excellent value for the money.very good sounding bass and liquid midrange. the soundstage and localization of instruments were spot on.i have maggie1.6 speakers and they love the power the amp supplies.highly recommended.

dynamics, resolution, soundstage... that feeling that makes you tap your feet and get into the music

this unit is great if its paired correctly, it can sound anywhere from warm to bright depending on your source components but it does have a tendency to sound a touch thin which can be a good thing depending on the way your system compliments this amplifier. My guess is that alot of the "thin" sound on most systems is due to the digital edge cds have when compared to the real thing so maybe this amp is just being "true" to what it's given because it doesnt sound even a hint on the "thin" side with my analogue rig.

This is a great sounding amplifier that throws a great soundstage and has dynamics to die for. The detail and resolution this amplifier has to offer is also very good but it can be improved upon greatly with an upgrade by ModHi-Fi.com which is really inexpensive to have done.

Similar Products Used:

too many to mention

Deep Bass. Pinpoint soundstaging. Dynamic, lots of headrooom.

Needs big speakers, big room to really shine. Mid range a little thin and hard with SS partnering.

I had the opportunity to bring this amp home and audtion it in my system for 3 days. I really wanted to love it and buy it given its relatively affordable price and high power. Unfortunately, it did not work very well in my system. Currently using an Ayre K3 pre-amp and Dynaudio 1.8mkII Speakers with a Meridian 508.24. It does throw a great soundstage in this system and the bass is very deep, but the mids can be somewhat hard, thin. I would think this piece would match up much better with a tube pre-amp which would soften up and add some richness to the mids. I found the bass to be a little loose besides being very deep, again, probably a mismatch with small floostanding speakers. To take full advantage of the prodigious bass, this amp would be best served with larger speakers and the bigger the room the better. Soundstaging is very good to great.

Almost tube like with greater control.

Probably not the best deal new. Buy used or consider purchase of 125.

I recently had the opportunity to listen to Steve's latest offering and I must concur that this is a credible offering.It has a tonal flavor similar to other CJ products. In fact, it might be a tough call for those trying to decide between the CJ MV55 and this solid state bruiser. Any negative feedback that might be reported are probably just system mismatches. The 225 is not a hot sounding product per say thus,it may not be your best choice with the magnepan's. It has relatively good resolution but, I would say that it is only average for its price.

Similar Products Used:

Carver,other CJ products, Belles. The unit is not in the same league as more expensive solidstate or better tube products.

Depth, image outline, palpability, speed, and midrange transparency. Very good at the frequency extremes. Price.

Runs a bit hot, single set of binding posts (tougher to bi-wire) although all connectors are Cardas. May lack a bit of body, although the right power cord goes a long way. Be careful what you put in front of the amplfier.

Wonderful sounding amplifier, please see R. Harley's review in TAS, very accurate description of this piece. This amplifier has excellent depth, layering, transparency, and a truly excellent quality of providing image outline and location in the soundstage. Compared to the Mark Levinson No.333 amplifier I had for a while, it provided greater access to the critical midrange, providing a cleaner, clearer view into the acoustic landscape. Depth was a bit better, but the No.333 had better overall control, bass, and dynamics, but at 9K new, it better! I would desciribe the sound of the DNA225 as lucid, with a clean, quieter backdrop compared to the No.333. Perhaps the full Class-A biasing of the ML amplifier attributed to the slightly sweeter, slightly less black backdrop. The No.333 also had a wider soundstage, but again, the DNA225 gave me greater access, and a cleaner view to the all important midrange. Dynamics were excellent, well extended at the frequency extremes, with wonderful transparency. I did find the DNA225 to be very picky about the power cord you attach it to!(I have a very transparent system, and my ears are still pretty good!(-:) I could clearly hear differences if power cord changes, and the amp sounded a bit better with a rich, or fuller sounding power cord. The PS Audio Lab/Mini Lab works well, as would many others. I would avoid any thin, or etchy sounding source components in front of this amp, as the transparency and speed can be a double edged sword at times. Its top end never got etchy, but it sounded best with a slightly fleshed out midrange. Again, the right power cord can go a long way. Perhaps all this does not matter to you, but to an Audiophile it does! (-: I found a very synergistic match with the McCormack TLC-1r preamplfier, especially in passive mode. I use a custom built 6922/7308 type tube preamplfier, with excellent results. Really wonderful amp that holds its own against amplifiers costing 3X times as much, and then some. A steal for the asking price, especially used!

