Audiophilepure

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/1870-orchard-audio-starkrimson-mono-premium-amplifier

Speaking of class-A amps, I compared the pair of Starkrimson Mono Premiums directly against my First Watt F5 stereo power amp (discontinued; $3000 when new), which is roughly their polar opposite. Both amps post near-cutting-edge distortion and noise specs, but the First Watt gets there from a different direction.

The F5 is a big, heavy, class-A push-pull transistor amp, with output MOSFETs bolted to chunky heatsinks, a hefty linear power supply fat with capacitors, and not much else—designer Nelson Pass favors designs that put as few parts in the way of the signal as possible. With these two amps coming from competing philosophies, I knew this would be a fun comparison.

At first, I was struck by how similar they sounded. Both amps circled closely around neutrality, but each offered its own distinct flavor. Replaying “Car Radio” with the F5, I heard the class-A amp thicken things up a touch, in the expected way. It provided more density and tonal color than the Starkrimsons, albeit at the expense of the micron-precise separation of the GaN amps. The flawless tonal presentation of the First Watt F5 gave the amp more verve and groove-factor, though it gave up some grip at the frequency extremes compared to the Starkrimson Mono Premiums. The Orchard amps let me hear everything in the music more clearly, however, and surprised me with their imaging prowess.

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