Wow we have a lot of accolades. I consider us to be a part of this. It is really awesome to have built these amps. To have gotten lucky and chose these amps for my own. I am so grateful that Leo would allow us to diy his glorious sounding amps. That is something that none of those others would allow. So I want to thank you Leo. These amps are my forever amps. Well until you update your modules. Maybe. But these are so analog sounding. That's the best I can describe them. So much detail but without any digital glare.
I guess I should explain what I am referring to. I mean my digital with most amps sounds well harsh is what I say. But with these amps in my system I can now listen for hours at extreme volumes without any digititus. It just sounds more natural. More smooth. But yet because of that I will listen further. And you start hearing things you haven't heard before in the songs. Like stuff way back in the background. Some sounds come out of nowhere. It is uncanny at this. I heard that in those Endow Audio speakers at A pona last year with the Orchard Audio amp. I thought it was the speakers but Leo's amps might actually be the reason. I love it whatever it is. And can't live without it now
So I would first like to thank Leo for the opportunity to audition the Starkrimson Duo Ultra DMC. This amp is a phenomenal piece of kit and I had long been anticipating the opportunity to try it out. I won’t go into details but there were some major snags in the amplifier making its way to me. Sufficed to say at every juncture Leo was so kind and understanding and went above and beyond to make sure that I had a chance to try it out. Many times I would have assumed he’d just move on due to all the troubles we were having but I am so thankful to him for caring and putting in his time and effort and money to make this opportunity happen for me, and really to happen for all of us. Bravo! The next point I will make is to add a little bit of context to this audition. This amplifier is very much 10X the cost of any other component in my listening topology. In many cases 100X the cost of components like DACs etc. That being said, I was still very excited to see what it could do in my system(s). I feel that although I am maybe non-traditional in this sense, with the gear that I have. But perhaps this is a useful perspective to some folks? It was certainly eye opening for me. With more context I will say that I am also the type of person that really has no complaints about my current system and I love the music most of all. Good/enjoyable music that fits my mood for me trumps all the other issues with audio. And by that I mean music I like to listen to (which is a lot and very diverse list across many genres) and I usually don’t mind too much the quality of the recording or how I listen. I’m kinda lucky that way. Probably my system would have a difficult time even differentiating some of those nuances that many audiophiles find very important to their sound and tastes. Regardless I would assume knowing this there is/was a very small chance that I would not find this amplifier to be awesome, and it was, and I knew this going in…and it still impressed me! So let me start off with some of the mechanics of my audition. I sampled the amplifier with vinyl, I used CDs, I streamed a bunch, and I used some single ended adapter cables to run tube preamps into the Starkrimson. I purchased ahead of time one of Leo’s NOS Gala DACs to make sure I could try this amp out in a native configuration. All, and I mean all configurations were lovely! I used open baffle speakers (see ABX Discord), floor standing towers (Technics SB-A27), studio monitors (JBL 4206 and Alesis One/Two), and Klipsch (RP-600M). My room is a pretty traditional carpeted basement entertainment room with lots of couches/angled walls/bookshelves/furniture. I have very few room problems and a pretty damn flat response 30Hz-15KHz which is nice. My cabling is pretty traditional homemade CAT5/6 cabling with some silver thrown in depending on speakers. My vinyl preamp was a nice warm NAD 7020, fed by a Technics SL-1200 mkii (Ortofon 2m red cartridge). In addition to the Gala I also run a Schiit MODI v3 and have a Sony DVP-S9000ES for a CD transport. My interconnects are not great (working or not on that for the future LOL) but most of the time used some generic RCA cables and balanced cabling from Monoprice. I have zero power filtering components and ran juice straight out of the wall. I don’t usually run a preamp but did try my nicest piece of kit, a La Dolce Audio UA2.3 6L6 tube amp run through an adapter into the Starkrimson. But otherwise mostly I have slapped together gear firmly in the Lo-Fi (or Fun-Fi as I like to say) region. Ok, now for the bottom