But, I am not sure if my expectation from this amp is right. Not in the same class as best of solid-state amplifiers. My only gripe with this amp was that the transients were not as fast as I would have expected. Low end extensions were acceptably good and high were smooth and pleasantly extended. The sound-stage was fantastic, stereo image quite impressive, mid-range silky smooth, full-bodied vocals bringing the subtle timbre of the voices to life. It was like being in the stadium listening to Dire Straits perform live. Tracks such as Its Wonderful (Diana Krall), Love Over Gold (Dire Straits) sounded wonderfully "alive". In simple words, this setup made the speakers, the electronics disappear. The presentation was so liquid, so free-flowing I can bet a thousand bucks no one will be able to guess the size of the listening room, or the placement of the speakers if he were made to listen to the setup blind-folded. The vocals flew from the speakers like the flight of a free bird, unrestrained, inhibited. The tonality from the SFS-80 was a class act. I have auditioned hundreds of equipment at various price points and it doesn't take me long to discern the difference. And I strictly don't mean a "colored" sound here. On the outset I have to admit, the SFS-80 is full of tube goodness. Highs on both the amps are similar though the RRM Model 2 having a slight edge. They both offer amazing sound-stage, a grain free mid-range which a pleasure to the ears. For similarities, they both are fairly detailed for tube amps. Both the amps are top flight amps in their own right, and have quite a bit of similarity and dissimilarities. Other equipment used during this test were Goldmund Transport, Goldmund PRE-DAC, Benchmark HDR 1 DAC, Nuforce Icon HDP DAC, Canare Speaker Cable, Evolution Acoustics Cable, Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne speakers, Evolution Acoustics MMThree speakers.įirst and foremost the sound. It will be interesting to see how do they compare. So the two amplifiers that we are going to compare here are equally reputed, equally capable. He and his products are a legend in their own right. As for the manufacturer, Mark Levinson needs no introduction. It utilizes EL-34 as output tubes and 12AT7 in the driver and gain stages. The model under review named " Model 2" is a stereo power amplifier delivering 45 watts at 1 kHz. It's a Mark Levinson brand, a synonym for exotica. Red Rose Music again is no less interesting. It's is easy to see that the review that is to follow is of highly reputed products, even as very little talked about these days. Their components are said to be used by organizations such as NASA. Their products not only wooed consumers but also professional installers. Their products won a number of awards and many of their components were listed as CLASS-A by Stereophile. In their days they were one of the better known audio companies in North America. Due to the quality of their work they became famous soon and turned into a manufacturer selling pre-assembled full components (rather than kits). The manufacturer of the amp, Sonic Frontiers, started as a "kit" supplier. These tubes are known as high output tubes and hence are suitable for high wattage amps like these. Primary tubes used in this amp are 6550 (commercially better known as KT88/KT99). Now, that's quite a lot of wattage from a tube amp. 80 watts rms into the entire 20-20,000 HZ bandwidth one channel driven. The Sonic Frontiers SFS-80 is a stereo power amplifier from Sonic Frontier (who else) and the name of the model directly expand to " Sonic Frontier Stereo - 80", where 80 indicates its power output. But when I started writing I felt it required a separate thread for keeping the focus on this comparison clear and concise. I had firstly decided to make this a part of the MMMicroOne review. That, plus procrastination, kept me from bringing out this report. I'd consider myself wise not to keep any money at my house. Among major losses, two computers stolen. I have just recovered from a theft at my house.
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