Atma-Shephere Class D Review

[Hear Here]

..... the power switch is on the front!

Yes, and with their the low power consumption at idle (about 7 watts each so 14 per pair) they could be left on overnight.

Personally, I prefer to switch them off when not listening, so would have liked to see 12V triggers on these amps, so they go off when the preamp is remotely shut down. For the few £$€ that triggers would add to the cost, a feature I expect to see on an ss amp, particularly monoblocs that may be placed out of sight behind speakers to minimise cable lengths.

Although my speakers are 107 dB, I wouldn't use an attenuator to reduce the preamp output, though my preamp does have a max volume limit feature that I have set for about -10 dB with these monos and -20 dB with my other Class D amp.

 

[atmasphere]

You need to check up on your linear power supply claim.

They use a toroid power transformer so a 'linear power supply', which is to say not a switching power supply.

 

[Bones13]

Having built several linear power supplies for the first watt clones, I can recognize a toroidal power transformer, rectifying diodes, and the CRC circuitry involved with a LPS. I’m sure that Ralph can improve on this simple model, and build a more sophisticated version, but the bones remain. When you look into the box of this amplifier, most of it is the LPS.

I am aware that many class D amps are provisioned with a switch mode power supply. My current Boulder phono pre, and the MSB Premier Digital Director are fitted with SMPS units, and are terrific units. I’m not afraid of their use, but lack the electrical knowledge to consider building one.

 

[Bones13]

Yes, and with their the low power consumption at idle (about 7 watts each so 14 per pair) they could be left on overnight.

Personally, I prefer to switch them off when not listening, so would have liked to see 12V triggers on these amps, so they go off when the preamp is remotely shut down. For the few £$€ that triggers would add to the cost, a feature I expect to see on an ss amp, particularly monoblocs that may be placed out of sight behind speakers to minimise cable lengths.

Although my speakers are 107 dB, I wouldn't use an attenuator to reduce the preamp output, though my preamp does have a max volume limit feature that I have set for about -10 dB with these monos and -20 dB with my other Class D amp.

Until recently, I pretty much listened on the weekends. I would switch every thing on Saturday morning. At night, I would turn off the tube pre-amp leaving everything SS on. Then turn all off when done Sunday. While I too would love a 12v trigger, it’s not a dealbreaker. My pre-amp does not have that function either.

I don’t “have” to use the attenuation, but can use more of the volume dial if I do. My tubed pre-amps can have a resistor change per channel, providing 6db attenuation. I will consider this in the future. I might end up with a bigger room, and not need to change it.

I boxed up my system over the weekend, and won’t see it again until we secure a new house in Seattle next year.

 

[Randy Myers]

I simply found it unusual to see such a negative review in the age of “everything is great”. That’s why I posted it. Ralph is a great guy and his OTL amps are excellent sounding (I haven’t heard the amp in question). I am constantly hearing that reviews have lost their value because everything is great. Someone in the industry sent me this as he too was shocked and that’s why I posted it. I wanted to see what the reaction was. Are people TRULY clamoring for a negative review here or there (think: car industry) or are they really only wanting to read positive reviews? That was my question.

I would love to see many more honest reviews.

I have decided to no longer subscribe to TAS and Stereophile mags (letting both subscriptions run out at this time). Every single review is glowing, or "highly recommended". No matter what level they review, it is always peaches and cream. I would also prefer to see more lower and mid-level gear reviewed (more reviews of affordable models) instead of gear that cost more than a very nice car.

 

[Randy Myers]

While I too would love a 12v trigger, it’s not a dealbreaker.

I love the trigger on my Mc gear ... personnel preference of course. It even triggers the selected output so it turns on my Mc amp and subs whenever I select Output 1, and off when I switch off Output 1. The headphone amp is on Output 2.

I boxed up my system over the weekend, and won’t see it again until we secure a new house in Seattle next year.

I hope it goes quickly for you. Boxing up your system for an impending move is brutal... I know from our fairly recent move.

 

[Mr Peabody]

I would love to see many more honest reviews.

I have decided to no longer subscribe to TAS and Stereophile mags (letting both subscriptions run out at this time). Every single review is glowing, or "highly recommended". No matter what level they review, it is always peaches and cream. I would also prefer to see more lower and mid-level gear reviewed (more reviews of affordable models) instead of gear that cost more than a very nice car.

Randy you might like Future Audiophile. It's a audio news and review website.

 

[Mr Peabody]

This review is dishonest in a variety of ways.

We tell customers the class D amps take about 450 hours to break in. For this reason, we have a longer audition time than we do for our tube amps. If Jerry had gotten these amps from us he would have known that.

A look at the actual legit reviews (all of which are linked from our website) show a distinct difference in findings, to put it mildly.