line, everything sounded great, and I COULD hear differences in sound based on inputs and most definitely based on speakers. So I will kinda march through things one by one and hopefully I’ll get to the end. With my vinyl setup, this is a very warm configuration that in part is an effort by me to hide some of the detail in my vinyl collection, which is mostly dollar bin garbage. Even the pops and crackles sound good! LOL. But all of that warmth and gooeyness was translated straight through to the speakers. I would say my listening buddy and I found out how warm it really was when piping Pink Floyd’s DSOTM via the vinyl setup vs running it through the amp from the British CD version. Yikes what a difference! And I will admit that the amplifier provided all the information to make that startling conclusion. Truth be told there are a few tracks that get a little hot for me on that album and I enjoyed the vinyl setup smoothing those out, but as I said, the amplifier really did a great job with both options there. A Pavarotti album was belting through the whole room with my open baffle speakers. We also threw in some Autechre on vinyl and that was lovely too, all of the bass being quite emotionally moving from this amp. And if you like bass, I could think most all bass heads will be very pleased with what control and oomphf this amp can give a set of 18” bass drivers. Other attempts were Chastity’s Chains EP, John Doe’s Fables in a Foreign Land, Mama Cass, Robert Palmer, Wire Train, etc. Nothing amazing, but if you do have a resolving vinyl setup, and some unclean vinyl, be prepared to hear it! (I know most of you probably don’t fall in that category.) Running digital was most of what my audition consisted of. CDs were very punchy and dynamic I felt, where mostly I used the OA Gala as a DAC/preamp with CDs and found that very pleasing. I can’t comment much on the DAC by itself as I hadn’t used it much before in any other situations…but in combo with the Starkrimson I thought it was a really nice. And the volume control it provided was super smooth and wonderful. In streaming land I went through a lot more music. I was using an iPad with high-res enabled through a converter into the Gala and onto the Starkrimson with a variety of speakers as mentioned above. The music IN ALL CASES was extremely clear and pleasant. I found no issues with the setup and really really enjoyed playing some of my favorite classics. Each set of speakers kinda had a different vibe that worked best, and I tried to highlight some of my favorites that the amplifier passed on. I have never heard my baffles sound so detailed and clean. Yowza! This was a whole new experience. Playlist included Jacob Collier piano tracks, Lizzy McAlpine ballads, Fordlandia organ tunes from Jóhann Jóhannsson, Nils Frahm’s Trance Frendz album, Laufey’s orchestral Night at the Symphony, various Pavarotti songs. All in all I found this setup more detailed and nuanced than I have heard those speakers sound before, which I usually pair with my tube amplifiers. It was kinda cool to hear them sound so different. Moving to the Klipsch, these speakers sounded a bit more source point than my baffles obviously, but I felt like this amplifier made them sound 3X the size that they actually are. Was a bit surprised that my little standmounts could sound so big if I closed my eyes. I had not felt that way before with my other gear. I was a bit worried with a class D and the speakers that it might be a bit hot for me, but I did not get that sense in this pairing. (Usually these RP-600M speakers go well with my vintage Sansui for the type of sound I like) But on these speakers, and the Starkrimson, oh my lord Pavarotti was sublime! Laufey was so ****ing there. I couldn’t believe I wanted to play music this loud! The Shins song Pink Bullets was a wow! Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was hard to turn off. Zeppelin Can’t Quit You Baby was literally how I felt, I couldn’t quit. Kimbra’s Foolish Thinking…OMG the texture. I also dropped the bass with Terrie Insungset’s Fading Sun and I didn’t think these speakers could dig that low! I totally think that was the amp bringing that out of the Klipsch. Chris Stapleton Death Row album…****. I went on from there to Over the Rhine, Old Sea Brigade, Patricia Barber, Ofir Atar, Dead Can Dance, Fever Ray, Jesse Cook, Riverside. I just rolled speakers and kept getting impressed. One big highlight was Led Zeppelin on the Technics floor standers. I could not believe that I was hearing those old speakers sound that good, and it just took me right back to my youth with the sound signature. That was a pretty special moment. Around then I ran some listening position scans of frequency response with all of the