WE HAVE ROUNDED UP TEN ELEVEN  14  OF THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AMPLIFIERS ON THE PLANET

TO BEST TESTED BY A PANEL OF VETERAN AUDIOPHILES & REVIEWERS

THIS MONTH.

DETAILS OF THE COMPARISONS WILL BE PUBLISHED

BY THE END OF MARCH

 

HERE ARE THE CONTENDERS – SO FAR!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Onkyo A-9555 Integrated Digital Stereo Amplifier – THANKS TO LOYAL READER RAJIV FOR PERSONAL LOAN!

Exclusive Vector Linear (VL) Digital technology /Optimum Gain Volume Circuitry / Pure Stream Power Supply / All discrete output stage circuitry / Low-impedance, thick bus plateAudiophile-grade capacitor / Precision motor-driven volume control / Tone control (Bass, Treble, Loudness On/Off) / Pure direct mode / Discrete phono equalizer circuitry6 audio inputs and 2 outputs / Phono input / High-rigidity, anti-resonant chassis / Aluminum volume and selector knobs / Speaker A/B posts / Banana plug-compatible speaker posts / Headphone jack / Heavy-duty power cord (inlet type) / Compatible with Remote Interactive Dock for the iPod / RI (Remote Interactive) remote controlAMPLIFIER SECTION - Power Output 85 W/Ch (8 ohms, 0.5 %, FTC) / Dynamic Power 230 W + 230 W (3 ohms, Front) 200 W + 200 W (4 ohms, Front) / 120 W + 120 W (8 ohms, Front)Total Harmonic Distortion 0.08 % / Damping Factor 25 (Front, 1 kHz, 8 ohms) / Input Sensitivity and Impedance - Phono MM 2.5 mV/50 k-ohms / CD 200 mV/50 k-ohms PRICE - $799 LIST

 

 

 

Flying Mole CAS-10 Integrated

100 Watts per channel dual mono design

$1,795

 

 

 

 

Flying Mole DAD M100 Stereo Power Amplifier

• Rated Output: 160-watts / 4 ohm,100-watts / 8 ohm
• Total Conversion Rate of 85% decreases heat generation extremely.
• Super compact & Super-light weight: 650g (1.4lb)
• Sealed Case Design and Anti Dust Construction.
• High Sound Quality Circuit Design.
• Conforms to all main market safety standards.
• Three Input/Output terminal designs provide conformation to all
applications and needs.
• 1/3 of rated output power can be delivered continuously.
• High Impedance Capability.

 

 

 

 

Panasonic Digital Receiver

Class D amplification. How did this get in here??!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The BRONTE by Sonneteer – Thank you Nizar of May Audio

The Sonneteer Brontë digital amplifier is the first affordable, high end consumer amplifier to employ class T digital technology. Digital means that you get more power from a small box and a lot less heat while improving on reliability. This level of efficiency allows most of the energy that is normally wasted to heat in conventional class AB amplifiers to be transferred to the loudspeakers. This also means that the Brontë is suited to home install situations where heat is a problem due to stacking multiple amplifiers under the stairs for example. A second remote receiver eye is also accessible from the rear panel to aid multi-room home installs.

To accommodate multiple amplifier set-ups the Brontë has a 12v control input and output that allows the amplifier to switch on other Brontë amplifiers remotely. Any number of Brontë integrated and/or power amplifiers can be ‘daisy chained’ together in this way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LYNGDORF SDA 2175 - Thanks to Mark Lyon of Audio Systems.

How about 200 watts into 8 ohms and 375 watts into 4 ohms, both channels driven, with superb sound quality--  for $1800?   The SDA 2175 is a high-performance semi digital amplifier designed without compromise. It acts as a controllable slave amplifier in Lyngdorf Audio active speaker systems or as a power amplifier for external pre-amplifiers. The output stage uses Pulse Width Modulation with a patented switch speed optimization technology. This ensures a low natural distortion, and an unmatchable performance is achieved by using less feedback than other Class D amplifiers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trends Audio TA-10 – Thanks to Trends Audio

Trends Audio introduces the mini-size Class-T stereo amplifier TA-10 providing up to 2x15W output with the bundled AC power supply unit. Thanks to the Tripath’s proprietary Class-T Digital Power Processing ™ technology and our special techniques in circuit design and component selection, TA-10 achieves the sound quality of high-end HiFi but in a very affordable price.

