Rowland 625

The 625 retails for 13,500. I think the Corus is 10,000. A bunch of us heard the Corus at RMAF, but it was being fed by a laptop into a Ayre DAC. I have a Criterion. When I got home with my 625 and let it warm up I was totally astounded to hear such a dif between the 312 I had and the 625. As for how much dif between the Corus and the Criterion....I hear it is only a very very minor dif if you use a top flight power chord on it. I use a pair of Esoteric digital separates. P03/ D03. To me I think this source is far better than a laptop into an Ayre DAC. I'd save money on the Pre and buy a Corus and put the rest into a better digital (or analogue!) front end. The 625 can do things with imaging and low level (very low level) detail that any of his ice powered amps could do. As for weight. It has more balls per pound of output that any amp I've ever heard. Again, it very much reminds me of a class A amp. Would I like more power or current? Yes, but but I do NOT find myself always missing it. In fact unless you're using very inefficient speakers(less than 85db), you'll never be wanting. I once had a Gryphon Antellion Sig stereo amp in my system. That thing was class A and weighed 198 lbs out of the crate. It had so much current you could arc weld with it, but the sonic effect of that much current is dynamics that will allow you to turn up your amp so loud and not damage your speakers, but your pictures will start to fall off your walls and ruin your pantry! I think that is what Jeff's new Mono 925 amps will be able to do. What the Gryphon could not do as well as the Rowland is total transparency and illuminated depth of sound-stage. It also did not have anywhere as good low level detail as this 625 amp. Tubes are about the best in low level retrieval, but along with that you get a whole host of other drawbacks inherent with tubes. All I can tell everyone is you must get out to your dealers, or if you know someone who has one, and listen! Aloha, David.

I just called the factory. To start with, at CES, JRDG appears to have 2 suites, probably in the Venetian:

35-204
30-231

The current price of M625 is $13,500; current price of Corus is $12,200.

Yes I heard Corus, but not in my system. I have not determined yet audible differences from the Criterion that I own.

There is no ICE nor other Class D technology in M625. Apparently the device is packed full of A/B circuitry. Device weighs 54Lbs or so. Finally some specs have been posted. You will find them in the M625 section of the JRDG knowledge base at:

http://jeffrowland.com/websitepublisher/amplifiers-model-625.html

Thanks Kawika and Guido!

I was able to find one EU dealer that had a price for Corus. It is extremely much higher than in the US. Almost double.
It is more than 5000 usd, more than C-500, in euro.
This is sick!
This was the case, and is still with Krell, Wilson Audio and Wadia also.
There are no way the tariff and tax cause a justifiable mean for that pricing scheme. European brands in US, are not near. Actually it's quite often almost same price.

The Corus+625 would be nice to try out.
Though, i can't understand the 625 didn't come out as a more heavy amp as it is class A/B with ordinary toroid transformers (i guess)?
Even so, it would probably outshine my loudspeakers!

I see the cause of your surprise.... M625 does not use heavy toroidal transformers in power supply. Power supply is high speed switch mode, preceeded by a power factor correction-based rectifier, hence the contained weight.

Guido, what do u recommend in terms of a power cord for Rowland amps. I know you had some success with Furutech power cords. I'm using Shunyata Anaconda Helix via an adaptor as my previous amps were 13A, not too sure if this compromises the sound but I'll probably use it for my DAC or transport later when I get a 20A replacement power cord.