Any thoughts on these 3 amps?

[Peter Allison]

I am at the budget end of the market, and living in the Uk. I am wanting your collective thoughts on 3 amp that are in the running, a class A/B in the form of an Anthem MCA 225 and class D amps from Nord and the other, a PS Audio Stellar 300. In ££ they are £2000 for the Anthem £1200 for the Nord and £1300 for the PS Audio.
The pre is an Anthem MRX 520 using the pre outs, and the speakers are Amphion Argon1's

many thanks

 

[hifinutt]

Given that Nord have about 208 pages on this forum i would be thinking about them . they have a brilliant pre amp too. I am running some very modest class D monoblocks that cost almost nothing . I had a 14k amp last for a good many years , but had to sell to pay the bills . the ice power amps are a great consolation.

The Nord are made in UK of course with excellent support

https://www.tvcpreamp.co.uk/wp-cont...tYKj-OZ8yrTUe7UEBG-kD8toIDBNiDjEn77m7Kp7LWR1s

https://www.audioshark.org/amplifie...nc500-amps-class-d-ready-prime-time-9369.html

whether the Nord would go with your anthem pre i am not sure , others more technical than i can advise

 

[thebrieze]

Nord will likely be better value for the $. However, PS Audio and Anthem will likely retain their resale value better due to the brand recognition.

The PS Audio M700 (which from the specs appears to be 2 S300’s bridged and configured as monoblocks) is a Stereophile Class A recommended component.

The S300 is based on an older ICEpower module (compared to Nord) but it does have a custom input buffer which may have an impact on sound quality

 

[Peter Allison]

Nord will likely be better value for the $. However, PS Audio and Anthem will likely retain their resale value better due to the brand recognition.

The PS Audio M700 (which from the specs appears to be 2 S300’s bridged and configured as monoblocks) is a Stereophile Class A recommended component.


The S300 is based on an older ICEpower module (compared to Nord) but it does have a custom input buffer which may have an impact on sound quality

I am having a demo of the PS Audio s300 next week, and in talking to a few people on a UK Audiophile FB page, they all agree that this amp will be a better option, considering the speakers I have at the moment. So that is my 99.9% choice now, given I have a limited budget.
Many thanks for your input

 

[joeinid]

Peter,

Please let us know how your demo goes. I’d like to hear more about that PS Audio amp.

 

[CPP]

I am at the budget end of the market, and living in the Uk. I am wanting your collective thoughts on 3 amp that are in the running, a class A/B in the form of an Anthem MCA 225 and class D amps from Nord and the other, a PS Audio Stellar 300. In ££ they are £2000 for the Anthem £1200 for the Nord and £1300 for the PS Audio.
The pre is an Anthem MRX 520 using the pre outs, and the speakers are Amphion Argon1's

many thanks

Maybe I missed it, What speakers are you using ?

 

[joeinid]

The speakers are Amphion Argon1's

 

[Elberoth]

Nord, both the Ncore and PuriFi based, is a much better performing amp than the PS Audio Stellar 300.