Before buying this amp, I liked the clarity and nice bass control of Krells and MLs but had to compromise to settle for VTL monoblocks because of the smoothness of the tube sound. The Digital One is far superior to anything else I have auditioned in terms of clarity, transparency, speed and control. It is so powerful (300w or 500w/ch for 8 or 4 ohm) and yet amazingly efficient, it never got any warmer than my LS9 preamp. The top end is sweet and extended but different from (maybe more neutral than ?) tube sound. Highly recommended !
CAL Delta transport/AA DTI Pro32/AA DDE3.0 heavily modified/SilverAudio Silver Bullets 4.0 interconnects/ARC LS9 preamp/Tara Lab Quantum I Speaker cable/Gallo Nucleus Reference Speakers (BTW, I'll give the speakers a six-star rating!).

The Spectron D1 is the best amp we have had in our system so far. In terms of bass response it is as good as the best we have had with great power and superb pitch definition. Where it walks away from everything else is the sound source resolution. You can simply hear more and identify more than anything else we have used.
Of course, we were using Newform Research Ribbon loudspeakers but I think the Spectron will make anything sound good.

I have owned the Spectron Digital One for a year. This is an amazing amp! Like many other reviewers here I using the Spectron to drive Gallo Acoustics Reference loudspeakers.
At the time I bought the Spectron I was auditioning a BAT 150 watt solid state amp (I forget the model). Anyway, The Digital One simply slaughtered the BAT in every way. Bass slam, transparency, soundstage.. you name it.. the Spectron was superior and was $800.00 cheaper!

I recommend that anyone considering this amp, get the upgraded binding posts. They are the best I have ever seen.

Spectron also has excellent customer service. I have called several times with questions and received calls back from designer John Ulrick.

The following text is a copy of my posting on rec.audio.opinion about the Spectron Musician. The Spectron Musician is sonically identical to the Spectron Digital 1.

Hi,

As some of you probably know from my postings about my Dunlavy Athena
speakers some time ago, i had a Pass Aleph 3 amplifier in my audio system
for about three years. A few weeks ago i decided to upgrade my amplifier for
several reasons. The most important reason is that i wanted a power
amplifier with a bit more power than the 30 Watts of the Aleph 3 because my
installation is also used for 'serious' home theater now.
The three years that i had the Aleph 3 i was very pleased with it and i did
not hear any amplifier that matched the Aleph 3 in transparency and overall
sound quality IMHO although i listened to many other power and integrated
amplifiers. Therefore i thought it would be difficult to find an amplifier
which was as good as the Aleph 3, but more powerful and not too expensive.

During my search for a more powerful amplifier i came across the Spectron
Musician. This is a class D amplifier with 300 Watts at 8 Ohm and 500 Watts
at 4 Ohm, so certainly powerful enough for my Athena (90 dB) speakers. Since
in Europe there are many positive reviews of the TACT Millenium, another
class D amplifier, i decided to investigate this class D route. In my search
for more information about the Spectron Musician, i met (via email) Kevin
from "Mandalay Music & Cinema". He gave me much information about the
Musician and the opportunity to audition the Spectron in my audio system for
which i thank him.

My system consists of:
Pioneer DVD 717 dvd player used as transport
Digital interconnect from Pioneer 717 to Sony TAE-9000ES
Sony TA-E9000 ES surround preamp (with firmware version 1.10c !!!)
Siltech FTM3-G3 silver interconnects between pre and power amp
Spectron Musician power amp
Dunlavy DAL Z6 speaker cable
Dunlavy Athena speakers

For listening i used 'normal' CDs and Chesky 96kHz/24bit recordings like
Sara K., Rebecca Pidgeon, Enya, ...

I know, some of you will say that the combination Pioneer 717 / Sony
TA-E9000ES is not really high end. But i also used a Sony CDP-XA50ES (very
highly regarded in Europe, about the equal of the XA-7ES) cd player / Audio
Synthesis Passion passive preamp. The Pioneer 717 / Sony TA-E9000ES was
clearly superior IMHO, probably due to the higher quality D/A converters in
the Sony TA-E9000ES. During listening with the Sony, all DSP settings were
off.
My following impressions are mainly based on this Pioneer / Sony
configuration.

So, how is the Spectron Musician amplifier ? In one word: INCREDIBLE !!!!

The Spectron betters my previous Aleph 3 in every way IMHO. It is VERY, VERY
detailed and transparent. Every song has more detail in it than before. The
soundstage has more depth and is a few foot wider. Imaging is very stable
and well defined. Perhaps this has something to do with the low group delay
of the Spectron ?? Bass goes very low and is more controlled than before. In
a few songs i heard some very low frequency sound, which i NEVER noticed
before with my Aleph 3. The Spectron is also very dynamic and has
'unlimited' power in my configuration. The sound is very natural, non
fatiguing. In fact, the Spectron sounds about as sweet as the Aleph 3.
Most of my listening was done at a low volume, and even at this low volume,
the sound was detailed, highs crystal clear and the bass extended. Till now,
i have not found any shortcomings in the Spectron during the 10 days i
already own it.

