Thread: Experiencing the Rowland M925 monoblocks

I suspect that may have been one of the first in North america to purchase a pair of the Rowland Model 925 flagship monoblocks, which I received in late May 2013, I have posted my listening notes to a couple of different watering holes, including WBF…

If anyone were interested in my longish diary, I have reproduced most relevant post from the original WBF thread below…

05-21-2013, 09:48 PM
I just heard from the Rowland factory today: coming Friday, I will receive my pair (or should I call it my quartet?!) of M925 mono amps.... Needless to
say, I am excited!

At 320 Lbs combined for the 4 creatures wearing their birthday suits (380 Lbs when boxed) my first challange will be to carry them upstairs to my music
loft without mangling my back.

I will use Nordost Titanium Sort Kones instead of factory-provided footers... Each lower chassis has three divets caarved on its bottom plate, where footers
are usually screwed in. Each amp will stand on top of 3 divet-centered Kones. these will sit on top of 1.5 inch thick granite slabs, which have been patiently
waiting in place for the M925 amps since 2011.

In order to break-in both output terminal in each unit, I will connect each amp to my Vienna Die Muzik with a form of shotgun wiring: Aural Symphonics
Chrono and Cardas Golden Ref for the time being. The Aural Symphonics speaker wire connects to the single 5-way binding post of the Muzik speakers with
bananas; the Cardas Golden Ref connects to the same posts with spades... I have already tested the configuration on the M725 monos... Works flawlessly.
Of course, I have no idea if M925s benefit from shotgun wiring... This will be part of the discovery fun!

The amps will be fed by the Criterion linestage through Aural Symphonics Chrono B2 XLR ICs.

Power cords will be Aural Symphonics Magic Gem and Ultra Cube XXV, plugged into a dedicated 20A circuit served by Furutech outlets.

I suspect that the break-in process may extend well into the summer months... I will log my periodic observations on this thread.

For sake of completion, here are the amps specs as far as I know them:

Monoblock Power Amplifier OUTPUT POWER: 430 watts @ 8 ohms/850 watts @ 4 ohms
Monoblock Power supply: 2400 W regulated DC SMPS per channel, with Active Power Factor Correction (PFC).
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 5 Hz - 50 kHz
INPUT IMPEDANCE: 40k ohms
THD + NOISE: 0.004%, 20 Hz- 20 kHz
OVERALL GAIN: Switchable 26/32 dB
Combined AMPLIFIER chassis & POWER SUPPLY chassis WEIGHT: 160.4 lb / 73 kg (per channel)
TOTAL DIMENSIONS (H/W/D): 16.5" x 15.5" x 16.25" (per channel) 419mm x 394mm x 413mm

05-22-2013, 04:25 PM

I just found out from Brandon at Rowland that each lower chassis has three divets caarved on its bottom plate, where footers are usually screwed in. In
the Rowland factory showroom, Jeff leaves the amps without screwed-in footers. Instead, he uses the divets to sit the M925 amps on top of Nordost Sort
Kones (Titanium). I will do the same... So each amp will sit on top of Titanium Sort Kones on top of granite slabs. Because of the divets, apparently the
setup is mechanically quite stable.

05-22-2013, 08:14 PM

For sake of completion, here are the amp specs:
Monoblock Power Amplifier OUTPUT POWER: 430 watts @ 8 ohms/850 watts @ 4 ohms
Monoblock Power supply: 2400 W regulated DC SMPS per channel, with Active Power Factor Correction (PFC).
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 5 Hz - 50 kHz
INPUT IMPEDANCE: 40k ohms
THD + NOISE: 0.004%, 20 Hz- 20 kHz
OVERALL GAIN: Switchable 26/32 dB
Combined AMPLIFIER chassis & POWER SUPPLY chassis WEIGHT: 160.4 lb / 73 kg (per channel)
TOTAL DIMENSIONS (H/W/D): 16.5" x 15.5" x 16.25" (per channel) 419mm x 394mm x 413mm

05-24-2013, 08:35 PM
Exciting!!!!

