Review: Krell EVO 402/Evo202 Amplifier

Category: Amplifiers

The short and the sweet of it is that Krell has done it right. Nothing I have owned or heard (which is probably far greater than most people--short of a reviewer..I'm nuts and I love audio), allows one to suspend belief and enter the moment of creation...the venue of where the music was performed sans artifacts with all of the tonal beauty, dynamics, lowlevel detail and life that belays it's mode of reproduction! ~! Yes, I was a tube lover at one point...owned the best from ARC and BAT and some CJ...but the Krell is uncanny in the way it presents the music intact...full of life and passion without the inevitable dissapointment of hearing through the gear and pulling the curtain on the performance...disc after disc amazes me at the sheer joy of the fact that someone has gotten it right....many a review has lured me toward financial loss due to their keen ability to gloss over the main faults of the gear up for review! Almost all reviewers are worthless...they lie about the problems and play up the positives..hell, most people don't buy all the stuff that I do so they will never know the deception afoot!! Even when some people buy the crap they rave about, most don't have the financial ability or the psychological will to admit they spent a fortune on crap, sell it and move on! I know some people and dealers with $100K plus systems that sound awful...they invest in an idea/religion and lock themselves into a confined conception of what is possible...especially after making a huge investment...FYI...I have spent $20k + one month only to sell it off and regroup within 4months!! Once you live with something you understand it's capabillities and limitations. My Reference is live music and real instruments...if you don't adjust your sense of reality regularly with the real thing...well, enjoy the reality your in..you will never undestand the true possibilities of sound reproduction that exist!!

That being said, the Krell 402, 202 and 505 combo are uncanny..not solid state sounding nor tubelike, yet they maintain the best aspects of both! They are able to create the sense of real instruments playing in front of you..it's that simple. All types of music are reproduced in a manner that allows one to immerse themselves in the music being made in front of you...assuming the cabling , speakers and room will support such revelations. After owning and or demoing many high end speaker systems and cable types I have come to rely on Transparent cables for the connections and power. My speakers are Dynaudio C4's. The only other speaker I've heard that is as expressive and musical while maintaing a wide dynamic footprint is wilson.

What these evolutionary components deliver is a complete musical picture with no exaggeration or flaws...just pure unhyped musical reproduction. Low level detail..yes! Resolution..yup! Frequency extension and wide dynamic range..you bet! Tonal accuracy and micro dynamic shading..uh huh! Turn off the lights and set the volume for concert hall level images coalesce into a mosaic of musicians..natural and oh so believable.

FYI...CAST is still underwhelming. The good news is that the balanced connections yield nothing to the current connections. Also, the stock power cords are disappointing to say the least. I mad the mistake of trying some current Transparent IC's and their best MM power cords..oh my Lord!!! Suffice it to say, you must at least try the newest stuff for yourself..words cannot convey the huge leap forward in .sound reproduction you will experience.

My updated assoc gear includes Transparent Ultra balanced IC's and OPUS MM power cords. my CD/SACD is the EVO 505.

Associated gear
Musical Fidelity A5 CDP
MIT Magnum M1 cabling and power cords

Similar products
Most of ARC, Levinson, BAT, Mcintosh stuff (owned)
Lot's of other stuff demo'd