Experience with Simaudio Moon North amps


Does anyone have experience with moon north amps- the 761 or 861

particularly interested in mono mode

looking to match with Sonus Faber speakers, DCS dac  and Octave Audio Jubilee preamp

your thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.

kerrybh

Showing 1 response by taww

FWIW I spent some time with the 791/761 combo at a dealer and my impression was similar to @yyzsantabarbara - 761 is stellar, 791 is very good but the DAC is a limiting factor. When I first heard the system I thought it was very good, but something was a little off and I suspected it was the DAC in the 791 - it had the slight forwardness, sibilance and uneven tonality that have bothered me in the past with 90% of DACs using ESS Sabre chips. Sure enough, switching to a DCS Lina with the external clock greatly improved things and I could really hear what the 761 was capable of. Given that the 791 preamp section was still being used with the DCS, obviously it is also excellent and the internal DAC is really the weak link. Obviously the Lina alone costs almost as much as the 791, and much more with the clock, so it's not a fair comparison at all. But it might be nice if you could get the 791 for a bit less money without the DAC.