| Listening to this amplifier in all its variations (with and without feedback and
folded cascode, and with various amounts of bias current) has been fun. I enjoyed them all
the same way wine connoisseurs enjoy different wines. The enjoyment is not so much in the
absolutes of performance as in the subtleties of the differences. I would stack this
amplifier up against anything built by Levinson, Audio Research, Krell, or Threshold. It
shares some of the characteristics of the better tube AR and VTL without imitating their
sounds.
I have a personal preference for single-ended (asymmetric) Class A power amps, which we
did not pursue in this article in deference to readers who want more power, and to Norm,
who has yet to share my enthusiasm. The 20% efficiency of the single- ended approach would
in any case have led to an amp idling at about 750W, and was not considered practical.
Those of you interested in single-ended Class A can write to me for a white paper and
product brochure for the Aleph 0,
which is my commercial offering. |
