time for another amp

Thaiman

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I just sold my musical fidelity A5 (a moment of madness!) so I have been listening to a few that I thought it might tempt me but so far, no luck! I like the power and soundstage of A5 but with a touch more emotion....more human like. I refused to go back to Krell even if they were the best amp I have owned so look like a hard task at the moment, any comment welcome :)
 
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Anonymous

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You're operating on a budget well up on mine, but I'm curious to know how much you have available for the purchase and whether you're looking 2nd hand, you usually do look in that direction.
 
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Anonymous

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thaiman i got two words for u mate ,Pathos Logos. my dad had one its fantastic but he moved on to musica fideliti pre and power amp the logos sounds so warm its alive but u wont ge the power u are now used to so i dont know where u are willing to compromise mate
 
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Anonymous

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What are they Andrew? (Have no shame in not knowing as they're so far out of my league, how could I know! LOL)
 
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Anonymous

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sorry Andrew i didnt see your post i think we were typing simultaneusly i suppose
 

Thaiman

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The new MF amp is on my list to demo but to be totally honest with you I am 2 minds about buying another MF product at the moment. The reason being is they keep released new products so fast that the older model lost their value very quickly. As I have a box swapping addiction this point is very important to me....2 amps in one year and I could risk loosing 2 grand! (and that is if i was buying an ex-demo!) Thanks for the recommendation though.
 

Thaiman

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2 amps arrived today (on loan) Bel Canto and Audionet. I will need more time to listen but the first impression is very good indeed.
 
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Anonymous

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Bel Canto are great - and that goes for most, if not all, their products. Audionet make excellent products as well. Keep us informed!
 
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Anonymous

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Yeah, Bel Canto are getting positive reviews by most people that try them, apparantly they need a bit of running in though and few have said they're quite fussy about cabling. The Bel Canto mono power amps are getting some good reviews also.

Check out some of the comments on the www.cyrusunofficial.co.uk forum, it seems that a lot of cyrus users are moving over to bel canto's.
 

Thaiman

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Bel canto S300 is very good indeed, I have to say though that the Bass is slightly wolly when compare to the Audionet SAM2 although Bel Canto has a better treble.

Will write some more tomorrow.....After 2 Krells and a MF A5 it's gonna be hard replacement!
 

Thaiman

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Bel canto S300 is very good indeed, I have to say though that the Bass is slightly wolly when compare to the Audionet SAM2 although Bel Canto has a better treble.

Will write some more tomorrow.....After 2 Krells and a MF A5 it's gonna be hard replacement!
 

Anton90125

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I have just noticed that you have an AudioSynthsis DAC, Which one? I had one of those and I found the sound extremely good- very analogue like. How does it perform with the MF working as a transport?
 

Thaiman

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[quote user="Anton90125"]I have just noticed that you have an AudioSynthsis DAC, Which one? I had one of those and I found the sound extremely good- very analogue like. How does it perform with the MF working as a transport?
[/quote]

The DAX-2, The MF digi out produced a crystal clear sound but where is the bass attack gone??? If I am a jazz or classical guy I would be over the moon as it sound wow so nice with 3d soundstage. but for a rock dude like me I would need more grunt to keep me on the edge. I just bought myself a pioneer stable platter control which was a hit as a transport back in the 90's, can't wait with it. Would I gain more of what I after with different transport? Sceptic...me I hope I am wrong on this occassion.
 

Anton90125

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You might have to be a bit careful here. The loss of "bass grunt" might be as much to do with the DAC as much as the transport. I had a DAX 1 which (to me at least) did not lack bass attack but it was very refined. The internal MF DAC might have a more aggresive bass? I don't think the transport can change the overall charactor of a DAC like bass attack, stereo depth/image etc.. But it will help with the inner details like the differences in timbre. I suppose I am saying a better transport will deliver more harmonic content for the DAC to present. Or a poorer transport will deliver less (a higher persentage of miss read digital errors). I don't know if its possible for you to get hold of a digital switch box and 2 copies of the same CD disc and compare the transports that way. Remember to swap over CDs to make sure that there are no "funnies" on a particular disc. I am would be very interested in your results.
 

Thaiman

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Ant, Do you know "another brick in the wall" well enough? Well the very first bass note seem to stay in the background rather than hit you in the chest like I remember it! Natural sound I agree with that....as all instrument sound live to me. Switch to Cyrus CD7 + PSXR as a transport and I can noticed the different (shocked icon here) the bass still not as hard hitting as I like but I thought the whole system gel better in a faster kinda way. I prefer the Cyrus transport to the MF but go without saying that from Analog out put my MF 308CR win hand down, the bass is back although not as tight on Audionet as my old MF A5.
 

Anton90125

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I am a bit surprised by some of your results but that only
goes to show that hifi is very seldom predictable. From what you are saying the
Cyrus transport may be giving a cleaner digital signal with fewer errors then
the MF. I seems clear that you like the DAC section of the MF. Maybe you should
take a look at a separate MF DAC? (I would expect a family resemblance
sonically speaking). I haven't read any recent reviews of their DACs (though
there is a lot of information of modded X DACv3 on the net ). Is there a
difference in sound with the Cyrus with and without the PSU? That is to say
could the difference be related to power supply?

I know Pink Floyd well- One of my favourite
groups. I have seen them twice and Roger Waters once. I am more of an early/mid
fan. The wall was an excellent album but in places it was a bit depressing. The
finial cut was even more depressing.
emotion-6.gif
My favourite track is probably Echoes
played loud and in the dark!
emotion-2.gif
 

Thaiman

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Back to the amp, I went for Audionet SAM V2 in the end (better pound/preformance imo) The bass is better now, a lot better, may be the amp is now run in more! The bottom end is more natural than forceful so I still need a bit more slam - somehow!. The problem here is Audionet and my MF308CR both have very wide soundstage so the combination of the two has too much air up top. Wall to wall and floor to ceiling imaging is great but not really work for heavy rock, which 80% of my music collection are. The top end of SAM 2 that won me over, I have never heard treble so sweet, nothing sound too aggressive or in your face. The Cure's love cat is one of the brightest recording I come acrossed, yet the SAM 2 managed to slightly soften the treble without loss of any details while the midrange stay natural, Robert Smith's voice never sound so good. So far so good - not perfect yet but I will get there.
 
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Anonymous

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Good one!
Perhaps you could look at their CDp as a future upgrade.. It's really good. ;)
 

Thaiman

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[quote user="Shaman"]Perhaps you could look at their CDp as a future upgrade.. It's really good.[/quote]

As the way my Hifi rack sat just under my palsma TV, I couldn't have a top loading cd player which is a shame as the ART V2 is the bassiest (tuneful bass) cd player at any price! I think that's why the amp's bass is slightly soft because when you used both products together the balance is spot on.
 
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Anonymous

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Indeed.
I would certainly consider a new rack or something! :D

Enjoy your new amp!
 

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