The 4 boxes were delivered today. Thankfully the van driver carried them upstairs for me....

Each chassis is double boxed, protected by heavy urethane foam inserts, and then bagged in a heavy cloth sleeve tied with a drawstring.

Each power supply box also contains an accessory carton, featuring a power cord terminated at one end with a 20A IEC connector, a heavy ombilical to carry
DC current to the audio chassis, and a skinnier ombelical, which I conjecture carries control signals and may have an additional grounding line. A baggie
contains 3 1-inch spherical delrin footers that can be screwed into the divets at the bottom of the SMPS chassis if someone does not use 3rd party spikes/footers.
A smaller baggie contains 4 small delrin beads... They will fit into the dimples milled into the top of the power supply chassis, and are used to keep
top and lower chassy from touching when the two are stacked.

The two SMPS chassis are now in place, perched on top of 3 Nordost Titanium Sort Kones each, sitting on granite slabs.

The audio chassis are even heavier... They will get into place in the next few days, one way or another. Rowland recommends this be a two-person job.

05-25-2013, 03:43 PM
Hi xxxx, yes your right, the stacking operation is simple enough... The audio chassis are just a little heavier than what I am comfortable lifting. The
factory recommends this to be a two-person operation, hence the current delay.

05-26-2013, 09:08 PM
This afternoon the M925s yielded "first sound". You were absolutely right MRDean, rather than just encouraging, the sound was a bit of an OMG experience.

I managed to connect M925 without breaking anything and without shorts...
I was expecting the usual shrieky time, but... M925 is so musically revealing after 30 minutes of playing that it is spooky... By the way, this has been
the First time that my better half has made unbidden positive comments on a component right out of the box... Less than 10 minutes into playing time actually.


What’s astonishing is that, factoring in very minor early oddities, M925 already convey a grandness, poetry, and realism that I have never heard from my
own system.

I fully expect for musical beauty and detail to wax and wain for quite a spell, but for the time being, the cadenza in the introduction to the Dvorak string
sextet with double bass Op. 48, is almost free of artifacts, which is something I have not yet experienced with a brand new amp.

Likewise, my other test piece by Antonin Dvorak "In the Old Castle", played by Inna Poroscina on what is likely a Bosendorfer Imperial grand, is already
showing signs of pedal and felt sounds, which is quite unusual on a brand new amp.

But perhaps the most encouraging sign is that I felt just like sinking into my couch and immerse myself into the music... Will this last? We will see as
the break-in enfolds!

05-29-2013, 08:56 PM
You are absolutely right xxxx. Even at 20 hours, the stage has already a nice depth to it.... And resolution is intriguing. Yes, I am discovering some
of my CDs anew.... And often in unusual ways. E.G. I have a set of Bach Well Tempered Klavier played on harpsichord... And I had never realized that there
some cute errors in the performance... Not wrong notes per se, but errors in timing between the two hands, and some rhythmic imperfections. Until M925,
such minutiae were blended into the background.

By the way, I had a little "excitement" today with M925: I had a friend over to help me with the chassis stacking operation... Yes, it is a breeze with
two people. But when I powered up the right amp, the right speaker started to emit a bizarre multi-frequency burr, as if I had a mad cicada in rut inside
the coaxial flat driver... And no music signal could be heard at all from that side... Disconnected and reconnected the whole amp to no avail.... Called
up Jeff -- he was driving to the New Port Beach show with a pair of M525 amps in the car, and getting lost along the loopy highways system around Los Angeles)
... Jeff assured me that I must have done something wrong with my connections. True enough: I eventually discovered that the source selector switch was
inadvertently flipped to RCA. Flipped the switch back to XLR balanced and reconnected... Both amps now purr like kittens.... of a supersized Maine Coon
persuasion, that is *grins*

05-30-2013, 08:12 PM
With hour 21, the amps have decided it is high time to go into a bit of break-in funk. Image is more recessed and has lost some airiness. The voice of
Mezzo-soprano D'Althan in Exulta Filia by Claudio Monteverdy has developed a bit of a steely burr on the sostenuti at end of phrases, where the incompetent
recording engineer is fooling around with artificial reverb to enhance the echo of the recording venue.

