Vice-like grip on music, extremely smooth, effortless sound at any sound level

None, I literally spend more time listening to music than ever before, amazing.

This is a dynamic amp. Just fantastic. It holds the music, especially bass with such clarity its startling. No reverberation at all. Mids and highs are so smooth and grainless it lets you see right into the music. The slightest detail in music is presented so clearly and musically, it has me listening to CDs time and time again because I swear I hear stuff that was just not there with my other amps. And it does this so effortlessly, no strain, nothing but music as dynamically as I'm certain the original artist wanted to portray. One of the best amps I have ever heard. I run mine with a Wadia 830, all Cardas GC cabling into some Ref Paradigms, soon to be replaced with Revels or Coincidents, still have to do some auditioning to see best speaker match. I would say that balanced cables make the sound a bit more refined and I replaced the stock chord with a Mamba, which makes for a even better bass response, (if thats possible).

This amp also looks great and the construction is top notch. Sim Audio might be a small Canadian company but this is a reference amp that sounds every bit as good if not better than some of the other reputable gear around today, and I have owned and auditioned plenty.

I think I may have truly found the amp that will be in my system for a very long time.

Good listening:)

Similar Products Used:

Levinson, Plinius, Bryston

Solid Construction, Fast, Transparent, Dynamic, Smooth for solid state

This is a very transparent amplifier. I Did direct comparisons with much more expensive Audio Research solid state and found the moon had more control, but the AR was very slightly smoother (almost unnoticeable). I also evaluated similarly priced Aragon and Sonic Fronteirs, the moon gets you through the details of the music and straight to the soul. It needs a long break in period and performance improves significantly with a good power cord. I use a cardas power cord. I bought the amp before the price went up but it is still the best amp I have heard for the price.

The amplifier gives an accurate rendition of what goes into it. I like the fact that the amp rolls the highs slightly. I feel this gives the amp a more natural sound, as opposed to an overly bright sound that really is a reflection of the inferior quality of most CD's. The amp has no problem powering insensitive speakers.

It uses, as all other amplifiers use, electronic parts that are not perfect. Considering all of this, it's not a bad product.

In fairness, to rate this product perfect would be stretching things a bit. Rating any product as perfect is wrong, and rating any product based on subjective prejudice is also very wrong. Products in this league such as the W5 are far above failing grades. I think this web site should consider an out of 10 rating instead of the out of 5 format.
As amplifiers go, it's really pretty good for the money. Solid low end, articulate midrange, and a top end that is not in your face. "Smooth" in a word. Listen to the amp at low volume and you still get all the information. You will find many more flaws in the speakers you listen to and the CD's you feed your player. To rate this amplifier as a 2 is an indication of the lack of experience that such people have in evaluating equipment.
I have heard most of the so called "Heavy Weight Amps", and to be honest, they are not that far removed from one another. For the money, you can't beat the W5, and with the money you save, you can improve your source. The source will give you far more grief than the amp. In truth, I would rate this amp as a solid 9 out of 10.

Similar Products Used:

sim W3

sound perfection,clarity,clean,gorgeous looks

only one set output posts

A previous reviewer compares the W-5 against some big guns in the industry.The results are obvious .Looking for
super sound stage, live presentation , uncluttered articulation even at loud volumes then look no more.
As you see above I have auditioned in my home many amps
and none so far can hold a candle to the W-5.A work of art!!
Associated equip.
Anthem CD-1 :a diamond in the rough source also.
Accuphase C280L -pre
Sim audio W-5
Cardas cross & Hexlink Series 5 interconnects
Blue Circle B62 :power cords
Audio Quest sorbothane feet.

