Old amplifier vs new amplifier: which is better?

[What Hi-Fi?]

In 1984 an affordable stereo amp arrived that blew away the competition, but can it beat the best modern amps?

Old amplifier vs new amplifier: which is better? : Read more

 

[Mr. C Nation]

In 1984 an affordable stereo amp arrived that blew away the competition, but can it beat the best modern amps?

Old amplifier vs new amplifier: which is better? : Read more

I had a Musical Fidelity B1 from very early in its production run. I bought it because it was reviewed in the hardware review section of The Gramophone, an august mag that was 80% reviews of recordings [of which +/- 70% 'classical'] and 20% reviews of hardware commensurate with the quality of the music.

The comment that summed up the review was that this amplifier was "unnecessarily good". And it was very good. I had it for 25 years.

I saw no reason to 'upgrade' - ever. For the class of speaker I had - Rogers, Mordant-Short, Monitor Audio, it was, along with that other all-time great, the Marantz CD63 Mk 2 K.I. a wonderful reproducer of music. I got so worried that it would fail permanently that I 15 years later I bought a spare. I never needed that.

I'd still have it today if it had the digital connections I now need for my present set-up, with optical out from the TV. and BuRay.

I don't know because I never A/B'd them as you have A/B'd the Cyrus pair but I bet it would have kept its end up or perhaps surpassed the 'default' Marantz 6006 series that is its successor.

I see that the original Mission Cyrus 2 can be had for about £350 s/h. As the latest amp doesn't have digital connections, owners of the original won't be buying the new one, if they need digital. Would the additional £650 needed to buy the current amp be justified in terms of the quality of sound? I doubt it.

 

[aysil]

That's very fascinating. I have experienced many times in my audio life that a higher priced or a newer model from a certain brand is not necessarily better. I discovered lately, for example, that the original Mojo from Chord is better than the new model: https://forums.whathifi.com/threads/best-british-dacs-of-all-time.128232/