We did not provide a sample, and wouldn't as Jerry knows, because he has caused bad blood in the past (actually about 25 years ago). In that incident, Jerry (the sole person at 10Audio) changed two good reviews of our gear to bad ones after the fact, after we had to confront him regarding a third review of a poorly built kit version of our M-60s he bought used that he reviewed as factory-built.

That amp was a rat's nest inside; probably part of the reason they were on the used market. He sold them to a person in NYC, who sent them to us for repair. They really weren't working right!

When you see bad reviews, there's a pretty good chance there's something that isn't being said. This case is a good example; Jerry has an axe to grind with us and took the opportunity. But it can be caused by shipping damaged equipment reviewed as functional. Or an inability to follow instructions. We had one case where the bad review was done because we didn't buy an ad contract.

But in this case its simply a person that is unable to own his mistakes and tried to cover it up.

I read the review and my posts show I called it as you said.

 

[CPP]

I would love to see many more honest reviews.

I have decided to no longer subscribe to TAS and Stereophile mags (letting both subscriptions run out at this time). Every single review is glowing, or "highly recommended". No matter what level they review, it is always peaches and cream. I would also prefer to see more lower and mid-level gear reviewed (more reviews of affordable models) instead of gear that cost more than a very nice car.

I dropped those two a long time ago for the same reason

 

[JCS123]

I would love to see many more honest reviews.

I have decided to no longer subscribe to TAS and Stereophile mags (letting both subscriptions run out at this time). Every single review is glowing, or "highly recommended". No matter what level they review, it is always peaches and cream. I would also prefer to see more lower and mid-level gear reviewed (more reviews of affordable models) instead of gear that cost more than a very nice car.

I try to read between the lines. After too many years full of "the greatest thing since sliced bread" reviews one after another after another, I have begun looking for catchwords or phrases that might suggest that the gear being reviewed is not indeed be the second coming of said bread.

Would the following phrases suggest that the gear in question might not be the greatest, yet the fear of threatening a "cozy relationship" or other considerations might possibly be swaying the drift of the review? (These are all paraphrases, not copied and pasted from any reviews.)

In the right room, and if.........., this could be the cornerstone of a very satisfying system.

Competitive with just about anything at or near it's price range.

If you can live with..........and you have the................

If you're looking for pinpoint accuracy, look elsewhere. But for that "wow factor", ............

If I were building a system from scratch and I had a budget of......, this would be near or at the top of my list for auditioning.

This is written with as much empathy as I can muster for reviewers who are put in the position of having to put a positive spin on something for reasons a bit more complicated than what one might see at first blush. This cannot possibly be an easy job. Especially when you consider that a reviewer has to spend a considerable amount of time with the review piece in place, and that by definition will take time away from enjoying music in their own system in a relaxed and enjoyable way. After all, reviewers are music lovers just like the rest of us. Really, I feel for the reviewers.

I will keep reading and enjoying the reviews. I will continue to identify and trust those reviewers who I believe share my general priorities, and especially those who I can learn from. And I will forever be on the lookout for tip-offs that might indicate that a review (or reviewer) might not be one that will likely help me.

 

[Randy Myers]

I am one who does not like the whole "peaches and cream". My IT training has always made me be one who tries to find the absolute worse case scenario and if I can deal with that then anything better would fantastic!

I remember once working with a corporate sales person on a particular product who lost his mind because I told our CEO exactly what was good and bad about the product. He wanted to only talk about all the good stuff and not mention the other end of the spectrum. He came charging in to my office looking like his head was going to explode. I told him straight up, I do not do peaches and cream. I rip apart software and hardware to find any and all bad points. If we can deal with those then great, if not then we would not want it. My boss was very much with my frame of reference.

I feel exactly the same way about all of these peaches and cream reviews. Tell me the real story, not only the good stuff.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

I try to read between the lines. After too many years full of "the greatest thing since sliced bread" reviews one after another after another, I have begun looking for catchwords or phrases that might suggest that the gear being reviewed is not indeed be the second coming of said bread.

I believe that's the reason why Mike posted this negative review per his statements in this thread:

Too many positive reviews and people whine (not saying you do);

Post a negative review and people still whine. Look at the manifested excuses created by some people in order to attack the negative review.

Basically a large part of the issue is clearly the people. They seem incapable or unwilling to keep reviews and opinions in the construct with which they should be taken.

 

[Hear Here]

I believe that's the reason why Mike posted this negative review per his statements in this thread:

Too many positive reviews and people whine (not saying you do);

Post a negative review and people still whine. Look at the manifested excuses created by some people in order to attack the negative review.

Basically a large part of the issue is clearly the people. They seem incapable or unwilling to keep reviews and opinions in the construct with which they should be taken.

I challenge that viewpoint.

