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Does Anyone Know Much About Chord Electronics Amplifiers?

As much as I know, reading the specs, looking at different models, monoblocks, integrated stereo amps, etc., it seems that all of these models until the recent Etude, is the same topology, the same guts, power supply, and measurements, going back to 20 years, the only difference seems to be the boxes and varying watts they put their tech into. 

Could this be right? Maybe some Chord experts could assist.

Here's an example: 

Let's say you have an old pair of CHORD SPA 612 Monoblocks - rackmounted model

FREQUENCY RESPONSE: –1dB, 0.2Hz to 44KHz. –3dB, 0.1Hz to 77KHz.
SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO: BETTER THAN –103dB. ‘A’ WEIGHTED TWO-THIRDS POWER.
HARMONIC DISTORTION (THD+N) BETTER THAN –75dB
CHANNEL SEPARATION: -95dB

Now the new Ultra Series Monoblocks

Frequency Response:

-1dB @ 0.2Hz to 46kHz and -3dB 0.1Hz to 200kHz

Signal to Noise Ratio:

Better than -84dB

Channel Separation:

Better than 90dB

It doesn't even give the THD+N for the new one. It seems pretty comparable across the board, with the older model having slightly better signal to noise, and slightly better channel separation, yeah? 

As far as the frequency response, gee, what does 77kHz vs. 200Khz even matter to the human ear? 

It makes me wonder if Chord has been just repackaging the same tech, which would be good for finding deal on older amps, without being hit hard by the price of a new amp.
evolvist
evolvist OP
167 posts
 
Ha! Cool. 

I mean, I've heard that they are excellent amps - in the upper echelon of Class A/B design. The thing is, there are a lot of used Chord amps out there for a good price. 

I'm just trying to separate the wheat from the chaff, you know? I don't believe I would buy a new one. But a pre-owned one? - perhaps. 

It's interesting that there are no owners who have posted.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
@evolvist   My Benchmark AHB2 amp measures better than most of amps available, but it doesn't mean you will like the sound, not to mention cheap amps with fantastic specs achieved by deep negative feedback (bandwidth is one of them).   

Bandwidth seems important since it is causing phase shift (delay) and improper harmonics summing, but many amps (for instance Lamm ML3) have very limited bandwidth (20kHz@-1.5dB) and are praised for extended airy highs.  I suspect that phase delay is not that important since speakers in general accelerate phase.   John Siau, an engineering director of Benchmark, says that there is nothing wrong in selecting amp that colors the sound (like warm vs natural) and it is just a personal preference.  My system sounds very natural, while my brother's stereo sounds warm and less resolving.  I like both.
evolvist OP
167 posts
 
@kijanki  - point well taken, as I, too, have owned the Benchmark AHB2, and while it was superbly transparent, I thought it also lacked balls. Then again, I never had two to run in dual mono configuration. I've heard that can make a big difference. 

But with Chord, it's not the specs that I'm getting hung up, as far as how specs relate to the listening experience. It's the Chord specs in relation to how all of their amps seem to have near identical specs over the last 20+ years. 

If someone was on an upgrade path with Chord, would they be getting any sort of benefit from upgrading, or is it as it appears, that it's the same guts repackaged in many different configs? Does that make sense?
bimmerman2's avatar
bimmerman2
86 posts
 
All specs aside, good or bad, it's the appearance that kills it for me. Why make the gear look like some off brand X-Box controller, of a non-standard chassis size? Even if they were the greatest thing on the planet, I couldn't do it. 
f917025
81 posts
 
if you like their sound get an old one for cheap. no need to upgrade amps if they sound good,only dacs if you have content that you can't play through the old dac 
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