Similar Products Used:

Mark Levinson No.333 Classe CAM mono blocks Plinius SA MKIII series Threshold T200 Marsh S400A Musical Fidelity A3cr Counterpoint NPS series

Excellent overall amplifier but not really distinguishable from DNA-125

Heavy

Very revealing. Detailed, Good midrange and tight bass. When compared with DNA-125 can hear no difference. So if you do not need the extra power save 1000.00 dollars

Similar Products Used:

Classe CA-100, Jolida 502A

See all positive reviews. Great value. Four Star rating in total amp universe, 5 stars in price range.

Very very slight warm sounding but romantic.

I just read the reviews for this amp and have to agree with all of them. I comapred this amp to the now discontinued Krell KAV-250 a year ago. The Krell was already broken in at the dealer and the McCormack was new out of the box. In a two hour listening session at the dealer, I had trouble distinguishing the differences between the amps. The McCormack at times sounded sweeter and laid back (jsut a little, but maybe more romantic) than the Krell but the Krell had slightly more details. Each time I switched between the two amps, I thought that the one that was just placed into the system sounded better. I would have given the edge to the Krell at that time but I was unable to take each amp home to audition for a longer period of time. I think that is the only way to compare amps. I also like to play music very loud and the dealer told me that he flet the Krell was more bullet proof than the McCormack. I have no idea if that is true or not but it was a very tough comparision. All of the positive reviews on this page already state what I heard with the McCormack amp. For the price of what some magazines call class A rated, this amp at half the price gets you at least 80% if not 90% there. Happy listening.

Similar Products Used:

Krell Kav-250a, Sim Audio Moon W-5, CJ SS, Levinson 334 and Kinergetics KBA-75.

Good press an reputation

Veiled sound, lack of dynamics, no transparency, uninvolving, always felt like I was listening to electronics and not the music, I flat out stopped listening to music after a month of this amp in my system!! Customer Service

I know that I am going to sound like a heretic but, I just did not find this product to work for me in my system. Without going into the specifics on what components I have, I only will say that everything else in the audio chain is rated A or B in Stereophile except for the cables which they do not rate by alpabetical ratings.

I have taken my time selecting and purchasing products and am well aware about system breakin, component synergies, and that a great product could potentially show up only good components. I know that the McCormack products are highly regarded but, for whatever reason it was not a good match for my system and my listening taste. After having this amp for a few months, I stopped listening to music and just left it on constantly for TV and occasionally changed the source to CD to see if I would fall in love with it. To give you an idea of my experience I will give you a summary of my audio odyssey.

At first I said I would keep the spending witing a certain budget and buy well researched and regarded products and have a home theater system (Maggies all the way round, Classe Pre, Rotel 1095 amp, Analysis Plus cabling). While auditioning and confirming what to buy I bought the Magnepan MMGs and a Rotel 990BX amp to play around with and gained a great deal of pleasure. Stereophile rated products fil out the pre-amp, CD and cable line up.

I purchased more CDs than I ever had at any other point in my life. I could not wait to get home after work and detox by listening to some music (Bill Evans, Gil Evans, Jane Monheit, Charlie Mingus, The Yellow Jacket, John Scofield, Keith Jarrett, Dave Brubeck, John Williams, Nina Simone, Dianne Reeves, Miles Davis, Terje Rydel to name a few). I constantly went to bed late and arose early to get another dose before work. Even after working from 7:00 am to 2:00 am I would still find the energy to take in at least 20 minutes of music before going to bed.

After listening to so much music, I decided that I am more an audiophile than a videophile and that I needed to create a good 2 channel system instead of a home theater system. I also decided against the clutter of so many speakers. Maybe one day I will buy the Theil Pin Points for rears. I am into a minimalist approach to home and interior design with some influence from Feng Shui.

I had lived with my starter system for 6 months and started upgrading. I upgraded the Magnepan MMGs to 1.6 Q.Rs and replaced the Kimber 4PR speacker cable with Analysis Plus speaker cable and well regarded Kimber interconnects (not entry level). My enjoyment of the system went up several notches and I felt like I was in heaven. More CDs were purchased and more late night and early morning listening sessions. I was loving it!!! About another two months passed in audio bliss.

Then one fatefull day I looked at my lineup of components and thought that except for that old Rotel 990BX amp everything else is top notch and well rated and regarded in the audio press. I also thought to myself that if I was enjoying my system now, imagine the joy if I upgraded that Rotel amp to something that was in line with the rest of my system.

So off I went with my pouch of CD to all the audio stores to audition amps from Krell, McCormack, Rotel, Classe, Byston and others. After auditions and much reserch here and elsewhere, I purchase the McCormack DNA - 225, bought it home, hooked it up and waited. The system sounded terrible so I went out and purchased a burn in CD and let it play for days on end. After a week I tried again and it was a little better but, my joy for music was gone and I felt empty like something was wrong with me for not liking this highly regarded product. I let the burnin Cd play for another week.

