My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!


So I have been in a long journey looking to find the best amplifiers for my martin logan montis. As you know, the match between an amplifier and speakers has to be a good "marriage" and needs to be blend exquisitely. Right now, I think I might have found the best sounding amplifier for martin logan. I have gone through approximately 34-36 amplifiers in the past 12 months. Some of these are:

Bryston ST, SST, SST2 series
NAD M25
PARASOUND HALO
PARASOUND CLASSIC
KRELL TAS
KRELL KAV 500
KRELL CHORUS
ROTEL RMB 1095
CLASSE CT 5300
CLASSE CA 2200
CLASSE CA 5200
MCINTOSH MC 205
CARY AUDIO CINEMA 7
OUTLAW AUDIO 755
LEXICON RX7
PASS LABS XA 30.8
BUTLER AUDIO 5150
ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005

With all that said, the amplifiers I mentioned above are the ones that in my opinion are worth mentioning. To make a long story short, there is NO 5 CHANNEL POWER AMP that sounds as good as a 3ch and 2ch amplifier combination. i have done both experiments and the truth is that YOU DO lose details and more channel separation,etc when you select a 5 channel power amplifier of any manufacturer.
My recollection of what each amp sounded like is as follows:

ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005 (great power and amazing soundstage. Very low noise floor, BUT this amplifiers NEEDS TO BE cranked up in order to fully enjoy it. If you like listening at low volume levels or somewhat moderate, you are wasting your time here. This amp won’t sound any different than many other brands out there at this volume. The bass is great, good highs although they are a bit bright for my taste)

NAD M25 (very smooth, powerful, but somewhat thin sounding as far as bass goes)
Bryston sst2(detailed, good soundstage, good power, but can be a little forward with certain speakers which could make them ear fatiguing at loud volumes)

Krell (fast sounding, nice bass attack, nice highs, but some detail does get lost with certain speakers)

rotel (good amp for the money, but too bright in my opinion)

cary audio (good sound overall, very musical, but it didn’t have enough oomph)

parasound halo (good detail, great bass, but it still holds back some background detail that i can hear in others)

lexicon (very laid back and smooth. huge power, but if you like more detail or crisper highs, this amp will disappoint you)

McIntosh mc205 (probably the worst multichannel amp given its price point. it was too thin sounding, had detail but lacked bass.

butler audio (good amplifier. very warm and smooth sweet sounding. i think for the money, this is a better amp than the parasound a51)

pass labs (very VERY musical with excellent bass control. You can listen to this for hours and hours without getting ear fatigue. however, it DOES NOT do well in home theater applications if all you have is a 2 channel set up for movies. The midrange gets somewhat "muddy" or very weak sounding that you find yourself trying to turn it up.

classe audio (best amplifier for multi channel applications. i simply COULDNT FIND a better multi channel amplifier PERIOD. IT has amazing smoothness, amazing power and good bass control although i would say krell has much better bass control)

Update: The reviews above were done in January 2015. Below is my newest update as of October 2016:



PS AUDIO BHK 300 MONOBLOCKS: Amazing amps. Tons of detail and really amazing midrange. the bass is amazing too, but the one thing i will say is that those of you with speakers efficiency of 87db and below you will not have all the "loudness" that you may want from time to time. These amps go into protection mode when using a speaker such as the Salon, but only at very loud levels. Maybe 97db and above. If you don’t listen to extreme crazy levels, these amps will please you in every way.

Plinius Odeon 7 channel amp: This is THE BEST multichannel amp i have ever owned. Far , but FAR SUPERIOR to any other multichannel amp i have owned. In my opinion it destroyed all of the multichannel amps i mentioned above and below. The Odeon is an amp that is in a different tier group and it is in a league of its own. Amazing bass, treble and it made my center channel sound more articulate than ever before. The voices where never scrambled with the action scenes. It just separated everything very nicely.

Theta Dreadnaught D: Good detailed amp. Looks very elegant, has a pleasant sound, but i found it a tad too bright for my taste. I thought it was also somewhat "thin" sounding lacking body to the music. could be that it is because it is class d?

Krell Duo 300: Good amp. Nice and detailed with enough power to handle most speakers out there. I found that it does have a very nice "3d" sound through my electrostatics. Nothing to fault here on this amp.
Mark Levinson 532H: Great 2 channel amp. Lots of detail, amazing midrange which is what Mark Levinson is known for. It sounds very holographic and will please those of you looking for more detail and a better midrange. As far as bass, it is there, but it is not going to give you the slam of a pass labs 350.5 or JC1s for example. It is great for those that appreciate classical music, instrumental, etc, but not those of you who love tons of deep bass.