Similar Products Used:

Classe 300 , anthem MCA2 ,Anthem Amp 2 , Bryston 7B,Blue Circle 6B,the big brute.

excellent amp overall

small company in Canada

I am only posting a review in light of the previous post. While I admit that Sim is a tiny Canadian company, which gives me cause for concern, their products are top shelf. Living in CA I worry a great deal about customer service and have had more than my fair share of problems with numerous companies ranging from US to Canadian. Nevertheless, I have found Sim Audio's products to be top shelf, not deserving the criticism that I have seen on this site. While I am not sure this product merits 5/5 stars as I believe there is superior gear. I will give this 5/5 to outweigh the previous review. I have found this to be some top flight electronic gear, worthy of serious attention. Much in the same vein as companies such as Coincident Speaker, I feel that Sim is some of the finest gear available. I strongly suggest any serious audiophile give Sim a try. I will not wax poetic about the virtues of this unit, but it certainly belongs amonst my short list of components that I would give a serious listen to. As always, trust your own ears, but trust my review (and many others) to give this a shot.

Happy Listening,

JL

Similar Products Used:

Krell, Bryston, Antique Sound Lab, many more

I bought the Moon W-5 about two weeks ago. After about 60 hours of burning in, the Moon has been giving me a stellar performance. It has the ability to reproduce high frequencies that are smooth and extended without any hint of grain. The mids and low frequencies are also exceptional. It is rated at 170 wpc @ 8 ohms but that is a very conservative figure because it can play loud without any harshness at rates that surpass my former amp (Bryston 4B-ST) which was rated at 250 wpc @ 8 ohms. This is a very accurate amplifier so it is not very forgiving of poor quality recordings. The layers of music that it is capable of reproducing is its strongest asset. It also comes with a 10 year warranty. I don't think I'll be upgrading anymore. Paired with a tube preamp, you don't need to go into tubed amplifiers -you have the best of both worlds.

I bought this unit solely based on its reviews found among the audio web sites few months ago and I was not to be disappointed. Much later on I also found out that the boys from Stereophile already did give it a rave review on March 99 issue. Its sonic performance has a weight and the slam of the big gunners like Krell with the extension and speed that I found matching with much more other expensive models. The image and soundstage of this amp could muster are well, nothing short of breathtaking! The only minor weakness (I mean extremely minor) is the mid range which tends to lack a little liquid or smoothness that sometimes thins out on female vocals and this could be cable or upstream component related too. Overall, this is another great product from SimAudio. My hat is off!
My associated gears include:
Sonic Frontiers SFCD1
SimAudio P5 pre-amp
Gershman Acoustics Avant Garde
Wireworld Polaris III cables everywhere

Love it. Grabbed one just before the price went up.I don't think there is a better amp out there that still remains affordable.
There may be a better Solid State amp out there - but for $4700 (Cdn)? -not that I've heard.
Maybe you can better it for $47,000. (o'

Seriously though this is lovely stuff. I agree with all previous statements and reviews.

Transparent, dynamics, 3D soundstage, listening hour long without tiredness.

Not that I know of

This amp is a superb. Even though it is not reached to brake in time yet(need 600 hours) it still has a deep bass, clarity, balanced, 3D soundstage, and no harshness and bumminess with playing at high volume. You can listen hours long whithout fatigue. This amp can match with any speakers (listened at dealer a pair of Jean Marie Renault Offrande) as well as my Cabasse Iroise 500. It is worth with the price that I paid for. Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

McIntosh MC2102

A wonderful amp that easily powers my difficult to drive Infinity Reference 2.5. Most cringe amps and break-up with the wild impedance curve of these speakers. They also produce extremely, controlled, clean bass from the dual-coil Watkins 12" woofer (in a now rare sealed enclosure, i.e. inefficient but accurate) and at high levels.
This amp, with the Moon P-5 pre-amp and Eclipse CD player, was at the Chicago Stereophile show in a room driving the Gershman Acoustics GAP 520-X and AVANT GARDE RX-20. People were amazed with the excellent performance and packed the room.
With the Sim Moon amp you do not need to go to tubes, and they are a bargain compared to a Krell amp of like power.