Stereophile Amplification Product of the Year

[Soria Moria]

There has been this:

Topping DM7 8-channel D/A processor

www.stereophile.com

Topping Pre90 line preamplifier

There has not been a conventional preamplifier in my main audio system for quite a while, because no multichannel preamp is available that's of high enough quality. Instead, I use the high-precision digital volume controls in my players and DACs and choose sources with a relay-based multichannel...

www.stereophile.com

Both reviewed by Kalman Rubinson who is a member here.

Class A for the Preamp same as several preamps costing more than $50k.

Class B for the DA unit.

From the PRE90 review:

Is one preamp more accurate than the other? There's no way to know, since we cannot know exactly what the mastering engineers committed to the recording. That's Floyd Toole's Circle of Confusion.

What? I don't think the circle of confusion is really about amplifiers. And I assume audible distortion is very rarely a thing in amplifiers used in studios.

 

[mhardy6647]

Seems like there is an asymptotic limit on price where even an amplifier of nearly infinitely poor ranking still costs something. Is it around $1000? Is that "cloth ear" territory?

Armed with a good fitting model, I did some extrapolating.

ranking	extrapolated $
4​	1601.482​
5​	754.9753​
10​	17.57865​
15​	0.409297​
20​	0.00953​
30​	5.17E-06​
50​	1.52E-12​
100​	7.11E-29​

Pretty sure that some of the off-brand amps from Asia are around that 41 cent price point for #15 ranking.

 

[MattHooper]

No vacuum, no good. Nature abhors a vacuum, but audiophiles love and crave it. Lets the electrons fly free, not like being shoved around like in a JFET.

View attachment 328133

Thread was worth it just for that cartoon!

 

[DonR]

Armed with a good fitting model, I did some extrapolating.

ranking	extrapolated $
4​	1601.482​
5​	754.9753​
10​	17.57865​
15​	0.409297​
20​	0.00953​
30​	5.17E-06​
50​	1.52E-12​
100​	7.11E-29​

Pretty sure that some of the off-brand amps from Asia are around that 41 cent price point for #15 ranking.

Someone posted yesterday about a Bluetooth speaker that could be had for 64c in bulk. I think the #30 ranking at a penny might come into play.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

It would be a bargain at 1/10,000 of the price!

 

[Blumlein 88]

What is weird, is there are little Op-amps originally used mostly for headphone amps. You can pair up or maybe quad up some of those and get this much power. Run it through a resistor at the output and get much of the effect (well you will need to add some distortion somehow).

 

[computer-audiophile]

We are the Anti-Snob Snobs.

Yes, it looks that way.

 

[Skeeter]

The one thing I would say Stereophile has going for it are the measurements JA does. I always check those first, and his comments at the end, and then read the rest of the review. However, how some of this stuff gets to be product of the year beggars belief. However, the people buying this stuff for the most part wouldn’t know their THD from their wallet.

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people can be repeatedly outraged when Stereophile does what it does. Again.

 

[computer-audiophile]

The one thing I would say Stereophile has going for it are the measurements JA does.

Yes, you have to be happy these days if someone does it.

 

[voodooless]

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people can be repeatedly outraged when Stereophile does what it does. Again.

We have to be outranged every time if we want to see a change. Complacently accepting the status quo will not get you anywhere.

 

[Mnyb]

That's the problem with AN they make bizzare claims that somehow their stuff is the only correct sounding hifi and that the "real distortion" in solid state can not be measured with current methods etc bla bla bla .

it would be more honest of them to says that these are boutique special amps with these deliberate sonic characteristics we like to listen too ! But only on special fit for purpose speakers due the limitations in the product . And hand built on a small scale to order, so the price is what it is , come and buy .

So i deem as the biggest joke in all of hifi , lika A to Z on how not build hifi.
Their DAC's have even more terible design concepts with outdated chips and passive I/V conversion with transformers ! (silver ofcourse at a premium ) so all semblance of linearity can be dealt with pronto

 

[Mart68]

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people can be repeatedly outraged when Stereophile does what it does. Again.

I don't think 'Outraged' is the right word.

