![]() I am not surprised that Rogers has released their new tube amps and those are made by Audio Note. In fact, it was with the Rogers LS-3/5a (new version) where it interested me because it was the first time I actually liked the sound of those speakers. Still, it sounds better than pretty much any E元4 I have tried over the years precisely because it doesn't make me think Push-Pull sound. I think the Cobra is the ugliest of the bunch because of the big Cobra put on the top of it and only available in black. The profit margin goes up too high IMO when they get to the west. Cayin makes some great-looking amps too but the best ones only seem to be affordable here in Hong Kong and in China. Interestingly Triode Labs makes the more affordable and best-looking amps of the lot so they are worth looking into as a cost-saving proposition. ![]() I quite enjoyed the Cobra and IMO it's far better than what I have heard from Prima Luna or my prior Line Magnetic or what I have heard from Cayin (Cayin makes the transformers for both Line Magnetic and Prima Luna and Triode Labs (Line Magnetic makes the rest of the amp for Triode Labs). What I would want to do is connect the 0.1x DAC to the Cobra then we can compare apples to apples. I did like the DAC chip more than a $2000ish CD player from Roksan that was connected to it.īut again when we talk separates - the Cobra is somewhat acting like a separate DAC for the Roksan one box player. You, like me, own the DAC0.1x and it's better than the DAC that is in the Cobra - my understanding is that the Cobra version is not a tube dac - it uses the chip but it's not the same thing. I have owned the OTO Phono SE for the last 18 years but taking the M1 phono (which is the preamp in the OTO) allows for more amplifier choices and running that preamp with my Empress Silver monoblocks is vastly superior to the OTO. The Tonemiester is a lot better than the first version which wasn't my cup of tea. ![]() Big, heavy box - not exactly pretty but I understand why it's Audio Note's best selling amplifier. If I were not a reviewer - this would be my amp. Having come back from listening to the one box Audio Note Meishu Phono Tonmesiter (basic entry level version) it was astonishing. ![]() And a good designer making a good integrated will sound better than a so-so designer making separates. Note: There can be an advantage to integrated products too: Short signal paths require less wiring and the best wiring is no wiring - so short wiring is better than long wiring. But of course, going separates is a lot more money. The P3 is the identical power amp section that is in the Meishu - same parts etc. One thing great about Audio Note is that if you ever want to compare integrated to separates you can actually audition the EXACT same design and parts etc and compare them back and forth. If you separate all this out it sounds better than the Meishu Phono integrated. You can buy this integrated amp as separates - an M2 Phono (or M2 Line and separate M2 Phono RIAA) and P3 300B stereo Power amp. Take the Meishu Phono 300B integrated amplifier. Audio Note integrated amplifiers are usually two separates in on box sharing one power supply. There are other reasons like heat dissipation to be considered, but I will keep it to this for the time being, but you should get the gist.Ĭlick to expand.I agree with T Audio that in general separates are superior to integrated units for the reasons he mentions, power supplies, shielding, etc.Īnd this is true for Audio Note. Compromises have to be made in a one box solution unless the case is made large enough to reduce the influence of internal noise, often to the point where the one box design is bigger than a two or three box solution. When amplifying small signals in a one box solution, it is likely that these may be influenced by large fields generated by the bigger power supply needed to power a one box solution. The latter, assuming a good design is generally accepted as better than the former in terms of the best audio fidelity. The use of op-amps is often chosen over good use of discrete transistor circuits. Space is important for a single box design so discreet circuitry is often given up in place of surface mount technology. With a single box solution, power supplies are often shared and are rarely optimised for each active stage in the chain. Separate units have their own circuits and associated power supplies, and their active stages will be optimised for best results within their enclosure. Click to expand.Difficult to say without hearing the comparison directly in your system.
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