Hi everybody,
Here is a write-up of my first audition in search of a new amp. Last Saturaday (Shukla Panchami) it was the Saraswati puja in our housing complex, so after the community lunch with khichuri, mixed vegetable and rosogolla, I went out to SKS traders to audition the Quad 99 pre/909 power amps. The store previously called me to let me know that their discounted price on the combo was now 1.1L and urged me come and audition. Although people on this forum are not that upbeat about the combo, I thought a liitle audition cannot do any harm, so I went there with a number of good quality redbook CDs.
The CDP used were 1) Cayin CD 50T, and 2) CA Dacmagic with the Cayin CDP as transport. The speakers were Epos M12.2. Interconnects were XLO and speaker cables were from Ecosse. I did not check the exact numbers on the cables.
The pre and the power was initially hooked up by the stock Quadlink cable and later switched to a good quality interconnect. The quadlink connection was not really up to the mark. Everybody should use a good quality interconnect to connect the pre and the power amps.
The 6 CDs I had were male vocals, female vocals, instrumental music (sitar, African guitar from Ali Farka Torre), chorus vocals etc. I listened in all for 3 hours from 3:30PM to about 6:30PM.
The power amp was quite powerful, enough reserves of power. Dynamic range was simply tremendous and the sound was very detailed and full-throated. As I have mentioned before, when the sitar string is plucked, there is a huge burst of energy that is released. This sound then continues with the help of other strings which are specifically there for sympathetic vibration. The extension was beautiful.
The partcular sitar CD I am talking about here was by Nikhil Banerjee (tabla accompaniment by Anindo Chatterjee) recorded in Stuttgart in early 1980s. Everybody who has heard Nikhil Banerjee live would know that his sitar has a particular tonality, and this came out perfectly with the large dynamic range, fullness, correct timbre and an unearthly extension. This is something I really miss in my Nad integrated. Perhaps one should not expect the same kind of dynamic range from a low powered integrated and also the fullness of the sound, however I was missing the tonality on my integrated.
The male vocal was by Jasraj with vocal support by Shweta Jhaveri, again recorded in Stuttgart. I cannot say Jasraj is among my absolute favorites, but I used it because it is a tricky CD. Initially the volume is very low, and Jasrajji goes to the lower octave with a silky softness and stays there. I have heard all these artistes live and without microphones (including Shweta, who used to have one of the loveliest female voices I have ever heard) and I am very familiar with their tonal qualities.
The voices came out absolutely beautifully with all the requirements satisfied. The details on the vocals did not make it sound harsh though. When Jasraji came to the middle octave and started using transients with a full throated voice, that was also captured in its entirety and with good speed.
Separation of instruments and voices were good, but not spectacular. The imaging and soundstage was reasonable, again not spectacular, although I really do not know how much of these really depend on the recordings. For example Jasraji seemed to be positioned more to the left than centre etc.
However, as much as I like the amps, the combo was not that quiet in my evaluation. By that I mean the sound was not perhaps the most transparent. Is it due to the pre-amp? I remember dinyaar mentioning somethibg about the pre-amp. Ideally I would like a cleaner, more transparent sound. I do not know if this is possible within my budget keeping in mind that I also want the dynamic range, detail and the full sound experience I had from the quad combo.
Then, yesterday morning, before going out for my high school reunion in the afternoon, I did another experiment with same CDs at home. I changed my Nad amp with my 19 year old Harman Kardon HK 6300 amp. I was in for a big surprise. With my CA 740c CDP it actually did produce a very clean, yet powerful sound with a very decent dynamic range. I thought (as many people say it in this forum) the sound would be harsh. It was not harsh at all, the sound was very pleasant, however perhaps a little leaner (a winny bit) than the Nad.
I suppose when I bought my nad amp, at that time my cdp already started giving me trouble and that time onwards I was mostly using the cheap sony dvdp as my source. Probably because of the bad source the HK produced a harsh sound. Then with the purchase of the nad amp, things got sweeter, but actually this happened for a wrong reason, because the nad was coloring the sound, I guess. What other conclusion can be drawn from this?
From yesterday, I have put my nad back to the boxpack, and I am now listening from the HK amp. Does anybody know about these very old HK amps? This morning I was checking out the specs, and I found out that for this 60wpc amp, the transient high current can be as high as 38 Ampere. That's something, isn't it? I think it easily beats my nad amp by a country mile in many things, like cleanliness of the sound, tonality of the voices and all instruments, transient power for the dynamic range. The nad beats it in one area only I think, and that is the soundstage. The nad produces a huge soundstage. But with the HK it's not that bad either.
Now I know how I could live with my HK for such a long time. The nad was not the correct replacement, I would say. But my recent CDP upgrade (CA 740c) was the correct one within my budget.
Have I got insane? Liking the so-called harsh HK amp more than the nad? Why am I finding what I am finding? Are my evaluations all wrong? Am I now brainwashed to denounce the nad? Experts, please help and explain why this is happening to me.
But how about the Audire stuff the would fall under your budget but again i suppose geting an audition could be tough 