Years ago there was a bookshop in a nearby town and on the white tiled wall under the display window someone had spray-painted, 'Books are wank.'

I feel the same about this amplifier as I did about that graffiti. Simultaneously amused and saddened. I don't think there is a word for that in English but perhaps German might have something appropriate.

 

[TonyJZX]

there's been some lively discussion on Audio Note here in the past

I always thought this was a Japanese company but suffice to say people who love Audio Note, LOVE Audio Note so much that its almost a cult.

I do get there's a cult of McIntosh but I dont think its as deep as Audio Note. And to me awarding "best of" would tend to imply some kind of 'mass market' zeitgeist and yet its not the case here.

And people will say there's payola in the background but I dont think AN is that big or really that corrupt?

Its just these mags shilling a local manufacturer who produces a weird niche product with a following and I dont think they could go wrong as far as their demographic goes?

And yes I too miss the red light district Amsterdamn whores' window too. Gotta see the 300-DDs!

 

[mhardy6647]

I mean the thing is:
1) it wouldn't be too difficult to scratch build a decent 300B amp (with decent output iron) for a couple of thousand dollars.
2) it would look much better than the big silver box in the first post.

I don't have a 300B amplifier (@computer-audiophile probably still does, though) -- but I do have a nice 2A3 amplifier with decent output iron that could be replicated in that couple of thousand $ price range in 2023.

Personally, I'd rather look at:




than:

And I'd definitely rather spend the $10 or 12k delta in price on something else!

PS I am amused by the complexity of so many discussions here juxtaposed with a number of recent posts that contain the true confession "well... I don't know how to solder...". Soldering is -- how can I put this? -- not hard.
(yeah, yeah, surface mount components do up the ante, but there is life without SMDs and two-sided PCBs -- just sayin')

 

[computer-audiophile]

I mean the thing is:
1) it wouldn't be too difficult to scratch build a decent 300B amp (with decent output iron) for a couple of thousand dollars.
2) it would look much better than the big silver box in the first post.

That is correct. And there are also very good 300B amplifiers to buy today that are not even expensive and are also based on a circuit that Audio-Note has already used, namely the 6SN7 cascade in a loftin-white circuit. I have already given an example of this. Whether anyone believes me that it can really compete with very expensive 300B amps is another matter.

By the way, nowhere did I say that I think the Audio Note amp is beautiful. But if they can sell it at that price, they'd be stupid not to.

 

[mhardy6647]

^^^ That is an even better answer than mine.

 

[fpitas]

I mean the thing is:
1) it wouldn't be too difficult to scratch build a decent 300B amp (with decent output iron) for a couple of thousand dollars.
2) it would look much better than the big silver box in the first post.

I don't have a 300B amplifier (@computer-audiophile probably still does, though) -- but I do have a nice 2A3 amplifier with decent output iron that could be replicated in that couple of thousand $ price range in 2023.

Personally, I'd rather look at:




than:

View attachment 328279

And I'd definitely rather spend the $10 or 12k delta in price on something else!

PS I am amused by the complexity of so many discussions here juxtaposed with a number of recent posts that contain the true confession "well... I don't know how to solder...". Soldering is -- how can I put this? -- not hard.
(yeah, yeah, surface mount components do up the ante, but there is life without SMDs and two-sided PCBs -- just sayin')

I find it far easier to understand DIY efforts with tubes.

 

[mhardy6647]

I find it far easier to understand DIY efforts with tubes.

It's a freaking walk in the park!
I understand the circuitry.
I can troubleshoot it if it breaks.
Parts have been available for decades (a century, in many cases) and, so far, are still robustly available.
It's fun.

The big silver $15k-plus box...

 

[RayDunzl]

I always thought this was a Japanese company

Me too...

AUDIO NOTE

KONDO - THE CREATOR OF AUDIO NOTE JAPAN Hiroyasu Kondo founded Audio Note Japan in 1976 and since that date, Audio Note Japan has been manufacturing premium audio reproduction products. Now Audio Note Japan manufacture equipment will bear the logo 'Kondo'.

www.audionote.co.jp

Kondo's Story:

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