speakers I tried, and it was so cool to see all of the differences, knowing however that each setup sounded so good and absolutely stellar with some tracks in particular. With the JBL and Alesis monitors I tried out, I know those three sets of speakers can be hard for some amps to push and sound good, and the Starkrimson brought out all of the bass and treble clarity they had to offer, and again I was found thinking I hadn’t heard them sound that good since hearing them on a decent class AB 100 watt amp that stayed in class A for quite a while. (I could also cook and egg on that amp LOL) So that was really nice, and this amp runs right at room temp without breaking a sweat. What I didn’t hear, compared to a lot of the sub $300 class D amps that I have tried was a lack of soul. I think you could very much get a sterile sound to pass through the Starkrimson if that is what you fed into it. However there is no way that I would classify this amp in that way compared to the other offerings I have tried admittedly on the low end of the spectrum. I still thought that I preferred some of my tube amplifiers with my baffle speakers just because of what I am going for personally, and that is when I really dug into trying to get the tubes to run as a preamp. Once I got some settings dialed on that end of things I thought that I was easily getting 90% of that tubey interaction to pass through the Starkrimson. Which I think again highlights what this amplifier does so well, which is be transparent. The other 10% I was missing again I don’t think was a sound thing, but is more related to how my low watt tube amp plays with the sensitive drivers in those baffle speakers. Another Eureka! moment for me was at some point in my travels through favorite albums…was just sitting there with the ease and simplicity of the iPad feeling like, “is there really anything more I need from music?” It was just so simple and sounded so good. Compared to my normal systems that have again been lovely for me…but having this setup in house, I just don’t think I really need any more or could ask any more from a system. How could I? So thinking that and thinking about how much improvement there probably could be for other aspects of my gear, I was just a bit blown away at that point how easy it was to get to the music I love and care about so much without thinking about the details. So that was way cool, even if it something normally not on my radar. All in all I had a lovely time with the amplifier, from the perspective of someone who is not maybe the typical candidate for gear this nice. I really had a lot of fun, and was able to turn up the volume way more than with my other gear. And in each and every case the amplifier made all my speakers sound much better than they have before, the exception being the open baffle speakers when paired with tubes…but that is just because you gotta know me to know my jam. Thank you again so much Leo, what a cool amplifier you have made!!!
Thanks! Sorry for the typos which I try to catch but seem more obvious AFTER the post. Really happy to have had the experience and know what a high quality amp can do. Makes me excited for the journey forward. Chris
Steve Hoffman -- Fully Loaded Rev 2.0 unit review. Future Audiophile Review (November 2023) - Rev 2.0 Hi-Fi Trends Review (October 2023) - Rev 2.0 DMC 2 Channel Listening Review (September 2023) - Rev 2.0 Home Theather Hi-Fi Review (July 2022) - Rev 1.0 Reviews with rev 1.0 $2900 MSPR unit (single power supply and cap upgrade): @Ted Torres Jr -- here and here @james -- the review is at this link (post #7) @Oliver Meyer -- the review is at this link (post #37) @Jaytor -- the review is at this link (post #66) @gguy -- the review is at this link (post #111) @naru1980 -- the review is at this link (post #147) @okc_craft -- the review is at this link (post #165) @ejk1 -- the review is at this link (post #171) -- purchased amplifier @RonN5 -- the review is at this link (post #192) @barondla -- the review is at this link (post #214) -- purchased amplifier @DennyCrane -- the review is at this link (post #224) -- purchased Starkrimson Ultra DIY amplifier kit @nymarty -- the review is at this link (post #278) -- has agreed to purchase the current tour unit once the tour is complete @MValentiner --the review is at this link (post #287) -- purchased ultra monoblock amps @jimbones -- the review is at this link (post #360) @thomaskong -- the review is at this link (post #425) -- purchased 150W monoblock amps @Paul_In_WA -- the review is at this link (post #440) @Nick BZ -- the review is at this link (post #502) -- purchased amplifier Reviews with rev 1.0 $3500 MSRP unit (dual power supplies, with capacitor upgrade): @Ted Torres Jr -- the review is at this