The TA-10 performs very like Class-AB amplifiers with high fidelity and warm sound. Yet, its power efficiency and physical size is just like Class-D amplifiers. Even it’s maximum output power is only 2x15W, TA-10 is actually powerful to push even the floor-stand speakers with sufficient and good control of bass sound. It has no problem for normal home use purposes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOMAD AUDIO NIAGARA – Thanks to Paul Hilgeman of Nomad Audio

Power: 200W into 8 ohms, 400W into 4 ohms per channel

Bandwidth: 10-50Khz—All Loads, All Power Levels (+0, -3dB) Inputs: XLR and RCA (switchable)

Price: $1950.00

The Niagara is a Class D power amplifier. It offers very low distortion, invariant of load and highly invariant of power output. It offers a large amount of output power, in a small package with incredible efficiency. In idle, it draws a mere 20 watts when not playing, and dissipates very little more when playing.

It is housed in an attractive aluminum chassis that will look at home anywhere. Each unit has switchable inputs, either XLR or RCA. This allows a user to hook up two completely different systems to it, and switch between them. This alleviates the need to find a hi-fi preamplifier that also as an HT by-pass, a feature that more and more of us are searching for, but picking’s are slim.

The unit can be constructed with the power cord on the left, center or right of the unit with minor variations in the location of the rest of the connectors and switches. This will allow for easy placement on an equipment shelf, or floor.

The binding posts are placed well above the bottom of the unit so larger spades, and thicker wire can be easily routed into place.

 

 

 

 

 

NUFORCE IA7 – Thanks to Jason Lim of Nuforce Audio

Power Output:

100W x 2 with 24,000uF of capacitance using 200W SMPS

338W peak power at 8 ohms.

Power Bandwidth: 100Hz to 20kHz +/- 0.3 dB; 20Hz -0.9 dB; 80kHz -3 dB

THD+N < 0.05% from 20Hz to 20kHz @ 10W, 8-ohm load

Damping Factor > 4000 at any audio frequency

Remote input selection and volume control with memory (last selection, volume level)

Digitally-controlled switched attenuator. Volume Range: +30dB to –70dB with 0.5dB steps

Audio Inputs:

4 sets of RCA inputs (1 set can be configured as pre-out)

Alternate configuration (available on black IA-7 only): 2 sets of RCA inputs, 1 3.5mm stereo input and 1 3.5 mm stereo pre-out

Audio Outputs:

1 set of RCA preamp output jacks (only 3 sets of RCA inputs are available if this is configured)

Speaker Binding Posts accept spade lugs or banana plugs

 

 

 

 

 

SONIC IMPACT SUPER T AMP – supplied by James Darby – Publisher, Stereomojo

REAR CONNECTORS: 1) Left and Right audio input channels. DC 12V in for wall adapter or optional portable power supply. Left and Right audio output channels.

CONTROL PANEL: 1) Power Button: Power on or power off the Super T Amp. 2) Blue Led: The Led on/off indicates power on/off. 3) Volume control knob

Class-T architecture Single Supply Operation; High Power; Single Supply Operation 15W @4 Ohm,10% THD+N

Audiophile Quality Sound 10W @ 8 Ohm,10% THD+N; 0.04% THD+N @ 9W,4 Ohm; High Efficiency; 0.18% IHF-IM @ 1W,4 Ohm 81% @ 5W,4 Ohm; 11W @ 4 Ohm,0.1% THD+N 88% @ 10W,8 6W @ 8 Ohm,0.1% THD+N; Dynamic Range=98dB

$139

 

 

 

 

 

 

AUDIOSECTOR PATEK  

This amp is not a class D or T amp, but rather a Gain Card. It was offered to us for the shootout

and we decided to include it, after some discussion, because the shootout, while labelled "Class D & T", is also about emerging technologies.

50 watts average output power into 8 ohms
100W instantaneous peak output power
Gain: 30dB
Input impedance: 22K
S/N ratio: >95dB (min)
Output protection from short
Output over-voltage protection against transients from inductive loads
Frequency response: 5Hz - 250kHz (-3dB)

 

 

 

Little Dot T - 100 Tripath amplifier - Supplied by Danny Richie, Technical Editor - Stereomojo.com. Thank you, Danny!

• Based on the Tripath TA2022 Class T
• Continuous Maximum Output: 2x100W @ 4 ohms, 2x60 @ 8 ohms
• Frequency Response: 9 hz - 93 Khz (+/- 5db)
• THD+N: 0.02%
• Micro-chip switching from four different sources
• 0 to -63 digital volume control (degree of distortion < 0.002%)
• Samsung digital (VFD) display
• Speaker surge protection: 200VA
• Infrared remote control
• Dimensions: 14"L x 10'W x 3"H
• Weight: 7.5 kg (16.5 lbs)
• Includes Upgraded Tube Pre-stage PCB with EF92/CV131 vacuum tubes

• Price: $499

 

GARY DODD CUSTOM CLASS T STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER

30 Watts per channel

Battery Powered

Distortion only .05 at 30 watts

Limited production of 25 units - get them while you can!

$1,299

No picture available - yet!

Gary Dodd Audio