Today I have inserted a tuner into the system, so to exercise the amps 24/7... Nighttime the amps will be served a diet of FM interstation hash.... Extremely
healthy and highly decongesting!

06-01-2013, 11:38 AM
Wizard has posted a few pics of M925 on related threads...

What's Best Forum (WBF Forum)

M925 with Avalon Isis at Kaohsiung show, Taiwan:
What's Best Forum (WBF Forum)

What's Best Forum (WBF Forum)

Back view:
What's Best Forum (WBF Forum)

06-04-2013, 05:36 PM
06-04-2013, 09:17 PM
[in answer to separate inquiries on differences with M625 and M725)

Concerning M625 and M725... The two devices show much more than a vague family resemblance. The most obvious difference is the sheer ability of M725 to
drive my Vienna Muzik speakers with an authority and ease that I found to be extremely satisfying, and that by the way edges out that of the nominally
more powerful 500W M312 stereo amp. Conversely, M625 may be more at home with slightly smaller speakers, like the Vienna Kiss that Roy Gregory has used
in his review of the amp. Both M625 and M725 easily exceed the harmonic density and subtlety of my beloved old M312. But, as the M725 monos use ceramic
boards and a few other technical solutions that have not been applied to M625 (4-pole capacitors?), they seem to be even more nuance and transparent than
the already excellent M625 stereo.

as I already mentioned, the M925 are extremely promising this far, but with only 97 ours of full power operations, and about 35 hours on additional break-in
of input transformers while on standby, they are apparently far from giving their best performance. Yet, factoring in some of the usual break-in anomalies,
M925 yield a vast stage, solidity of image and profound authority that is new to my system.... They seem to be an ideal synthesis of all that limitless
silky power that I remember being so fond on the old classic Rowlands like the Model 7 monoblocks, which I owned for over 10 years, combined with a new
and very special musical resolution, purity, and total effortlessness that I simply never heard before.

Can M925 justify the price difference with M725: well, that is really a subjective thing, but.... This far, I suspect that they might.

06-08-2013, 08:41 PM

Approximately 100 hours of operations, and an additional 45 hours on standby with the linestage feeding FM hash from the tuner into the M925's input transformers…
The rather jarring steeliness in the resonance notes that I earlier reported on the young soprano Tania D’Althann in Monteverdi’s Exulta Filia Sion (Girlande
Sacre, Ghirlande Profane Arts Music redbook) has been reabsorbed by about 75%... She does sound significantly more natural than a few days ago. The other
side of the coin is that minor blemishes in her intonation, breathing, and rythmic technique, which I had not noticed with my previous amps, are gradually
coming to light because of M925's low level resolution.

At 150 hours of operation plus 50 hours on low level standby – The undue ringing (I cannot call it steeliness any longer) is barely detectable on a couple
of notes only…. E.g. The closing note of the motet…. Images are continuing the fleshing-out process, and traces of acoustics from the recording venue (a
small Church in Venice( is starting to emerge. The portatif organ used for accompaniment is impressively crisp and deep…. The overall effect is starting
to be musically immersive and “rather wonderful” (comment of my better half, who tends to be merciless when commenting about the sound of my system).

On an non auditory matter, the amps take 12 to 24 hours to stabilize thermically, and so become warm to the touch…. During hot evenings they feel rather
toasty, if not as much as M725 or M625. Temperature seems completely uniform on each chassis... But power supply chassis are noticeably warmer than audio
chassis.

06-09-2013, 10:03 AM
GuidoCorona
Hi YYYY, great hearing from you. I am sure that some heat radiates from the top of the PS chassis across the airgap into the audiochassis... On the other
hand, when I was operating M925 in an unstacked setup, with the audio chassis resting on a solid wood surface, I was experiencing a similar heating in
the audio chassis as I do now.