 It is articulate sounding too
Krell 7200: Plenty of detail and enough power for most people. i found that my rear speakers contained more information after installed this amp. One thing that i hated is that you must use xlr cables with this amp or else you lose most of its sound performance when using RCA’s.

Krell 402e: Great amp. Very powerful and will handle any speaker you wish. Power is incredible and with great detail. That said, i didn’t get all the bass that most reviewers mentioned. I thought it was "ok" in regards to bass. It was there, but it didn’t slam me to my listening chair.

Bryston 4B3: Good amp with a complete sound. I think this amp is more laid back than the SST2 version. I think those of you who found the SST2 version of this amp a little too forward with your speakers will definitely benefit from this amp’s warmth. Bryston has gone towards the "warm" side in my opinion with their new SST3 series. As always, they are built like tanks. I wouldn’t call this amp tube-like, but rather closer to what the classe audio delta 2 series sound like which is on the warm side of things.

Parasound JC1s: Good powerful amps. Amazing low end punch (far superior bass than the 402e). This amp is the amp that i consider complete from top to bottom in regards to sound. Nothing is lacking other than perhaps a nicer chassis. Parasound needs to rework their external appearance when they introduce new amps. This amp would sell much more if it had a revised external appearance because the sound is a great bang for the money. It made my 800 Nautilus scream and slam. Again, amazing low end punch.

Simaudio W7: Good detailed amp. This amp reminds me a lot of the Mark Levinson 532h. Great detail and very articulate. I think this amp will go well with bookshelves that are ported in order to compensate for what it lacks when it comes to the bass. That doesn’t mean it has no bass, but when it is no Parasound JC1 either.
Pass labs 350.5: Wow, where do i begin? maybe my first time around with the xa30.8 wasn’t as special as it was with this monster 350.5. It is just SPECTACULAR sounding with my electrostatics. The bass was THE BEST BASS i have ever heard from ANY amp period. The only amp that comes close would be the jC1s. It made me check my settings to make sure the bass was not boosted and kept making my jaw drop each time i heard it. It totally destroyed the krell 402e in every regard. The krell sounded too "flat" when compared to this amp. This amp had amazing mirange with great detail up top. In my opinion, this amp is the best bang for the money. i loved this amp so much that i ended up buying the amp that follows below.

Pass labs 250.8: What can i say here. This is THE BEST STEREO AMP i have ever heard. This amp destroys all the amps i have listed above today to include the pass labs 350.5. It is a refined 350.5 amp. It has more 3d sound which is something the 350.5 lacked. It has a level of detail that i really have never experienced before and the bass was amazing as well. I really thought it was the most complete power amplifier i have ever heard HANDS DOWN. To me, this is a benchmark of an amplifier. This is the amp that others should be judged by. NOTHING is lacking and right now it is the #1 amplifier that i have ever owned.

My current amps are Mcintosh MC601s: i decided to give these 601s a try and they don’t disappoint. They have great detail, HUGE soundstage, MASSIVE power and great midrange/highs. The bass is great, but it is no pass labs 250.8 or 350.5. As far as looks, these are the best looking amps i have ever owned. No contest there. i gotta be honest with you all, i never bought mcintosh monos before because i wasn’t really "wowed" by the mc452, but it could have been also because at that time i was using a processor as a preamp which i no longer do. Today, i own the Mcintosh C1100 2 chassis tube preamp which sounds unbelievable. All the amps i just described above have been amps that i auditioned with the C1100 as a preamp. The MC601s sound great without a doubt, but i will say that if you are looking for THE BEST sound for the money, these would not be it. However, Mcintosh remains UNMATCHED when it comes to looks and also resale value. Every other amp above depreciates much faster than Mcintosh.

That said, my future purchase (when i can find a steal of a deal) will be the Pass labs 350.8. I am tempted to make a preliminary statement which is that i feel this amp could be THE BEST stereo amp under 30k dollars. Again, i will be able to say more and confirm once i own it. I hope this update can help you all in your buying decisions!


128x128jays_audio_lab

Showing 50 responses by techno__dude

Viber last post is most probably his best ever to date on this thread. He hits it on the nail.