link (post # 89) -- purchased amplifier @rhing -- the review is at this link (post # 507) @jcn3 -- the review is at this link (post # 515) @CarmineRed -- the review is at this link (post #574) @panhead -- the review is at this link (post #584) @Barry_NJ -- the review is at this link (post #639) @rhale64 -- the review is at this link (post #661) and here and here -- purchased 6 x Starkrimson Ultra amp modules @barryso -- the review is at this link (post #668) @NEXTLEVEL5 -- the review is at this link (post #678) @avanti1960 -- the review is at this link (post #706) @Gibsonian -- the review is at this link (post #713) @Chris Adams -- the review is at this link (post # 720) @TubeGuy76 -- the review is at this link (post #730) @markl -- the review is at this link (post #748) @Johnu -- the review is at this link (post # 758) @thegage -- the review is at this link (post # 825) @dflee -- the review is at this link (post # 831) -- Purchaed the touring Rev 1.0 unit. @David Hagerty -- the review is at this link (post #866) @Lemon Curry -- the review is in the works @Cwatters0 -- the review is in the works Reviews with Starkrimson Stereo Ultra DMC Rev 2.0 $4000 MSRP unit @TPMorrison64 -- the review is at this link (post # 887) @Marc.etc -- the review is at this link (post # 890) @Mike Doolittle -- the review is at this link (post # 893) @RonN5 -- the review is at this link (post #930) @snuffleupagus -- this review is at this link (Post #978) @kengler13 -- this review is in the works @David Downs -- the review is in the works Upcoming Individuals: @Schmitt53 -- The amplifier is going to this person next @Ted Torres Jr -- in line Joining the Tour: For anybody else who is looking to join the tour please send me a message through the contact us form on the website. The tour amplifier is the rev 1.0 "middle" configuration (single power supply with caps) at a $2900 MSRP. Starting with @rhing the tour amplifier is the rev 1.0 "fully loaded" configuration (dual power supplies with caps) at a $3500 MSRP. Starting with @TPMorrison64 the tour amplifier is the Rev 2.0 Starkrimson Stereo Ultra DMC. Tour Rules: Participants are responsible for the cost of shipping to the next person. After trying out the amp, participants have to write their thoughts in this forum thread. Participants get to try the amplifier for 7-day
That was a very thorough review. And my grammar is pathetic. I have run-on sentences that last all day. Hehe.
@rhale64 owns 13 channels of my Starkrimson Ultra (500W) amplifier modules. 7 of them are in a single box...
Thank you Leo for posting the amp on here. I am listening to it right now while watching War of the Worlds. It sounds fantastic. Dead silent believe it or not. It barely gets warm. I have had it on all day today.
Leo, Thanks for creating an opportunity to try this amp in my home with my Cambridge Audio 851N streamer/DAC/preamp and Klipsch Heresey IV speakers. Reminder to others, this amp requires XLR balanced cables. So be prepared! The amp was everything I've heard about it: dead quiet, cool as can be, with a high quality build and connections on the back. I played everything through it. Organ music shook the room, vocals sounded sweet, cellos and guitars sounded as real as I've heard in my listening space. I was very happy with the performance and encourage anyone looking for this kind of solution to jump on the demo list tour and see what it sounds like in the only place that matters, your listening room!
Steve Hoffman -- Fully Loaded Rev 2.0 unit review. Future Audiophile Review (November 2023) - Rev 2.0 Hi-Fi Trends Review (October 2023) - Rev 2.0 DMC 2 Channel Listening Review (September 2023) - Rev 2.0 Home Theather Hi-Fi Review (July 2022) - Rev 1.0 Reviews with rev 1.0 $2900 MSPR unit (single power supply and cap upgrade): @Ted Torres Jr -- here and here @james -- the review is at this link (post #7) @Oliver Meyer -- the review is at this link (post #37) @Jaytor -- the review is at this link (post #66) @gguy -- the review is at this link (post #111) @naru1980 -- the review is at this link (post #147) @okc_craft -- the review is at this link (post #165) @ejk1 -- the review is at this link (post #171) -- purchased amplifier @RonN5 -- the review is at this link (post #192) @barondla -- the review is at this link (post #214) -- purchased amplifier @DennyCrane -- the review is at this link (post #224) -- purchased Starkrimson Ultra DIY amplifier kit @nymarty -- the review is at this link (post #278) -- has agreed to purchase the current tour unit once the tour is complete @MValentiner --the review is at this link (post #287) -- purchased ultra monoblock amps @jimbones -- the review is at this link (post #360) @thomaskong -- the review is at this link (post #425) -- purchased 