Rogue DragoN Power Amp $4000: 300×2
(5.5h, 18w, 15d, 38 lbs)
Rogue’s Dragon features cutting edge technology to provide enormous power in a tube power amp, without the traditional problems we associate with valves. I have to cut to the chase and tell you from the outset that the Dragon is among my favorite power amps at ANY price, and clearly worth more than any amp I’ve heard at less than its price. If you can go north of something less expensive, you’ll be rewarded for stepping up to the Dragon. Why?
It comes down to speed and DYNAMICS. And I don’t mean drum kit bashing bass drums and cymbals. You can hear and appreciate the dynamics in the most nuanced music- like the phrasing by a great singer. As you listen to a marvelous singer like Stacy Kent “Close My Eyes”- each intonation ramps up, and down, with a girlish curl here and there. With lesser amps you can appreciate Stacy’s clear voice. With Dragon you can infer the emotion and appreciate her pure annunciation- a lost art if you ask me.
Dragon muscles up 300 w/ch into 8 ohms and almost double that into 4. There aren’t many speakers that legitimately need more power. Dragon can derive wonderful clarity and dynamics from powerful speakers that might be a little thirsty. Dragon is controlled in the lower registers which is great for those of us that love the grand piano.
Let’s recognize that there are a LOT of speakers on the market that don’t come alive until they’re driven by an uber powered amplifier. It’s simply a reality of physics that you’ve got to fight through the passive crossover network to get premier acceleration and control. Think of all the classic B&Ws, Kefs- and of course many of today’s speakers that present a ridiculously difficult impedance curve. Dragon will bring them all to a new level of performance.
Dragon employs three, massive, LINEAR power supplies in its design. These big power supplies allow Dragon to deliver meaty, heavyweight, but not FAT, sound to your speakers. Because the supplies are linear and not switching, Dragon has outstanding headroom as well. High wattage amps from Adcom, Parasound, Rotel and the like still sound soggy compared to the Dragon. Think of basketball players with great leaping ability compared to others who seem stuck to the court.
Dragon is literally a fire breathing monster in your hi-fi rig- capable of making music exciting instead of mundane. As described above, if you love great female (I don’t care about men singing) singer songwriters and their CRAFT, Dragon will purvey more sensuality to your music than you’ll get from traditional amps.
Dragon has some legit secret sauce up its sleeve. Owner Mark O’Brien uses a pair of 12AU7 tubes in his patented TubeD circuitry. TubeD is revolutionary in that Mark can employ the tubes in the amplifier section to deliver the warm sound you expect from them.
Other companies who run hybrid amps simply put a tube before the amp stage, which doesn’t come close to delivering the same luster in your music.
Dragon uses Ncore amplifier blocks to deliver thunderbolts into your speakers. The implementation of his design is different from the masses, in that he uses his Tube D design along with those 3 linear power supplies.
Dragon’s heart is comprised of a large toroidal transformer that harnesses any noise or RFI within its core. Dragon uses a big stack of filter capacitance.
The other guys use noisy EI core transformers, tiny filter caps and use switching supplies which quash headroom and don’t have the warmth of tubes. Components are spaced out within Dragon to avoid RFI and cross talk. The other guys stuff two pounds into a one pound bag- causing electronic idiosyncrasies.
Many tube amps sound soft and can be downright dull. Dragon sparkles with detail. The attack on guitar strings by a skilled tactician flies out in spades. Dragon produces outstanding musical texture and micro dynamic details. Perhaps best of all, Dragon throws lightning fast transients if they’re part of the music. Rogue mates this fine detail with classic tube warmth to create one of the best power amps in our wonderful hobby. If you own a pair of Magnepans you really need to hear the Dragon!
I’m happy to recommend Dragon with any speakers. But mostly… if you have some big time speakers that you think sound “good” now, I’ll bet they’re much more sluggish with your current amp than they would be with Dragon.
We run into lots of customers who bought used Wilsons, Dynaudios and of course vintage B&Ws and Kefs. These speakers have complicated crossovers and at some frequencies present criminal impedances to amplifiers. Please consider a Dragon to wake up these old boys.