WC’s latest and most unusual extase for the Gryphon cables is just as always « ( specially coming from him) the meal of the day ».
Ask yourself guys why suddenly all this fuss about cables he would never have considered before. Only logic answer is ...Jays + his dealer + Gryphon all have interest in that sudden cable pumping...
Beryllium tweeters are very hard to get right. This is why so many very respected brands prefer soft domes. Yes, technically Be is better, but it always comes with a certain hotness that makes you want to drop the volume...Especially if you like to listen at high level, strings, saxophones. comes in without any glare...you can seriously crank it with those soft domes designs.( Dynaudio, ScanSpeak, etc.)

There isn’t a perfect tweeter out there, just preferences. But imho the best tweeter made is the top mounted one from B&W. Each time I hear a pair of those, I find the highs to be perfectly detailed, thick and very open ( large soundstage). Although what I don’t like from their speakers is the wooven material made midrange drivers. Ok they distort less, but you loose some dynamics, slam and immediacy  of a stiffest product.
Don’t take this too seriously WC. Your thread , reviews, style, and gear are still very much in a class of their own... It’s just that , in this case, to be able to say the Mephisto is more transparent and resolving  than the Colosseum needs them to be compared with the same speakers, that’s all I’m saying,
When someone begins to search for the psychological profile of his followers because he mostly can’t stand a couple thumbs down, hasn’t  his audio hobby probably come off road ( car analogy ...) a little bit too far ?

Living with the criticism is and will always be part of forum thread (or yt channel ) sharing.
We already heard that combo numerous times WC. I guess it’s time for you to let one of those enter another audiophile house...


When you need to buy the house cables to make their gear sound acceptable..........at theses prices....ohh my my..
Something I don’t understand is that, on every forum I follow, audiophiles using and comparing the Gryphon Mephisto are pretty much agreeing that amp is dark sounding...

They seem to agree with WC about the heavy bass reproduction, someone even writing it is like having the bass tone control of your amp on full throttle...
Which is absolutely not my cup of tea, I do prefer a more normal bass oriented amp.

So I’m wandering if that particular Mephisto is a faulty one, or it’s the Alexia 2 that are far from being broken in. It should not sound bright with Nordost new line of cables. Somethin’s fishy, again.
Never said his ears are damaged. Just saying they are less likely to be in the same shape as an experienced moderate level listener.

Add to that the fact that the two Gryphon amps were never played on the same speakers, we are dealing with far than good conditions to conclude one amp is more resolving than the other !
Cool 2 weeks is soon. 
Can you give us some insight? Maybe a choice of contenders so we can try to guess.
Damn I can’t guess on that one, too much choices. Complete darkness here. 😆
You are right viber.

But what WC mostly remembers is his favorite PassLabs XS 300 monos driving the Alexia 1s. Now the DAWs should be driven by the same XS 300s to get a real idea of what they can do vs the best Alexia 1 memories...

So what we will mostly get is...
...the Alexia s goes deeper and stronger in the bass department.
But that thought is based on the XS 300s pairing...
Not the same amps and preamp driving the DAWs that were driving the Alexia 1s.

Just saying, it may invalidate the results.
Let’s bring back the Alexias for this thread ´s sake !Just kidding.
As greyhound says, it’s not attacks but stating the obvious.
It’s obvious this thread is about promoting, and  not about learning...
Viber I’m pretty sure they were clear at describing it on the dark side.

It can be that it was compared to CH Precision...and I just don’t remember the context precisely. I will try to find the exact thread and give the link. 
A pair of piano black Scala Evos with 100 hours of play time just popped in the classified section. High end Palace, no price on the ad. I guess you have to talk your way through for knowing...
Agreed with kren0006 , the Martin Logan 13A have sloppy bass that can’t keep up with the speed of the panels.
Not the rolled off Neoliths. 
Don’t shoot the messenger, you said it. 
You cannot say Constellation are Luxman M-900u on steroids. You did not test both with the same setup and the same room...

Same thing about build quality, pop the hood on those and they are a mess with spaghetti wriring compared to Pass Labs XS and Luxman M 900u.

Trying to sell a flawed horse ?


Yes. We can ear the tubyness of the Lampizator, organic very satisfying sound. The soundstage must be enormous.
#1 is Odin pc I think.

#2 and #3 is a more difficult choice. My guess would be #2 is Audioquest and #3 Audiomica.
Well  pretty much everybody has listened to the video and wrote their thoughts.

I was right about #1. Why am I so good at being right ?... 🤣

I know my Nordost sound signature guys .
The perfect match for those Magico M6 tweeters would sure be a pair of Luxman M-900u , with the matching preamp C-900u.

