NAD M23 Power Amp $3500 (200 w/ch or 700w mono)
(5 1/4h, 17 1/8w, 15 5/8d, 22 lbs)
NAD has just hit the bullseye on its new Masters Series power amp! It is priced quite reasonably and competes with any amp on the planet. It’s due to ship any day. How do I know how it sounds already? M23 is the power amp section of the M33 Eigentakt integrated that has been turning heads since the day it came to market in 2020!
You can buy a single M23 to run with the preamp of your choice. You can buy a pair and run them as monoblocks. If you own an M33, you can buy an M23 and run each bridged.
The 200 w/ch rating is significantly lower than what the M23 actually puts out. There’s a reason for this rating. I’ll explain the details below.
M23 features new, cutting edge Eigentakt technology. Eigentakt is a SOTA amplifier design with dramatically less distortion (THD & IM) than traditional amplifiers. Eigentakt benefits your music with highly resolving sound and no sonic harshness or bite. It’s uncanny how much more tranquil music can sound without an edgy sounding amp in the equation.
Traditional amplifiers use four (plus/minus L&R) OR MORE output transistors. These transistors are not well matched. They’re all different. Envision four tuning forks working together, but all are slightly out of tune with each other. Instead of a synonymous pure tone, you experience distortion or fuzz through a plethora of different tones. This is the case with a four output transistor amp. Audiophiles describe this distortion as sounding harsh, or grainy.
It gets worse when you buy a more powerful amplifier that has 8, 12, 16 or even more transistors. You’ll get more wattage with more transistors. But the problem is that the distortion and harshness accumulates as well. That’s why a company’s 50×2 amp with four Ts invariably sounds better than the same company’s 200×2 amp with a dozen Ts.
The Eigentakt design doesn’t use these traditional transistors. It uses Eigentakt computer regulated amplifier modules that NAD makes. NAD does not buy these modules from some vendor and plug them into its amps. NAD has some secret sauce built in its E modules that make its amps even better than the standard Eigentakt architecture. Eigentakt modules are precisely controlled and yield distortion at so low a level that it is difficult to measure.
Traditional amps often have distortion specs of .1%. NAD’s M23 measures .00069%. NAD’s Eigentakt measures roughly 150 times less distortion! It isn’t uncommon for traditional amps to measure more like .2%. Now Eigentakt is 300 times less distortion. It gets stickier.
Almost all companies claim their amplifier power AT CLIPPING, or 1%. Please note, they don’t claim power ratings where distortion is .1%. They claim their power AT CLIPPING. That’s 1%.
NAD does NOT. NAD’s power of 200×2 is claimed with distortion of .00069%. That makes M23 1500 times less in distortion than 1%. Hence NAD M23 at its rated power, is about 1500 times less distortion than the rank and file at their rated power!
Just read the fine print in Stereophile magazine’s amplifier tests. It’s right there every month. Amp after amp hits the wall of clipping right at its power rating! Some actually crash before their rating. Most barely reach, much less exceed, the ratings they claim.
If NAD played ball like the other guys and claimed M23’s power at clipping as they do, it would be rated at over 255×2. If you need a great power amp for $3500, please consider M23. If you want to run a pair of monoblocks you’ll have 700×2 for $7k. Or….
Since the M23 power amp is the same amp that is in NAD’s M33 integrated amp, you can buy M23 and run it bridged in tandem with M33. Then you’ll have a pulverizing 700×2 with a great streaming preamp to boot!
Amphion Argon 1 $1900 Per Pair (Black or White), $2000 Per Pair Walnut
(12.44h, 6,3w, 10.43d, 18 lbs, 86 dB, 8 ohms)
Amphion’s Argon 1 is what I’d call a niche speaker. It fills its particular niche better than any speaker in the biz. When you need a round peg for a round hole, please consider Argon 1.
Amphion is made in Finland. It has world class TLC. Most $1900 speakers are made in job houses in China by companies we’ve never heard of. These companies will make speakers for YOU that come in a box with your fancy logo and model number. All you have to do is wire them money. Amphion couldn’t be more different.
You probably have a system in your house that hits hard when you want it to. It does some things well. Delivering muscle is most likely the strength of that system. Yet, your lady doesn’t want to hear it that loud and the articulation isn’t inspiring at a modest volume level. Please consider a second set up in a smaller room, where at least you CAN listen to it without harassment.
Let’s have some fun with a speaker that is sterling in articulation and transparency, in a small shelf print. While Argon 1 won’t thunder like your big boys, it will likely outperform them in the precious areas of vocal, guitar and piano.
Argon 1 is the ideal speaker when you want your sound to float. It creates a convincing image which is absolutely surreal, given the size of the enclosures. You can place a couple of these stealth little guys on stands or even on a wall unit and have no sense of where THEY are. Yet you’ll have no trouble envisioning the broad presentation of a human voice (for ex) in your room. Think Alison Krauss and the tune “Maybe.”
Amphion has created Argon 1 to produce a translucent, boxless image of immense size. It isn’t made to drop barbells on your floor. In fact, Argon 1’s DNA is on the lean side. That’s on purpose.
Argon 1 is voiced to keep the sludge out of your music. We always prefer them on stands vs on a shelf. Yet if reality bites and you have no alternative, there’s no better speaker choice for your etager. Argon 1 won’t get murky on shelves. Oh, and you don’t need luxurious absorbers made of unobtanium to place underneath the speakers on the shelf. Try four hockey pucks. They’ll work just fine.
If you invited a bunch of audio buffs to your place and said, “Set the bass level where you like it.” I guaranty you that 90% of them would turn the bass up so thick that it would intrude on the musicality of the system. No doubt.
If you’re a sensitive man of the new millennium, that won’t do. You want to hear Alison and guitar without bloated overhang. Argon 1 is just the speaker to do the job. It uses Amphion’s waveguide, renowned Titanium tweeter and 5.25” Aluminum woofer. The cabinet is thick and internally braced. The crossover uses high echelon componentry. The wire is silver coated copper for improved transient response. Argon 1’s flavor is super smooth, yet highly resolving. It doesn’t try to euchre you with spiced up brightness to feign clarity.
If you’re considering a high resolution mini and don’t need to quake your foundation, Argon 1 might just be the ticket!
Horowitz In Sheboygan
Yep! It actually happened- in 1928. When Vladimir Horowitz came to the US he was a real road dog. He absolutely blew the fans away wherever he went. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1928 at age 24. He also played Sheboygan the same year. Hey, a guy has to make a living!