150W monoblock amps @Paul_In_WA -- the review is at this link (post #440) @Nick BZ -- the review is at this link (post #502) -- purchased amplifier Reviews with rev 1.0 $3500 MSRP unit (dual power supplies, with capacitor upgrade): @Ted Torres Jr -- the review is at this link (post # 89) -- purchased amplifier @rhing -- the review is at this link (post # 507) @jcn3 -- the review is at this link (post # 515) @CarmineRed -- the review is at this link (post #574) @panhead -- the review is at this link (post #584) @Barry_NJ -- the review is at this link (post #639) @rhale64 -- the review is at this link (post #661) and here and here -- purchased 6 x Starkrimson Ultra amp modules @barryso -- the review is at this link (post #668) @NEXTLEVEL5 -- the review is at this link (post #678) @avanti1960 -- the review is at this link (post #706) @Gibsonian -- the review is at this link (post #713) @Chris Adams -- the review is at this link (post # 720) @TubeGuy76 -- the review is at this link (post #730) @markl -- the review is at this link (post #748) @Johnu -- the review is at this link (post # 758) @thegage -- the review is at this link (post # 825) @dflee -- the review is at this link (post # 831) -- Purchaed the touring Rev 1.0 unit. @David Hagerty -- the review is at this link (post #866) @Lemon Curry -- the review is in the works @Cwatters0 -- the review is in the works Reviews with Starkrimson Stereo Ultra DMC Rev 2.0 $4000 MSRP unit @TPMorrison64 -- the review is at this link (post # 887) @Marc.etc -- the review is at this link (post # 890) @Mike Doolittle -- the review is at this link (post # 893) @RonN5 -- the review is at this link (post #930) @snuffleupagus -- this review is at this link (post # 978) @David Downs -- the review is at this link (post # 989) @kengler13 -- this review is in the works Upcoming Individuals: @Schmitt53 -- The amplifier is on the way to this individual @Ted Torres Jr -- in line Joining the Tour: For anybody else who is looking to join the tour please send me a message through the contact us form on the website. The tour amplifier is the rev 1.0 "middle" configuration (single power supply with caps) at a $2900 MSRP. Starting with @rhing the tour amplifier is the rev 1.0 "fully loaded" configuration (dual power supplies with caps) at a $3500 MSRP. Starting with @TPMorrison64 the tour amplifier is the Rev 2.0 Starkrimson Stereo Ultra DMC. Tour Rules: Participants are responsible for the cost of shipping to the next person. After trying out the amp, participants have to write their thoughts in this forum thread. Participants get to try the amplifier for 7-day
Hi, this isn't about the Ultra Tour exactly, but I wanted to see if there are any other members that need the lower powered 150 wpc monoblocks. My speakers don't need all the power, any others in the same boat?
what speakers do you have? (it would be helpful if you would complete your profile) there's nothing wrong with having ample power -- your speakers will likely be happier.
@jcn3 my speakers are 97dB single drivers I made open baffles for and they're connected to my 25wpc First Watt F5amp with pretty thick cables (filled out my profile somewhat - thanks for the reminder). The speakers are reactive as hell, which is so great with drums, etc. but it makes me leery of too much power.
With 97db efficiency speakers (i.e. 97db with one watt), I think the only thing to worry about would be your hearing. Your amp will be coasting, giving your speakers only a handful of very low distortion watts regardless of whether it's your FW or the Orchard mono amps. I'd stick what what you think sounds best - IMO there's nothing to worry about.
I just got a pair of the monoblocks. My speakers are low efficiency (84db) with max power handling of 100w, and I listen in a small room, so I am obviously never going to need the 150w that these amps are capable of. But so far with limited listening these amps sound incredible. Dynamics are fantastic, and the clarity and crispness of the sound is like nothing I have ever heard.
Most speakers don't need nearly as much power as we might think for sane listening levels. Nevertheless, it is much safer to have an extra 3-6 db or more of clean, non distorted power above our max listening levels than to clip the amp as clipping has a higher potential to destroy a tweeter. I like this calculator for a quick view of power vs volume...yes, you can plug in your amp's rated power along with your speaker's rated sensitivity....or you can play with both sets of numbers and do some "what if" scenarios. Peak SPL Calculator
Yes, I don't listen very loud, but my mind is totally at ease now knowing that I have enough good clean unclipped power to cover any dynamic peak at my preferred listening levels.
