TRL ST225 - Goodness anyone else own this amp


I will soon be writing a review on this amp and wonder if any fellow Agoners own this gem. If so, please let us hear your comments on it. I am nothing short of amazed by it. I had to "downsize" and sold a tube monobloc amp and tubed preamp combo costing over $15,000 new. Both pieces were fine sounding and well regarded.

I ended up trading a set of speakers for a TRL ST225 integrated amp. I had never heard of this amp before and was not aware of Paul's work.

All I will say for now is this integrated amp bested my previous set-up and is the finest sound my speakers and room have provided.

I am a tube guy folks and this SS amp is still the finest amp I have ever heard. I put $5000 in the bank and have better sounding music. Now that is exciting!!!

They cost some $5500 new and mine was purchased/traded as used. It had just been updated by Paul and came direct to me once the upgrade was finished.

Happy in MN

Bill
128x128grannyring

Showing 3 responses by ecruz

I just purchased the TRL D225 that was listed here on A'gon. I was kind of surprised that it was still available, it had already been listed for 9 days when I bought it.

I haven't heard the amps, but am familiar with Paul's work. I owned a Sony 900 modded by TRL [shouldn't have sold it], I still own TRL power cables and a TRL modded power strip.

Based on my experience with TRL and seeing the comments above and the list of amps that the TRL bested, I'm very excited to hear the D225 in my system. I imagine it will have no problem outperforming my Belles 150A Reference.

I'm hoping it will be the last amp I buy!
Just a quick update on the D225.

Keep in mind the amp is essentially brand new and not burned in at all.

There is no part of the spectrum that is exaggerated, it is smooth from top to bottom, like I haven't heard before. Even at really low volumes the amp sounds full. It sounds the same whether I'm at 1/8 volume or 3/4 volume, just louder or quieter. More so than any amp I've ever heard. The Nuforce Ref 9 V2 was the previous best I'd heard at this. The D225 blows it away.

This amp is absolutely, positively, dead quiet! Like, amazingly quiet. Like I have never really heard a quiet amp before in my life, quiet. Maybe because it's so quiet, details come thru like I've never heard before. By detail I don't mean the typical, more treble, etc, I mean, background sounds, breaths, movements on instruments, the recording environment. On Jason Mraz's I'm Yours, which I listen to all the time, at the beginning of the song there's the sound of waves hitting the shore. I've never heard any hint of these before, but with the D225 they were as clear as day. On Jack Johnson's Banana Pancakes, in the beginning there is the sound of rain falling. Normally it sounds like a little trickle in the background. When I listened to it this morning, I actually paused the song because I thought someone had turned on the water in the bathroom above where I was sitting. That's how pronounced it was, it sounded like it was literally raining out the window.

At this point, I've only listened for a couple of hours total, so that's all I have for now. But it is clear this is the best amp I've ever heard and it's not even burned in yet.
Grannyring-

Your words are the exact ones I used today in an email to a friend to describe the D225, "effortless, composed", I thru in "balanced" and the fact that it never sounds strained or over-driven. I guess that's the same as composed. : )

I love it! My amp search has ended!