Like you did, I operate the amps 24/7... Or at least have them on standby and feed the input transformers with FM interstation hash from the tuner (per
Jeff's recommendation)... Except when, like right now, there are thunderstorms going on or in the forecast... Would hate to "Quantum Tunnel" the little
darlings to a state of industrial slag *grins!*

Given the climate of Austin, thunderstorms, and my somewhat underpowered air conditioning, I suspect break-in might protract until the late summer!

06-13-2013, 09:34 PM
… before receiving M925, I have used M725 as my reference amps for about one year, and absolutely love them

Having said that, the M925 constitute a paradigmatic shift in what amplification can do…. In other words, they are in an entirely different league… Even
compared to the wonderful M725 monos.

First of all the obvious…. That is the M925’s sheer power, which lets them generate life-sized stage and images… Yes, significantly larger and more solid
than M725, with incredible ease and authority. There is a sense of space, air, and depth that comfortably exceeds M725, and any other amp that has been
in my system until now. M925 never breaks a sweat on high dynamic transients… It is in that totally effortless…. There is a harmonic coherence and exposure
of fine detail that is very highly resolving, but is musical rather than being “hiFiish”…. Because it makes music emotional, and never analytic. In addition,
the bass has a depth and musical purity to die for. Neither fat overhang nor thuddy behavior here.

Yet, M925 have only 250 hours of full operation on them, that is about 12.5% of my goal of 2000 hours of break in time. I expect to complete break-in by
the end of September… During the summer months, I will not be able to leave the amps all the time, because they tend to get quite toasty in the Texas climate…
And no, adding one more air conditioning unit for the music loft is not an option worth discussing with my wife.

Of course, things are not perfect… at this point, there are little issues that fade in and out… Yesterday for example, there was a very faint zing added
to the upper harmonics of the harpsichord… But this sounded more curious than annoying…. Very different from the typical harshness found in many new amps.
What I find astonishing is that whatever fabulous behavior I hear from M925 at any particular session, it is usually exceeded by what the amps demonstrate
after another few days…. Hope this continues, because it is quite exciting!

On a nonmusical note…

* Unlike M725 and M625, which have a mild propensity to emitting audible raspberries -- of a very high-end variety of course -- through the speakers, whenever
Power is cycled on/off, M925 are extremely quiet. When the front-mounted momentary contact switch is operated to turn the amps to full power, I can hear
Only the internal "Klump" from a relay switch, followed after a second or two by an almost inaudible "tick" from the speakers. When the power button is
Operate again to place the amps back on standby, there is no noise at all from the speakers or from the amps.

When the amps were brand new, one could hear also a complex buzz from the chassis, almost like a tiny cicada were trapped inside… That has faded, and now
the chassis are almost completely quiet…. I expect the burr to fade into complete inaudibility as breakin proceeds to the endline.

06-15-2013, 12:38 PM
Yesterday I turned on the system after 24 hours of total power down/disconnection because of concerns of bad weather. After one hour and a
half of warmup time, I played the Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances in the version for two pianos… A performance by EMANUEL AX and YEFIM BRONFMAN on SONY redbook,
recorded in 1999 in 24-bits.
Several things were remarkable, and already let me confirm that I comfortably prefer the total performance of M925 over every other amp I have had in my
system, including my beloved Rowland M725 monos…

