Solid State Power Amp Reviews

I thought I was going to read a review of the Audionet MAXes but ended up feeling like I just read a rave review on the the Pass XA200.8 monoblocks and the Nordost Odin 2s at the expense of The MAXes and Kubala Sosna Elation!s. Perhaps the funniest or saddest comment depending on how you look at this was the admission that the MAXes may have been at a distinct disadvantage due to them NOT being on the Grand Prix Audio amp stands like the Passes WERE when evaluating. YOU THINK? That's like saying "we didn't feel the Ferrari handled as well as the Lamborghini but perhaps it was because the tires on the Ferrari were worn out retreads and the Lamborghini was test driven with Perelli P ZERO CORSAs". Wow!

I'm a proud owner of the Audionet Max.
I didn't find in the "associated equipment" section the pre that was used in that review.
I, as Owen1, found the review a little bit confusing...

I feel your concern.

It could've gone the other way and this comment section would have the Pass owners griping.

As an Salon Owner using Electrocompaniet Gear, I was never able to find any Amplification that could out-perform it but nearly all Reviewed Amps were "said" to be superior, I sampled nearly all to find them lacking.

Customers listen with their Eyes and Mag.reviews when it comes to Amps.

Customers eagerly "listen" to all pricy Wire Products, they will always hear differences.

Customers can (and easily do) hear differences in PreAmps, nooooooooo problem.

Audiophile Amplification is the most Psychotic component, it's 2+2= something different for each person.

All this makes me wonder : What is the most popular Audiophile Amplifiers ever? I'd guess it's the NAD 3020.

Tony in Michigan

Wondering what version of Toy you have my copy has neither track you referenced. Thank you

Found this on Facebook, maybe it'll help:

"The Audionet review in this issue is perplexing. We have had 16 reviews of Audionet systems in the US since becoming the distributor and all of those reviewers come up with a different conclusion.
We strongly recommend using amplifiers with a companion preamp or at least a preamp. We don’t believe a DAC going direct with a digital volume control that trims bits is ever superior to a proper preamplifier. Further if a system is filled with tweaks and you are going to evaluate a component we strongly encourage detweaking the system and then reoptimizing the system. Only then can you really tell what a particular component really sounds like.
Also note that when using a digital volume control and playing DSD files the DSD is converted to PCM for the volume adjustment.
Any system’s sound is a sum of its parts. The system in which the MAX amps were placed might have been the Audionet showing off other parts of the system rather than the actual sound of the MAX.
At the most recent Axpona 2017 where the MAX amplification was used Jason reported,
“proved once again that this was a perfect, synchronistic match of components.
Perfect match? How about "highs that were brilliant without being piercing, impressive bass (albeit nowhere near as overwhelmingly powerful as from the far more expensive Sonja XV system), and excellent timbres? The bottom end may not have been as focused and clear as it could have been—this was a hotel room set-up, after all—but the excellence of timbres made for a winning presentation. Reservations aside, I loved it."
It is these types of experiences of our setups that peaked Jason’s interest enough to give the Max a try in his system. We just wish the recommendation of a preamp was used and a bit more care in the setup addressed. A true apple to apple comparison would have been appreciated.
We are not quite sure why Audionet was chosen for this beta-test-experiment of amplifier comparisons for an Audio Society when according to Jason, “the Maxes were at a distinct disadvantage” and the system clearly optimized for his reference amplifiers. Not only did the end results end in differing conclusions but amounted to a severely flawed experiment. True A/B test should be on an apple to apples basis which this clearly was not.
We appreciate John Atkinson’s measurements and his conclusion that “Max performed very well on the bench, offering high powers with very low levels of distortion and noise”.
We would like to highlight and clarify a couple of things in the measurement section. The measurement spikes which are shown in Figure 3 have nothing to do with the 1 kHz Signal. These are 60 Hz components from the mains. The procedure which Max turned off after 42 minutes has no practical attempt for a speaker but this was stated later on. All shut downs from the safety circuit are correct.

seemed as much about cables as amps. I don't personally buy into the cable thing, though I'd like to see all copper connectors/wire from imput to output. sending the signal through multiple metals, each with different electrical properties, is going to cause far more harm than some teflon dilectric layer can possibly fix. was funny that the the "B" option was overwhelmingly preferred (even when the amps were switched)... makes you think about the validity of those "lemmie swap in our high priced cables after listening to yours" demos, hmmm?

Would have much preferred the space spent going on about cables be spent comparing the sound of the two (or more) amps (even better if you could use multiple speakers since that's the interaction that determines if the amp will work for someone).

What did you think about the Xpander?

Also, which PowerCell are using?

Thank you for any answers you can provide! :)