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Mark Levinson Replica Amp

I have bought one out of sheer curiosity and measured it:

Rated power (1% THD + N, 1 kHz) [W]

1 channel / 2 channels driven:
8 Ohm 55W / 55W
4 Ohm 91W / 91W

Sensitivity (for maximum power) [V] 0.65
Signal / noise ratio (A-weighted filter, with reference to 1W) [dB] 98
Dynamics [dB] 116
Damping factor (in relation to 4 ohms) 71

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Not bad, although the early LF rolloff is suprising.

Sounds pretty decent ... for $350 amp. But that's it.
 
Thanks for measuring the wee beastie!

Was frequency response measured at 1 W or full power? That is a lot of roll-off, wonder if it is intentional or could be cured with a different coupling capacitor somewhere. The original link no longer worked for me so I could not check out the advertised specs.
 
I have also bought the darTZeel clone. Stay tuned.
 
That low end roll-off is obscene.

What coupling are you using and what capture device/software? Is it a soundcard front end? Mic input/Line?

What about this front panel markings- they cannot be serious! :)

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Left Eye, Right eye and Power Nose!
 
I bought this one:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/201...Zeel-Audio-Amplifier-Circuit/32835083992.html

There was no need to pay for the fake casework, as I just wanted to test the circuit. A friend of mine had the original one for sale (NHB-108) and we were to measure both side by side, but unfortunately - it sold before we managed to measure them.

What I can tell you right away, is that in contrary to what chineese claim, this is not a 100% circuit copy. This is a very unussual design and they were not able to make it stable - it had excessive DC at the output. They got around this by throwing in a DC servo circuit, which was absent in the original. Not to mention, the outputs is relay protected - gone is the sophisticated Crowbar protection circuit, which take half of the original design.

So it is more a 'darTZeel ispired' amp than a 100% circuit copy they claim.
 
Are there any amps/pre-amps below 1K offered at the AliExpress featuring 100% circuit copy, and not just casework imitating the original? I see BIG names like darTZeel, Goldmund, Krell, Mark Levinson, Burmester to name a few... Do they just look like "the real thing" or what?
 
I have bought two clones - darTZeel and ML - and none of them was a 100% circuit copy the seller advertised.

IMO you would be better getting s/h Job power amp - which basicly is a $8000 Goldmund in a $1500 package. Or one of the nCore based amps, like the Nord.
 
Thank you very kindly, dear experts, for your most appreciated advice!

You saved me quite a bit of dough: I almost pulled the trigger on one of the ML clones. Glad I asked you first!

The Job INT (upgrade from 225?) looks interesting indeed. Just a couple of points: digital volume control, and no balanced input…

I am not familiar with class D designs: can they REALLY sound like class A (think PASS Labs XA series, e.g.)? Are they not equipped with SMPS? Are they capable of providing adequate power bandwidth? Anyway, this UK-based outfit, Nord, does offer a few models looking good on paper… Any first-hand listening impressions? And how do they compare in terms of price/performance ratio to the competition?

Please chime in!
 
I think this is one of those "innocent" questions that typically starts an audiophile range war. Let the bloodletting begin.
 
TheInquiring said:
I am not familiar with class D designs: can they REALLY sound like class A (think PASS Labs XA series, e.g.)? Are they not equipped with SMPS?
Click to expand...
My switching amplifier (modified class D) uses linear power supply but that is not the norm. Many use switching supplies. But yes, I don't see anything missing in my experience with switching amplifier. It is highly efficient which allows me to pull tons of power out of the wall socket.

The most audible artifact in any amplifier is it running out of power. Switching amplifiers for the most part remove this barrier because due to their efficiency, they don't need massive heatsinks and large power supplies to drive them.

To be sure they are bad class D amps out there but good designs can be very clean.
 
TheInquiring said:
Thank you very kindly, dear experts, for your most appreciated advice!

You saved me quite a bit of dough: I almost pulled the trigger on one of the ML clones. Glad I asked you first!

The Job INT (upgrade from 225?) looks interesting indeed. Just a couple of points: digital volume control, and no balanced input…

I am not familiar with class D designs: can they REALLY sound like class A (think PASS Labs XA series, e.g.)? Are they not equipped with SMPS? Are they capable of providing adequate power bandwidth? Anyway, this UK-based outfit, Nord, does offer a few models looking good on paper… Any first-hand listening impressions? And how do they compare in terms of price/performance ratio to the competition?

Please chime in!
Click to expand...

Digital volume control and Class D amplification are two persistent audiophile bugbears.

Digital volume control, if implemented well, is completely transparent. It's likely possible but more difficult and expensive to achieve the same transparency with analog volume control. The IC solution for digital volume control in the JOB INT is probably fine. That said, because of the unusually high gain of Goldmund's JOB amplifier circuit, the JOB products are not a slam dunk; the gain seems to make them prone to hiss and grounding noise with most equipment.

Class D amplification can be fine, too. The three best speakers that I have heard--the Kii Threes, Dutch & Dutch 8Cs, and B&O BeoLab 90s--all use Class D amplification, and two of the three best systems that I have heard used Class D amplifiers (NCore amplifiers in one case, Pascal amplifiers in the other).

With these technologies, all depends on the implementation. The Nord amplifiers seem promising, but it's impossible to know without measurements.
 
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