If a review from any source is patently biased, incompetent, inaccurate, partial, etc, it should be ignored and not given the fuel of publicity. This particular review clearly fails on just about every count. Poor reviews are fine if they are honest and thorough.

A respected reviewer needs kit to be submitted for review and he may choose not to accept items that are sub-par, probably quite rightly, so perhaps most reviews are likely to be generally favourable. Kit should be be fairly and honestly reviewed and we should expect that the text needs to be interpreted the way the reviewer intended - often including reading between the lines.

If we, the consumer put our faith in junk reviews, as nearly all Youtube and many other ones are, we may well buy junk products and have only ourselves to blame. If we rely of respected reviewers and have learnt to read between the lines and the objective measurements (if competently taken), we should be steered towards much better kit. However reviews are only a guide to create a shortlist of items that should be auditioned in the home before we buy.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

I challenge that viewpoint.

If a review from any source is patently biased, incompetent, inaccurate, partial, etc, it should be ignored and not given the fuel of publication. This particular review clearly fails on just about every count. Poor reviews are fine if they are honest and thorough.

A respected reviewer needs kit to be submitted for review and he may choose not to accept items that are sub-par, perhaps quite rightly, so perhaps most reviews are likely to be generally favourable. Kit should be be fairly and honestly reviewed and we should expect that the text needs to be interpreted the way the reviewer intended - often including reading between the lines.

If we, the consumer put our faith in junk reviews, as nearly all Youtube ones are, we may well buy junk products and have only ourselves to blame. If we rely of respected reviewers and have learnt to read between the lines and the objective measurements (if competently taken), we should be steered towards much better kit.

You the consumer are silly (lazy?) to put "your faith" in ANY review on a subject that is 100% purely subjective.

They can't hear for you.

They don't have the same system as you.

They don't have the same room as you.

Don't be lazy and listen for yourself to make you own purchase decision.

Blaming others for your inabilities is pretty silly. Your review manifesto is quite comical.

I actually think it kinda funny to watch people tied up in such fits over one persons opinion/review/post or what ever you want to call it.

 

[Mike]

Other than AGD, I have yet to hear Class D whatever-flavor-of-the-month-chipset impress me. AGD however, yes! Whatever they’re doing is right.

 

[JCS123]

I challenge that viewpoint.

If a review from any source is patently biased, incompetent, inaccurate, partial, etc, it should be ignored and not given the fuel of publication. This particular review clearly fails on just about every count. Poor reviews are fine if they are honest and thorough.

A respected reviewer needs kit to be submitted for review and he may choose not to accept items that are sub-par, perhaps quite rightly, so perhaps most reviews are likely to be generally favourable. Kit should be be fairly and honestly reviewed and we should expect that the text needs to be interpreted the way the reviewer intended - often including reading between the lines.

If we, the consumer put our faith in junk reviews, as nearly all Youtube ones are, we may well buy junk products and have only ourselves to blame. If we rely of respected reviewers and have learnt to read between the lines and the objective measurements (if competently taken), we should be steered towards much better kit.

"...and the objective measurements (if competently taken)"

That's why I have been a big fan of John Atkinson for many years - he writes a good subjective review accompanied by objective measurements.

Yes, other reviewers are providing measurements. John just happened to be the first to come to mind, and in my limited experience he is the Gold Standard.

 

[Mike]

"...and the objective measurements (if competently taken)"

That's why I have been a big fan of John Atkinson for many years - he writes a good subjective review accompanied by objective measurements.

Yes, other reviewers are providing measurements. John just happened to be the first to come to mind, and in my limited experience he is the Gold Standard.

Agreed!

 

[Porsche]

You the consumer are silly (lazy?) to put "your faith" in ANY review on a subject that is 100% purely subjective.

They can't hear for you.

They don't have the same system as you.

They don't have the same room as you.

Don't be lazy and listen for yourself to make you own purchase decision.

Blaming others for your inabilities is pretty silly. Your review manifesto is quite comical.

I actually think it kinda funny to watch people tied up in such fits over one persons opinion/review/post or what ever you want to call it.

bravo, I totally agree, I have never taken a reviewers review as a reason to buy, they haven't a clue about your system/hearing/etc/etc. if you can't invest in the time to go hear than oh well

 

[Porsche]

Other than AGD, I have yet to hear Class D whatever-flavor-of-the-month-chipset impress me. AGD however, yes! Whatever they’re doing is right.

aavik makes a nice amp IMO

 

[nicoff]

The problem with subjective reviews is that they are… well… subjective. Anyone can say anything and claim to hear whatever.
Just saw a video of a golden eared audiophile who in a blind test picked a $20 over a $20k wire. And then, of course, the guy who owns the site starts blaming the cable burn in. What a joke.