• The apparent total coherence and extension of the M925 frequency bandwidth, from the bottom notes to the top octaves, without any perceivable suckouts
or fatness/overhangs.
• The fine exposure of harmonic information from the high treble to the lowest bass.
• The vast size/proportions of stage and instrument images, that where completely congruent in the three dimensions with real life grand pianos in a recording
studio, with the front of the instrument image approximately coinciding with the front of the speakers, and the left/right edges of the stage merging into
the side walls of the room (speakers are 11 feet apart, while the room is 18 feet wide)… This among other things means that M925 is thankfully not a forward
sounding amp, but is also far from being recessed.
• Tremendous macro authority and dynamics, perfectly consistent with the illusion of a pair of real life concert grands in the room, from whispering pianissimo
(ppp) to fortissimo (fff) without any clipping or other signs of strain.
• Subtlety of microdynamics, which exposes the sudden partial dampening of a piano string when a key is half-lifted and so, lowers the felt damper to graze
the string.
• The instant speed of macro and micro transient response at all frequencies. There is no euphonic caramelization of transients, neither there is artificial
emphasis of leading edges.
• The sense of emotion and musical immersion…. The listening experience is relaxed…. I sink into the listening couch and enjoy …. I do not feel the need
to balance on the edge of the seat ready to bolt with audiophilic anxiety.

NOTE: By last evening, the amps had been operated a total of approximately 257 hours at full power, with another 60 hours on standby with the input stages
being fed FM interstation hash at moderate volume.

06-16-2013, 07:26 PM
A minor milestone... I have just clocked 302 hours of playing time, and an additional 60 hours of low power ops. I decided to check again the Christiane
Jaccottet recording of Bach's Well Tempered Klavier... Disk 2 of 4, to be specific....

The trace burr or overpressure in the high treble region of the harmonics that I reported around the 250 hours mark has disappeared completely. If I did
not know better, I would be tempted to say that the amps have reached maturity, as the sound of the harpsichord was magnificent and musically involving...
But I know I should expect even further opening up... probably intermixed by a few more episodes of minor "bad attitude".

06-17-2013, 07:42 AM
… the power supply subsystem of M925 is indeed quite a hefty affair... I heard it is 1200W PFC rectifier + 2400W DC per side... Then there are
the Lundahl input transformers.... According to Jeff rowland, they supersized pro-audio devices... He suggested that they take a very long time (value
unspecified) to break-in... Hence his suggestion to feed a signal with the amps on standby part of the time. I suspect that lots of power regulators, ceramic
boards, and other parts contribute to slow break-in.

I have had the amps in my system for about three weeks, with a 2/3 power/downtime cycle... This far the breaking in and fleshing out of the amps seems
to be continuing steadily... We'll see if the pattern changes in the next couple of weeks.

06-22-2013, 08:35 PM
today, at approximately 430 hours of playing time plus 60 hours of low-level operations, the M925 amps are showing signs of musical grandness as well
as of some… residual break-in growing pains.

The Dvorak 9th Symphony 2nd movement under Bernstein and the Israel Philharmonic is magnificent: size and clarity of staging, imaging, speed and fullness
of macro transients, authority…. The lower brass fanfares are not only powerful and harmonically complex, but are heard inserted into the living context
of the 3D stage, rather than a musical object without spatial references… I know I said this before, but the reality is that these effects keep growing
in perceived size, complexity, and sheer emotional impact.

The massed upper and mid strings are not only textured and sweet, but resolve into the bowings of the individual fiddles and violas. The flutes have an
ethereal beauty, while the English horn keeps enhancing the multilayered earthiness to its melancholic sound. The chamber-like section toward the end of
the movement is assuming delicacy, detail, harmonic richness, and a filigreed transparency that are enchanting....

However, we may have a little temporary break-in tantrum… The mid bass has lost a bit of power and resolution, while manifesting some signs of wooliness...
I can hear the anomaly in the introduction of the Dvorak sextet with double bass, in the plucked electric bass of Diana Krall’s Temptation, and in a slight
uncertainty of the string bass line of Dvorak’s 9th, particularly the plucked sections... The bass anomaly can also be heard in a certain lack of vicerality
in the midbass of Bach's toccata, adagio and Fugue in C minor performed by Wolfgang Rubsam on Naxos redbook. Interestingly, the minor emotional disorder
does not affect the deep bass: the lowest bass notes in the adagio movement remain visceral, pitched, and harmonically textured.

I will log my next report at the end of the month, close to the 600 hours mark.