I told myself that I needed to learn patience and that I should just let the music play and let the system burnin. For two months the systems was never turned off and music played. After about a month the systems sounded just okay with some CDs. After two months, there were no more late night or early morning listening sessions. The joy of music was gone and I could not believe it. I no longer even wanted to listen to music. I wanted to be excited and blown off my feet. Each day I hoped for something new. One CD stayed in the CD drawer for a month straight on repeat or the TV was playing through the stereo. I even went out and brought home different fairly expensive audio cables to audition and still no luck. With 150 hours of cable burnin there was still no major improvements. Actually the initial harshness on unburned in cable put some life back in the music. As the cabled settled back down the music went lifeless again.

Finally, after 2 1/2 months I gave up and sold the amp. I wish I had never sold the Rotel 990BX. I do not know if it had some magic dust in it but, the experience I got from it was, well, magic. I even talked to McCormack and they said their amp should be more refined and better all around than the Rotel. By the way the customer service from McCormack was the worst I have ever experience (unknowledgable and arrogant phone personalities, SMC Audio and Steve McCormack were better). They said the first change would be after 50 hours and then the sound would change little by little for the next month and a half. That was not my experience!!

My review of the sound of the amp follows:

Veiled sound, uninvolving music, compressed dynamics, no transparency, the amp constantly sounded as if it was struggling. I had to turn the volume up twice as far as with the Rotel to get a similar volume level and it still struggled. The instruments actually sounded timbrally correct but, there was no feeling or life behind anything. The imaging was somewhat okay on certain CDs but, there was no wide soundstage of the feeling of the original recording environment. The shape and dimensions of instruments were gone. You could though position a vocalist fairly well.

Macro and Micro dynamics were not even worth listening for. The sound overall had some detail but, something was missing.

I could not bare to listen to it destroy the music I love so much. The treble seemed the most compressed and ill defined. The bass was there along with some of the mids but, none of it was ever convincing. The electronics never got out of the way. To me the true testament of an audio product is whether you can't wait to listen and this product took that feeling away. Maybe it was a system matching thing of not enough burnin time but, I could not stand the product after 2 1/2 months. It took what was such a enjoyable part of my life and totally ruined the experience. It had to go.

Hopefully this ODYSSEY has a happy ending. There is some new equipment here now burning in and right out of the box I getting that old loving feeling back. I will let everyone know 6 months down the road ....

Sorry gang for the low ratings but, as far as the value rating, according Audio Review a 2 means a little expensive. A little expensive to me means it sounds great, but is overpriced. The sound was not great so I could not give a value rating of a two.

Related to the overall rating, a 2 means not completly happy. I was not happy at all and therfore could not give it a 2 for the overall rating.

Similar Products Used:

Krell 250a, Rotel 990BX, Odyssey Audio, Bryston 4B ST, Classe

Sweet overall sound that seems to be limited only by other components. Excellent at driving low impedance speakers.

None experienced except a slight power transformer hum.

I must first say that I am a technical person and a "purist" meaning that I believe that there should be a minimul amount of components in the audio path. No equalizers, tone controls, etc. In 30+ years I have not wavered from this belief. High quality, neutral equipment is most important. I use tube electronics upstream. My DNA-225 powers my Magnepan 3.6s through Nordost speaker cables. The 3.6s dip to almost 3 Ohms, are relatively inefficient, requires a stiff amp to say the least, but I love them anyway. My first impression was that the 225 was totally neutral, neither adding or detracting from the musical experience. I often listen to music (all types) for hours and would be the first to suffer "listening fatigue" from inferior equipment (especially with the resolution of the 3.6s). The DNA-225 is an amp that you can install and forget about. If your system doesn't sound right, I would look elsewhere for your problem.

Similar Products Used:

Bryston, McIntosh, Threshold, Adcom

Incredible, defined, powerful bass. Unlimited power. Clarity. Lack of grain. One of the best.

Wish heat sinks were rounded. Should have put two sets of binding posts for biwiring.

After reading the negative review below, I feel compelled to defend this product. I own a DNA-225, and it is NOTHING like this person describes it. To state that a Rotel 990BX amp is superior is quite frankly laughable.

The DNA-225 is NOT veiled, limited in power, or lacks transparency. It is a very dynamic amplifier with incredible power reserves and thrust. It is very transparent, and the bass is comparable to the very best out there. It is not a bright or grainy amplifier at all. It is very pleasant and listenable. It involves you in the music.

There are few amplifiers that do not have some sonic signature. The DNA-225 has less of a 'sound' than many amplifiers out there, including very expensive ones. In my estimation, it is a great amplifier, and at its price point, a fantastic amplifier.

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Many.