Solid State Power Amp Reviews

As with the other amplifiers on review this month, my listening system included my reworked Philips CD-50 and my buffered-passive preamp. All line-level gear was plugged into an Audio Express NoiseTrapper Plus. Speakers were the Spica Angeluses and Thiel CS 1.2s. Interconnect was Straight Wire Maestro, with 8' runs of both Maestro and Cardas Hexlink Five speaker cable. Whereas the Maestro sounded smoother and more natural, the Cardas gave a brighter presentation that was welcome on some CDs, annoying on most. As I felt the overall sound to be more neutral with the Maestro, I stayed with it for the listening sessions.—Corey Greenberg