06-29-2013, 04:02 PM
I have been asked to comment once more on audible differences between M725 monos and M925. Admittedly, my M725s are wonderful amps, but what I heard yesterday
evening on M925 at the 576 hour mark, is simply not possible on M725. I had turned on my old NAD tuner and listen to Film Focus on KMFA Austin...
This week’s program is dedicated to "travelling to the Moon" or something to that effect.... The track "The launch" -- by James Horner I believe – from
the 1995 film "Apollo 13" blew my mind for the intimate depth and power of the bass.... Not a bloated swelling thing, but a tidal depth at the very bottom
of the audible range.... Something that the triple 9" bass drivers of the Muzik speakers were transmitting to my chest and feet perhaps more than to my
ears. The entire image: orchestra (partially synthetic) and synthetic bass – no string instrument goes that deep, occupied a solid continuum from beyond
the left wall to beyond the right wall. Mesmerizing is perhaps the best way to describe it... Sure, there was authority and all of that, but.... An authority
that just "exists" without the need of questioning its right to be... An authority that works for the music material without attracting attention to itself....
Just allowing the material to flow in a totally integrated way, because.... It is in the nature of music to achieve that... And in the nature of the amps
to deliver the effortless magic.

I realize that this is rambling and all, but I do not have a better way to express it. Today I might play once again my usual test tracks... But I have
a strong hunch that the bass malaise that I reported last week has happily gone away.

06-30-2013, 11:41 AM
Hi ZZZZ, you are right, I have not talked too much about vocals... My bad. For evaluating vocals, I use Diana Krall in Temptation, Nora Jones in Sinking
Soon, and several cuts from an April Music sampler which covers male baritone, classical alto, and a female vocalist on Cohen's Aleluia with flugelhorn
accompaniment.

Yesterday, I was listening to most of the material listed above, when my wife -- the one who can be cheerily dismissive of my audiophilic efforts -- all
of a sudden commented on the sheer beauty of the alto voice, and of the young vocalist on Alleluia... Yes, Kral, Jones, and modern vocalists have body
and breathiness if their voice has those characteristics... Classical singers like soprano, altos, etc... usually have no breathiness, for the simple fact
that breathiness is trained out of them. As for hard sibilants and etched plosives, there were not such annoying artifacts... Voices were open, expressive,
and wonderfully articulated in their diction.

Having said this, M925 is evenly revealing, and does not act as a filter or an equalizer... This means that it does not attempt to mask problems elsewhere
in the signal chain. If there is an anomaly elsewhere in the system, the anomaly will become manifest in spades.., with all the distorting artifacts that
go with it. It is very important for example, that all associated wiring and cords in the chain do not shift balance towards any particular portion of
the spectrum, and do not cause overpressure in vocalization, excesses in leading edges, or intermodulating artifacts in multipart treble.... You will hhear
any defects.

I am currently using a complete loom of Aural symphonics wires with excellent results. See my review on PFO:
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Iss...symphonics.htm

The only exception is a length of Cardas Golden Ref speaker wires used for biwiring the Muzik speakers.

I will soon edit this post with more details about my vocal test tracks... And I will fix spellings as well. G.
07-01-2013, 09:28 PM
GuidoCorona
CCCC, it is quite possible that Cardas Golden Ref might alter resolution of the system in one way or another. I addeded them because I have had a hunch
that M925 may benefit from biwiring, and Cardas olden Ref are today my only 2nd set available.

In about one week I will conduct some tests with/without Golden Refs as 2nd wires, and will report results.

At some point, I may examine alternatives to Cardas Golden Refs.

07-10-2013, 09:47 PM
Break-in has resumed Monday night at the 600 hours mark... The sound had an eary beauty even with the amps stone cold after 9 days completely disconnected
from the AC. I listened to a couple movements from Mahler's 4th Symphony conducted by Bernard Heitink... Totally enchanting... Even though from my old
NAD FM tuner, the bass was foundational and pitched as clear as a bell.

