I reviewed and measured the Starke Sound AD4.320 multichannel amplifier a few months ago. This is the measurements of a second sample kindly sent in by a member.
The first sample missed its power by a factor of two. Company disputed this and promised their own measurements that would show otherwise. This did not materialize. We did find out that the review sample received by Audioholics had similar power shortfall to my (new) sample. Explanation given through Audioholics was that a few samples had miswired power supplies rated for 240 instead of 120. This was puzzling as the unit has a switch for such selection internally. I have not heard of any new results by Audioholics but a member sent me his unit for measurement so let's see how it does.
Starke Sound AD4.320 Measurements (Sample #2)
I am only going to post abbreviated measurements to verify whether this sample is any different. Let's start with our dashboard:
While the nature of power supply noise and to small extend distortion spectrum is different, overall SINAD matches the same as the last unit. So at 5 watts into 4 ohm, the two units match. Key though is to see how much power we have. Let's start with 4 ohm:
Well, we have the same results and massive shortfall relative to 320 watt spec as I have copied into the graph from their website. Allowing for 1% distortion again produces similar results to sample 1:
Same story with 8 ohm:
64 watts vs specifications of 225 watts and I am only driving two channels instead of four they claim.
I decided to test just one channel to rule out power supply capacity issue:
We get a bit more power but still less than half of the company spec. So supply capacity is not an issue.
As to demystify power measurements, here is our dashboard again, this time measuring the unit with 160 watts out:
We easily see that the sinewave is clipping so the amplifier is beyond its capability.
Conclusions
As I think all of us predicted, this amplifier simply cannot produce its rated power. Somewhere from inception to what they are shipping, the design has changed to produce far less power. Customers sadly though, have been buying these amps thinking this amplifier produces 4 times 320 watts which it can't remotely do. Company needs to step up and be transparent about the issue here. Owners and I should not be saddled with continuing to spend money and resources to test their products. It only makes things worse for them.
I can't recommend buying this amplifier or any product from Starke Sound. You can't promise people one gallon of milk but put half as much in the jug....
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The first sample missed its power by a factor of two. Company disputed this and promised their own measurements that would show otherwise. This did not materialize. We did find out that the review sample received by Audioholics had similar power shortfall to my (new) sample. Explanation given through Audioholics was that a few samples had miswired power supplies rated for 240 instead of 120. This was puzzling as the unit has a switch for such selection internally. I have not heard of any new results by Audioholics but a member sent me his unit for measurement so let's see how it does.
Starke Sound AD4.320 Measurements (Sample #2)
I am only going to post abbreviated measurements to verify whether this sample is any different. Let's start with our dashboard:
While the nature of power supply noise and to small extend distortion spectrum is different, overall SINAD matches the same as the last unit. So at 5 watts into 4 ohm, the two units match. Key though is to see how much power we have. Let's start with 4 ohm:
Well, we have the same results and massive shortfall relative to 320 watt spec as I have copied into the graph from their website. Allowing for 1% distortion again produces similar results to sample 1:
Same story with 8 ohm:
64 watts vs specifications of 225 watts and I am only driving two channels instead of four they claim.
I decided to test just one channel to rule out power supply capacity issue:
We get a bit more power but still less than half of the company spec. So supply capacity is not an issue.
As to demystify power measurements, here is our dashboard again, this time measuring the unit with 160 watts out:
We easily see that the sinewave is clipping so the amplifier is beyond its capability.
Conclusions
As I think all of us predicted, this amplifier simply cannot produce its rated power. Somewhere from inception to what they are shipping, the design has changed to produce far less power. Customers sadly though, have been buying these amps thinking this amplifier produces 4 times 320 watts which it can't remotely do. Company needs to step up and be transparent about the issue here. Owners and I should not be saddled with continuing to spend money and resources to test their products. It only makes things worse for them.
I can't recommend buying this amplifier or any product from Starke Sound. You can't promise people one gallon of milk but put half as much in the jug....
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
but for the "patient", even worse, in the original one you could lose your head only once.