To keep it short, i did not expect to find an amplifier that was better than
my Aleph 3 IMHO. Furthermore, it is easy to put this amplifier in a cabinet
because it is small, very efficient (uses little electricity) and produces
little warmth. For me it is the perfect solution. Ah, and the price: $2990,-
as far as i remember :-)

Kind regards,
Erwin Claus (from Belgium)

The Spectron Musician is one of the best kept secrets in industry. I have worked with audio (consumer and studio) for more than 2 decades, and have thus owned and auditioned countless amps, both tube and solid state. The build quality, the resolution, bass reproduction etc makes this amp an absolute steal! The absence of cross-over distortion, its high efficiency and ability to drive difficult loads makes it the best value for money. Its common mode rejection is for sure among the best I have ever measured. But all of this does not tell how it sounds.The sound exeptional, tight bass, excellent sound stage and imaging. Dynimics must be heard to be belived, power in abundance and all of that without being only "tour the force" - but very musical. Cudos to John Ulrich for his genious work and wonderful service attitude..

Spectron Musician
What a pwer amp for $3000. This is the best kept secret in hi-end stereo. I compared this amp to several others including Krell, Bryston, Pass Mono Blocks and Tact Millenium and it was almost as good as the $12,000 Pass Mono Blocks and much better than all the rest. I t has the best of tubes and analog amps rolled into one.
Don't even think about another amp--it is open, detailed and filled with lots of air.Digital amps are the wave of the future.
Equipment: Spectron Musician 300 watt digital amp
CAL Audio CD- CL-15 digital
No pre-amp
Nordost Blue Heaven cables and interlinks
Monster Cable power line conditioner HTS 2000
Speakers: AR9LS
Speakers: Martin Logins with Sub

Hunter

I am an extremely satisfied owner of the Spectron Digital One power amp and Spectron 10 pre-amplifier since Jan 98. This combination cost me about $5K and replaced an conrad-johnson Premier 14 / Premier 12s / EAR 834 Phono combination costing about 3 times as much (and occupying as much extra space). The Spectron simply blows the c-j away, there was no contest from the first second of listening and every day my fascination with this remarkable piece of electronics just increases. I listen to acoustic jazz, folk and classical music on LP and CD and it doesn't matter what's playing everything sounds much better through the Spectron, not just marginally and in comparison, but totally obvious to everyone who hears it - even to my non-audiophile (but very musical) wife...

Transient speed, detail resolution, and low-end punch

None that I can think of....

I've had the Spectron Digital One for almost a year now and am extremely happy with it. The amp far surpasses any standard analog amp under $10K I've heard for speed, dynamics, micro & macro resolution, and overall soundstage. The Spectron really snapped my Von Schweikert VR4/genII speakers into focus, bringing out breathtaking realism in my system. For me, the speed of the Spectron is really apparent when listening to quality recordings of acoustic guitar and piano. The pluck of a guitar string or key strike on a piano are both extremely lifelike because the amp is so fast at reproducing the sound, from the precise moment of attack. Many amps are fuzzy around the edges of such transients; the Spectron is dead-on in reproducing this level of detail, making the recording sound just like the original studio session.

For all its ability to resolve fine detail in a recording, the Spectron also has incredible range and punch. Coupled with the VR4s, I have no need for a subwoofer in my setup.

The resolution and honesty of the Spectron amp coupled with my Von S. speakers has made shopping for other components an enlightening experience. It is very easy to identify when another component injects its own character into the overall sound. Shopping for an HT preamplifier/processor has been a challenge for me. The accuracy and precision of this amp/speaker combo has prompted me to shun all "warm" sounding components. The last thing I want is to have another component rob the midrange clarity & detail of this wonderful setup. IMO, the best pre/pro I've found for my system is the Chiro 802, but I'm waiting for Chiro to fix a bug with its D/A whereby it loses the first 1+ seconds when a new 2-channel PCM stream is introduced to it. This problem aside, the combination of the Chiro with my amp and speakers is absolutely magical. JPS Superconductor cables & interconnects round out my system.

In summary, the Spectron Digital One (supplanted by the new Musician) represents an amazing value in high-end audio, at a mid-fi price level. The only system I've heard sound better than mine is a $150K Levinson/Wilson Grand Slamm setup, but, at that price, it had better!

Great sound at an (relatively) affordable price

You're right Bludnet Plud, the spectron digital I is
old and there is a new digital amp that sounds better.

!!! It's the Spectron Musician II !!!

I got it and it's even better than the Musician.
I'll post a real review for this new product.

Nonetheless the digital/musician I in it's time deserved
5 star's and it still beats most amps out there.
Now, knowing how the Musician II sounds, I got to give it
4 stars, but that's the only reason.

Similar Products Used:

Musician II

Everything

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My amp upgrade path has been: Adcom 545II to McCormack DNA-0.5 Deluxe to Counterpoint NPS-400 to Spectron Digital One. The final step to Spectron provided a much larger improvement than any of the other upgrade steps. They drive my B&W 801s loud and clear. A piano sounds more like a piano, etc. Truly the "Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove."

Similar Products Used:

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