Several people have asked me about audible differences between M925/M825 and the venerable Rowland Model 9 series. Since I have never listened to M9 variants,
and my answers have been up to now purely conjectural, I have reached out to Ron Gaston, proprietor of Black Forest Audio in well, you guessed it... Black
Forest (CO), and long time Rowland dealer as well as Jeff’s personal friend. Ron has extensive experienced with every Rowland amp since the original M7.
Here is what Ron wrote to me just a few days ago on M8 and M9 versus M825, M925, and... M625:

"The Model 8/9 amps are big, rich and earthy in presentation. They are not, however, a match for the 825/925 in soundstage, detail or palpable realism.
They seem downright sluggish in comparison. I believe [even] the 625 to be superior in nearly every respect to these older, very great amps."

Ron further explains that Only in the bottom end authority M9 variants do outperform the little M625.

Just in case you asked, Ron's house was not affected by the recent wildfire... Ron, family, and his beloved collection of audio gear are doing just fine.

09-02-2013, 06:38 PM
Today at 1,780 hours of operations per my Excel break-in tracker, progress
has been steadily significant since the 600 hours mark discussed earlier in this thread. I use the term “steadily significant” on purpose, because I am
not sure that the progressive refinement of this amazing amplifier has abated yet.

Reality is that, starting about the 700 hours mark, I have been tempted several times to declare the amplifier fully “broken-in”… After all, when one perceives
no constriction anywhere, frequency and harmonic coverage is a linearly sculptured affair throughout the spectrum, treble intermodulation of multi-part
violas and violins has vanished, your mind freely zooms in and out of musical detail, Authority as well as micro/macro dynamics have established such a
“right” to exist that you do not even perceive them as isolated factors in the musical whole… And most of all, you simply get lost in the music without
reservations… Well, you would thing the creature is just about ready and stabilized.

Yet, things have continued to refine until now…. Perhaps we could claim that by the 1,100-hour mark the amp is 100% broken in… I would have assigned this
milestone to the 1,000 hours mark, except that at about 1050 hours I experienced the very last performance oscillation, where M925 showed a slight “warmishment”
for just 4 to 6 hours, after which things have returned to normality without further flexions.

To my surprise, all audible parameters have continue to refine after this point, leaving me quite befuddled about how much immersive music the whole rig,
starting from Rowland Criterion and ending with the Vienna Muzik speakers, is increasingly able to extract from my old Esoteric X-01 player. Will things
continue to evolve even further? I have no idea yet... But will let you know.

if anyone were starting to wonder if the last couple of months of silence meant that perhaps yours truly were having second thoughts, falling out of love,
or succumbing to the pangs of obsessive second guessing, or simply getting a little case of audiophilic wandering eye (or is it wandering ear?)…

Nothing could be further from reality… Rest assured that Rowland M925 has firmly established itself as my absolute reference amplifier by far.

Impressive! Thanks for posting this info Guido!

Guido, this is fantastic! Thank you!

All, for those attending RMAF from October 11 through the 13th, I have received the list of suites where we will be able to listen to Rowland amps:

* The M825 stereo amp, Aeris DAC, and the Capri Series 2 preamp will be playing in suite 8032 with Joseph Audio speakers and Cardas Clear wires.

* M825 and Aeris will also be heard with Lawrence Audio in Tower Room 1122.

* The Continuum S2 integrated will be making music in public for the first time in Tower 2001 (the Rowland suite), together with Aeris… If I remember things correctly, they may be using Cardas Clear and Clear Beyond wires, and Raidho speakers.

* Other Rowland components will be mostly on static display in room 2000 and 2001: including M925 monos, M725 monos, M625 stereo, M525 bridgeable, Corus linestage, and Capri S2 pre.

I will be attending starting Friday.

Saluti, Guido

Thanks Guido! Looking forward to it.

Originally Posted by GuidoCorona

All, for those attending RMAF from October 11 through the 13th, I have received the list of suites where we will be able to listen to Rowland amps:

* The M825 stereo amp, Aeris DAC, and the Capri Series 2 preamp will be playing in suite 8032 with Joseph Audio speakers and Cardas Clear wires.

