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In search of the right SS integrated amp

My audiophile friend Greg brought over new Accuphase pre and power amps, successfully demonstrated that my GamuT D3 / D200 Mark III (which have served well) are no longer state of the art. But in my high-rise apartment I’m spatially challenged; what I’d really like is a top quality integrated, 2 channel, solid state (tubes/valves are intimidating), with at least 2 pairs balanced (XLR) inputs (for phono stage, CDP). Nowadays, happily, such exist. Here are some I’ve read about:

TOP TIER (no obvious drawbacks)
-- Boulder 865 – generally admired, beautiful square wave (how often do I listen to square waves?)
-- Chord CPM 3350 – heard Chord system once, much impressed; M. Fremer critical, but of older model
-- Pass Labs INT-150 – right features; high praise, low price; can it really sound as good as the others?

SECOND TIER (sound reportedly all right, but with superfluous features like tone controls)
-- Accuphase E550 – should sound about as good as Greg’s two boxes
-- Burmester 032 – gorgeous cosmetics, but more expensive than others; maybe not worth it?

THIRD TIER (technically proficient, but found emotionally lacking by reviewers)
-- GamuT Si 100 – descendant of my present amplifiers
-- Jeff Rowland Continuum 500 – reviewer may have used unsuitable speakers

Grateful for any comparisons, comments, recommendations.
nwickend

Showing 3 responses by guidocorona

guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Regarding Rowland Continuum 500, we do not have a completely authoritative review of this device yet. If I recall correctly, the unit was in the reviewer's possession for a very limited time the first time the review was prepared. . . one or 2 days perhaps. Unit was rereviewed later on, and some more time was allowed for the unit to settle in. Unfortunately, class D amps like the Continuum 500 are notorious bears to break in, often requiring more than 700 hours to settle down.
From a purely technical point of view, Continuum 500 is very advanced, as its power supply is front ended by an AC2DC converter that utilizes both Power Factor Correction and a capacitor bank to feed 185V DC to the system. The idea is similar to what Bel canto has recently adopted. . . the Virtual Battery. . . the idea is that if a device is compatible, DC provides much cleaner energy to the circuit than AC, and improves efficiency and linearity.
If memory serves, all inputs are transformer coupled for isolation, and te output circuits are augmented by a capacitor bank to maximize authority.

Unfortunately I have listened to C500 only for a few minutes at RMAF in a noisy room, with tracks I am not familiar with, not enough to form a personal opinion of its musical prowess.

So, in the end, I suggest that rather than C500 being a tier 3 device, its tierage should probably be unassigned. . . a question mark of some kind. Knowing the designer personally, I suspect C500 is a device worth investigating at some length.

G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Nwickend, on October 1st I might have the opportunity of listening to the Continuum 500 and the Boulder 865 in the same room/system. This will be in Denver at Soundings Hifi. I will post my observations if the A/B comparison materializes. If the house sound of the 2 companies is any indication, I suspect the Rowland may come up ahead in musicality, harmonic coherence, and microdynamics, while the Boulder is likely to come up ahead in staging and instrument placement. We'll see if my hunch proves anything more than the figment of my imagination.

Guido
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
I defer to Dave on C500 break-in. . . he owns one, and I do not. I was with Dave and several other people at Soundings when C500 was contrasted with Boulder 2060 + 2010. . driving the big Vienna Die Muzick flagships. the impressions Dave reported above seemed to be shared by all and sundry. G.
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