICE ampsvinyl, surface noise is amplified just like any other noisy component, like most preamps, sources and cables.

One more thing. A fellow in the recording industry, who had re-ribboned Duettas loved the ICE amp used with no preamp. He used an expensive CD player. In fact, it was a very evolved system He has moved to horns since, adopting SET amps for that purpose, as the ICE amp was too powerful for horns.
If you would like to write to the recording fellow I spoke about, he goes under the acronym chadeffect here:

http://forums.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vaslt&1199909346

He can tell you how he did it. I use the H2O Fire preamp. It is expertly matched to the H2O amp. The rest to a spectacular sound is easy.