I would bet my house it would be a case of perfect synergy here.
Hi fi palace must be stucked with the Block amp, so most probably it’s time again to deploy a little audiogon thread marketing...
Smaller names like Block Audio, Audiomica and others need the exposure to sell. What better way to use this thread as a marketing tool.

Not saying it is a bad thing. We get to learn about new products. But always keep in mind a seller may hide behind the review your are reading...
Maybe it’s the Luxman 900u amp coming back.

I can already foresee WC saying it sounds like...

Luxman not on steroids. 
These two powercords seems to be very close sounding.

Well at least on my cheap computer speakers, they sound both very articulate and organic.
One new powercord to consider is the very soon to be released Shunyata Alpha NR V2 which is said to better the Sigma NR.
It should give the Audioquest pcs a pretty good run for their money.
Cardas Clear Beyond as interconnects is a masterful choice imho.

But I would not go speaker cables with that brand. Never go full loom Cardas.  Speaker cables speaking,  you are much better with something like Shunyata Sigmas or Alphas with their Z-tron v2 tech...or with Nordost Odin.


I think I prefer the Wilsons over the Focals, even if I know that the Focals are technologically superior with a little more resolving tweeters. The Wilsons seems to have an addictive midrange thickness ( richness ) less present with the Focals. And it’s a more relaxing, less lit up, listen.
No preamp should always be better resolution wise. Any pair of interconnects added to a system brings two more contacts points in and out the preamplifier. There is always some  « loss   » in doing so. 

Let’s not forget that , usually,  dac direct to amplifier(s) is supposed to sound thin, sterile... and less dynamic. This is absolutely not the case with the DcS dac, which means it has stunning preamplifier capabilities.

Imho, there is not enough gap here to justify the huge price increase in adding the Ref6 SE ( add to that a power cable and a set of interconnects).
But if you absolutely crave for that « tube sound » in the mix, go for it. It’s your money.
Very interesting. 
Technically, Focal are hard to beat. Never forget they have been making their own drivers ever since they were founded. Very light and stiff polyglass sandwich cone tech. 
I learned with experience that in high end audio, less is better.
So yes, a driver design without a crossover is always more transparent. It has to be well made and implemented.

I also don’t like the complicated electronics in the ML 15A ´s signal path. For me, that will always be a deal breaker. My vote is for GT Audio.
I also support faxer’s right to post. He ´s far from spamming this thread. 
Maybe the new Scanspeak tweeters in those Wilson DAWs are just a pain in the .ss to get broken in. There is still a possibility they need like a 1000 hours. This happens with new designs when a maker is going for ultimate detail reproduction.
Also, Nordost Odin 1 can be quite a lit up speaker cable. Nordost series 2 is warmer.

Anyway, I would most probably have chosen the Focals Evo also. And would go Shunyata with them. And for the record I own Nordost LF Red Dawn spealer cables, which are the perfect match for my Dynaudio Special 40. Very fast cables, clarity in spades also.


Darker speaker. Nordost
Brighter speaker, Shunyata.
From my experience.
Sorry, but when you have to tweak the system abusively to make the amp sound good... It should all be fine with the  top of the line Audioquest Or Nordost you already own. If it is not, and somehow you keep thinking you have to find or use a very specific pc to tame it...then it is simply a psychological mistake or huge expensive buy denial syndrome...
Females are rare in this hobby, but are very welcome to join in the discussion.
As well as transgenders. What? We have to be inclusive these days. 😉
Gryphon cables, are you kidding us ? Lmao

Hope you did only borrow them. Resale of these is going down with each second that passes. Tic toc tic toc...
The Luxman M-900u is the solid state amplifier for tubes lovers that do not desire tubes anymore in their rig. Some very high end audiophiles have sold their tube amps and replaced it with the Lux.
The Lux gives a very meaty sound that is intoxicating. That midrange richness and slight warmth is for sure a great match with the Focal Scala Evos.
I experience those Lux ‘s magic qualities in my setup everyday. And it is with what is considered ( in ultra high end audiophile standard) a « modest » preamplifier which is the Mac C-47... I can only imagine how great it could be if I would get the C-900u matching pre.
Simaudio 700i V2 vs Gryphon Diablo 300 would be a shootout I would very much to see happen.

Nobody on the net right now other than WC able to bring these two contenders to their full potential and explain to us the differences. 
Well it seems Cardas Clear Beyond speaker cables are just way too « BEYOND » that some speakers and amplifiers don’t work with them. Shame to Cardas audio for not mentioning this MAJOR FLAW on their website.