* M825 and Aeris will also be heard with Lawrence Audio in Tower Room 1122.

* The Continuum S2 integrated will be making music in public for the first time in Tower 2001 (the Rowland suite), together with Aeris… If I remember things correctly, they may be using Cardas Clear and Clear Beyond wires, and Raidho speakers.

* Other Rowland components will be mostly on static display in room 2000 and 2001: including M925 monos, M725 monos, M625 stereo, M525 bridgeable, Corus linestage, and Capri S2 pre.

I will be attending starting Friday.

Saluti, Guido

Thanks for posting, Guido!

Mike, Continuum and Raidhos!

Excellent Guido. I'll make sure to add these to my list of must see/listen rooms! I hope to run into you there!

Yes, my beloved Rowland M925 monoblocks have been making fantastic music without a glitch since May 2013... For the last few years, I have been feedin
M925 directly from an Rowland Aeris DAC,this powered by the Rowland PSU ultra-capacitor-based external power supply. Yet, I have been wondering for some
time if my audio nirvana could ever be uber-nirvanized, as the technology of audio reproduction has continued to evolve. So, when Rowland released its
statement integrated amplifier in the form of Daemon, I became curious. Could an integrated equal, or at least get close to my Aeris + PSU + M925 trio?
I was long hoping to evaluate the Rowland Daemon 1500W Superintegrated amp. Could a class D integrated fulfill my yearning for sonic bliss, or would Daemon leave me pining for the wonderful music of my separates: Rowland Aeris DAC fed by the ultra-capacitor-based PSU external power supply, driving my beloved M925 monoblocks? Eventually, a Daemon review unit was delivered on February 28th. I Started break-in the following day, and have been scribbling my listening notes since… The writing project will continue for at least a few months, until the device has stabilized, and I have exercised several of its many input and output features. I have been waiting for a long time for this 99Lbs single box critter. It is Jeff Rowland’s integrated statement. The DAC + Preamp + 1500W/8 (2500W/4) dual-mono power amp in a single chassis measuring 17.5” x 15.25” x 9.5” has been sounding extremely musical since the beginning, truly great since it crossed the 150 hours break-in mark, and just about astonishing at 500 hours… And this is just half-way into the break-in process. hundred hours of break-in.

Discovering the phenomenal musical beauty that Daemon produces is being a fascinating experience… Already I am stunned by Daemon's power reserve and unreal tonal grace. Hence this thread teaser... Join me to chat about my adventure with this integrated flagship around its AudioShark watering-hole:

https://www.audioshark.org/showthrea...453#post297453

And, feel free to PM me with any questions about it.

Saluti, Guido


Hello All, I was long hoping to evaluate the Rowland Daemon 1500W Superintegrated amp. Could a class D integrated fulfill my yearning for sonic nirvana, or would Daemon leave me pining for the wonderful music of my separates: Rowland Aeris DAC fed by the ultra-capacitor-based PSU external power supply, driving my beloved M925 monoblocks? Eventually, a Daemon review unit was delivered on February 28th. I Started break-in the following day, and have been scribbling my listening notes since… The writing project will continue for at least a few months, until the device has stabilized, and I have exercised several of its many input and output features. I have been waiting for a long time for this 99Lbs single box critter. It is Jeff Rowland’s integrated statement. The DAC + Preamp + 1500W/8 (2500W/4) dual-mono power amp in a single chassis measuring 17.5” x 15.25” x 9.5” is sounding amazing after just a little more than a couple hundred hours of break-in.

Discovering the phenomenal musical beauty that Daemon produces is being a fascinating experience… Already I am stunned by Daemon's power reserve and unreal tonal grace. Join me to chat about my adventure with this integrated flagship around its new Audiogon watering-hole:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussio...egrated-flagsh...

And, feel free to PM me with any questions about it.

Saluti, Guido