Audiophilepure

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“I enjoyed listening to my music with the Legacy Powerbloc2. It had finesse and muscle, imaging was excellent, and it had complete control of my speakers, allowing me to hear what they can do without the need for EQ or a subwoofer. Because ICEpower runs cool, thermal shock and heat are eliminated which should add years of life to this well-built dynamo. And there are no fans to pull in dust. If you need power in a tight space, the Powerbloc2 can easily fill a cozy spot in an equipment rack with less ventilation space than a Class A/B amp would need.”

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“Go a bit more audiophile fare with the Rhiannon Giddens/Francesco Turrisi collaboration There Is No Other [Nonesuch 591336-2], which combines close-recorded female vocals with lovingly-captured instruments without going all John Lewis ad on you – I told you I’d just come back from a hi-fi show – and the K-300i’s combination of focus and generosity of sound is much appreciated. Giddens’ plaintive vocals bounce off the Mediterranean/North African instrumentation on ‘Gonna Write Me A Letter’ to winning effect, the amp punching along the percussion while allowing the other instruments to soar out of the mix.

With the infectious piano jazz of Ai Kuwabara, Live At The Blue Note Tokyo [Verve UCCJ-2164; 48kHz/24-bit], the K-300i is able to demonstrate further its combination of low-end extension and speed as a platform on which music is based. It renders Kuwabara’s piano with a delightful lightness of touch, while Steve Gadd’s drums have slam and crispness and Will Lee’s grumbling bass is tight and precise. Add in a fine sense of live atmosphere – got to love that oh so polite Japanese jazz audience applause – and you have a compelling set that’s clearly right up the K-300i’s alley, so well does it deliver it.”

Read more at https://www.hifinews.com/content/krell-k-300i-integrated-ampdac-page-2#QhGkHHsgsgw1p74D.99

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”
Nothing I’ve ever had the privilege of lifting the cover on in the audio world is built to this standard. This is what gives Boulder products the highest secondary market value of anything going – if you can even find them used. I’m sure people that trade Boulder in for something else are out there, but every Boulder owner I’ve encountered has only traded up. It’s rarely if ever for sale used, and I’ve never heard of one that has malfunctioned. I don’t even recall seeing a service area when I visited the factory, but I’m sure it’s there somewhere.”

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“The Nait sounds more energetic and entertaining. It takes the multitude of musical strands in Arvo Part’s Tabula Rasa and combines them to deliver a musical and emotionally absorbing performance. Detail resolution is good, but it’s the amplifier’s ability to assemble all that information into a cohesive whole that really impresses.”

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“Just a quick note about the HDMI performance of the K-300i. In a word, it is phenomenal. Watching Mary Queen of Scots, my wife and our friend agreed, it was like we had upgraded our modest Epson projector several levels. Color saturation and detail rendition was startling as was the contrast and brightness. If you are like me and your audio system does double duty as your home theater, the upgrade in video quality alone not to mention the ease of integration is worth at least half the overall cost the K-300i.”

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“My first experience with this amplifier was in tandem with the matching SA-KI Ruby disc player/DAC and Revel 126Be loudspeakers, which produced an extremely polished and refined result but not one that was in danger of causing the listener to break a sweat. This was a case of three rights not adding up to a wrong but neither was it a successful combo, so I concentrated on the player in a variety of systems and left the amplifier to fend for itself. And it fended rather well once I had found a sympathetic speaker. That said it didn’t do badly with my usual choice of transducer, the PMC Fact.8, which brought out the musical skills of the PM-KI Ruby rather well. I spent some time listening to vinyl spun on a Rega RP10 with Aphelion MC cartridge and was pleased to find that the MC stage on the amp had sufficient gain to produce a dynamic result where the recording warranted it. Not all my favourite music is that well produced, however, and where compression has been used the Marantz will make it fairly clear. It’s a usefully transparent amplifier albeit one with a refined presentation that can fool you into thinking that it’s smoothing over the fine detail. In fact, it’s just very fine grained and revealing – put on something raw and it will sound that way. There’s decent power and drive on Ryley Walker’s Primrose Green[Dead Oceans] but it is reined in by the annoying powers of limiting. And yet that doesn’t get in the way of the music, which is close to the performance you’d expect from a decent standalone phono stage. ”

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“Combining a high power amp, preamp, DAC, and phono in a footprint just over 14 inches wide by 13.25 deep is no small feat. Giving it the ability to be so musical is excellent engineering. Finally, having it built in North America for under $1600 is remarkable. The only thing missing is streaming software and or Roon integration. But at this price point the nova150 is chalk full of value. The nova150 checks off virtually every category one could want. Admittedly, I’m searching for the next generation of all-in-one integrateds to take me into downsizing phase of life. The Peachtree nova150 is a definite finalist! -Mark Marcantonio”

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“The Bluesound’s commendable sense of soundstage takes the deceptively complex arrangement of Fink’s No Sleep and creates a convincing and cohesive sense of space in front of the listener. The Spendor A1 undoubtedly helps here, but the Powernode 2i demonstrates that it is extremely capable of making sense of any recording and even the challenging Dionysus by Dead Can Dance is delivered in a remarkably engaging manner. Having said that, the larger scale of this album does reveal the Powernode’s limitations and it begins to sound a little strained as the volume level increases and it may also struggle with less forgiving speakers or to drive larger rooms.

Working within its comfort zone, however, the Bluesound makes for a consistently engaging listen. It has a good grasp of rhythm and timing and delivers a sonic performance that does a fine job of ensuring that less up tempo material flows precisely as it should while also letting the joyously exuberant Tokyo by White Lies move with the pace and impact it deserves. While bass depth is never truly seismic, there is enough pace and detail to connect with and engage any listener.