Dan D’Agostino ... What the world needs now is a $250,000 power amplifier ...

[Yggdrasill]

I like the steampunk look of the meter.

I do as well, but D'Agostino gear just comes across to me (visually) like it's trying too hard. Those amps look like an engine block.

 

[FlyingFreak]

I imagine the market for that kind of nonsense to be exclusively made out of flamboyant narcissists and sociopaths and interior designers to people with no f given money who get a fat commission for anything they buy carefully hand select and installed for their clients.

I m such a plebeian, I have much more respect for the likes of Bruno Putzeys than for people working to make new toys for that market.

 

[egellings]

It's an amplifier intended to make a statement as well as sound.

 

[tomchris]

There is something fascinating about overdesigned statement products - as long as the stated capabilities are verifiably measurable and not snake oil and fairytales.

McLaren F1

Unfortunately, the history of high-end audio is riddled with false promises and outright lies. On a measurable level, performance is more attainable now, but I feel that we are stagnating when it comes to industrial design and usability.

 

[sofrep811]

Think about all the tech and R&D that goes into a similar priced car and tell me that amp is worth that amount.

 

[tomchris]

It is not. Both Andrea Pivetta's Opera Only amplifier and Dan D'agostino's Relentless amplifier are catering to the ridiculous and bizarre.

 

[DonH56]

A lot of very expensive amplifiers don't even measure that well, and we are told it does not matter because they sound so good. At least high-end cars tend to have some measurable goodness about them. Audio marketeers like to point to higher parts quality, hand-selected this and that, to provide better sound that is somehow unmeasurable. There may be a lot of R&D going into a $100k+ amp but it could just be someone listening and deciding what sounds good on that day... My mood and physical condition (upbeat, tired, etc.) has a huge impact on what I hear.

 

[DACs_Lover]

It's almost 5 years since this thread was created.
I looked at Stereophile's measurements and it said

- I declared to be "well-engineered.""—John Atkinson
- This is an amplifier that is as well-engineered as it is beautiful to look at.—John Atkinson

Dan D'Agostino Momentum monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

Dan D'Agostino Progression Mono monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

People are better at reading graphs I guess. Thank you Amir for opening the forum. it helps me a lot. eye-opener indeed.

 

[TonyJZX]

i think the big difference between a $500k car and a $500k amp is that one has better resale?

its well known the McLaren F1 debuted at a million pound sterling but its a $20 mil. car at auction now.... becuase they only made about 100 of them?

I dont think the world of hi-fi gear cares that much about 'iconic' pieces.

I have seen and read enough about 'lifestyles of the rich and famous'.... people in England who have their own castle, like Jeremy Clarkson who will spend $100k on speakers and have the whole thing set up correctly by a team of hired hands and I would assume some people who are getting into the billionaire stage might go this over the top?

 

[Sal1950]

If you run with the billionaire crowd, you can't be seen driving a Toyota, nor have your friends come by
and see a Panasonic HiFi in the living room. That's just the way of things.

 

[egellings]

Think about all the tech and R&D that goes into a similar priced car and tell me that amp is worth that amount.

With the amplifier, you are buying a membership into a club.

 

[egellings]

I do as well, but D'Agostino gear just comes across to me (visually) like it's trying too hard. Those amps look like an engine block.

Such an amp owner probably also needs to do power trims at 35 knots in his yacht, too.

 

[muslhead]

Dan apparently just purchased the b&b next to my brother in law. It was listed at more than $3M which only takes the sales revenue from ~15 of these amps.
The lives of the rich and famous

 

[Ron Texas]

Ludicrous, especially when excellent amplification is available for prices us peons can afford.

 

[CDMC]

It's almost 5 years since this thread was created.
I looked at Stereophile's measurements and it said

- I declared to be "well-engineered.""—John Atkinson
- This is an amplifier that is as well-engineered as it is beautiful to look at.—John Atkinson

Dan D'Agostino Momentum monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

Dan D'Agostino Progression Mono monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

People are better at reading graphs I guess. Thank you Amir for opening the forum. it helps me a lot. eye-opener indeed.

I don't think we should be harping on the these measurements. At $38,000 and $58,000 a pair, they are less than 20% the price of his best amps. They clearly deliver far more performance than 20% of his best.

 

[SuicideSquid]

I don't think we should be harping on the these measurements. At $38,000 and $58,000 a pair, they are less than 20% the price of his best amps. They clearly deliver far more performance than 20% of his best.

And yet, inferior performance by every metric than Hypex and Purifi modules costing less by only a factor of fifty.

 

[Mr. Widget]

And yet, inferior performance by every metric than Hypex and Purifi modules costing less by only a factor of fifty.

But you are missing the point... those amps don't feature a Jules Verne inspired meter.

 

[CDMC]

And yet, inferior performance by every metric than Hypex and Purifi modules costing less by only a factor of fifty.

You can't compare the two. Can you heat a room with your fancy Hypex or Purifi amp? Can you drain your Tesla powerwall in less than hour by turning on your precious Class D amp? No, Hypex and Purifi amps are one trick ponies, all they do is provide clean amplified sound. D'Agostino amps amplify, can provide emergency heat for a homeless shelter, and are artwork, all at the same time. I dare say, given their incredible diversity of use, these amps are drastically underpriced.

 

[SIY]

It's almost 5 years since this thread was created.
I looked at Stereophile's measurements and it said

- I declared to be "well-engineered.""—John Atkinson
- This is an amplifier that is as well-engineered as it is beautiful to look at.—John Atkinson

Dan D'Agostino Momentum monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

Dan D'Agostino Progression Mono monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

People are better at reading graphs I guess. Thank you Amir for opening the forum. it helps me a lot. eye-opener indeed.

The crossover distortion would be unacceptable (and almost never seen) in a $400 power amplifier.

 

[CDMC]

Was cruising my Apple News and saw Stereophile has a review of the updated Momentum M400 at $80,000, which claims to be hugely improved. Still subpar measurements and major crossover distortion. Particularly interesting are the comments by D’Agostino as to measurements:


“D’Agostino and measurements
With every D’Agostino product I’ve reviewed—this is the fourth—some measured results have correlated poorly with what I was hearing.6 I asked Dan to comment.
“I also use measurement techniques,” he replied. “I have the same equipment John has, and I have some other equip- ment that’s probably more than Stereo- phile wants to buy. But I use measure- ments to see if I’m on the straight and narrow performance-wise—to make sure that the product doesn’t do anything stupid.
“At Krell, I lived and died by measure- ments. Make no mistake about it: Here, I don’t care about them. They’re only a means to an end. If I make something that has higher distortion than the product just before it but sounds infinitely better, that makes me happy.
“In the end, I’m only interested in how good a component sounds. I’m never going to make something that sounds impolite, buzzes, hums, or only works with a certain speaker. But I do not care about the measurements when I look at my Audio Precision or HP stuff. When
it shows me a reasonable output and indicates that it’s doing a good job, that’s all I care about.””