Sophia Electric 91-01 300B monoblock power amplifier Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Sources: Garrard 301, EMT 997, Thorens TP 14 tonearms; EMT OFD 25 & TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads; Ortofon Cadenza Red, Miyajima Premium BE II mono cartridges.
Digital Sources: Meridian Explorer, Wavelength Proton USB D/A converters; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.11.0, Decibel v.1.2.11 playback softwares; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2 step-up transformer; Shindo Vosne-Romanee & Masseto preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks, Fi 421A.
Loudspeakers: Altec Valencia, DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96.
Cables: USB: AudioQuest Carbon, Nordost Blue Heaven. Interconnect (single-ended): Audio Note AN-Vx, Shindo Silver. Speaker: Auditorium 23.
Accessories: Box Furniture Company D3S rack (source & amplification components); Keith Monks record-cleaning machine.—Art Dudley

COMPANY INFO
Sophia Electric
1952 Gallows Road, Suite 214
Vienna, VA 22182
(703) 992-8546
ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
wtrp's picture

Enjoyable reading for sure.  I'm glad that you compared the entry level Sophia's to a mid-upper model range of the Shindo corton-charlemagne.  That's like say a huge price difference from Sophia's $5k/pair to Shindo's $10k+.  

If the only difference in the end is only a slight "sparkle" here and there or more "natural" here and there then I'm not sure if which has the best bang for the buck? Instead of repeatedly smelling the amplifier, a better test would be to do a blind listening session held by a third party to see if you can still smell the amplifiers from 7-10 feet away and pick out which amp Sophia or Shindo is running.  For the majority of audiophiles out there, in the end is this:  are you listening to the music at an emotional level or simply listening to the eye candy equipment?

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