Gainclone chip amp

These chip amps have to be the best value in audio.
I have two of these.One is a paralled 4780[100 watts RMS]and the other is a 3876T[56 watts RMS].I actually prefer the sound of the Sonic Art 3876T-it is a bit more expressive and open.These use 44,000mF and 22,000mF resevoir caps per channel respectively so are not of the very low capacitance type.
I have been using them with a Supratek Cabernet 300B preamp am really amazed how fantastic they sound.These things comfortably better every transistor amp I have heard[better clarity,speed,dynamics,micro dynamics and really precise 3D imaging].When you first hear them you think that they sound a bit cold but with extended listening it becomes obvious that they are just neutral.
A good tube amp is arguably better-but it has to be a seriously good one and probably at least 10 times the price!
The digital type amps sound slow and flacid by comparison and lack the chip amps vibrancy and micro dynamics.
They are not perfect-they tend to sound a bit hard when driven really hard,but at normal listening levels they provide a level of clarity and naturalness that is missing in the vast majority of amps I have heard-regardless of cost.

JT

Gmood,
I actually bought the SonicArt on Ebay.They are an obscure Aussie company-
www.sonicartaudio.com/

There is no mention of the 3876T chip amp on their site but you could email them for info.

Just last night I dropped off the 4780 amp at a friends.He has an M.E. 850 transistor amp which are monster things and very highly regarded in Australia,and found in many seriously expensive systems.The chip amp,at least to my ears,sounds vastly better.The soundstage went from being very box bound to having depth,layering and projection and the whole sound was just clearer,faster,more vibrant and more detailed.Like lifting several blankets off the speakers.

JT

Gmood,I am also interested in the Burson mods.Can you tell us about your experience with them.They always have bits on Aussie eBay but I already have a very modded Pioneer -although the clock is still standard.
Also I have an Audio Artistry battery chip preamp[another obscure Aussie company]which might be of interest.It is not as good as my Supratek[nothing else I have heard even comes close],but it is still very good.The dead quiet background of this thing is amazing and the bass is as good as I have heard.

Gmood,Thanks for the info on the Burson HDAM.I will have to get one.
Audio Artistry is no longer operating.
I did see one of these for sale at Simply Hi Fi[www.simplyhifi.com.au].It needed new batteries though.These were not kits-quite nicely finished things.No phono.

My paralelled 4780 will drive low impedence speakers well.Even some 2.5 ohm Equinox speakers.It too has a slight buzz though which the maker put down to some earthing problem in the PCB.It does not really seem related to the preamps used.It can be reduced to barely perceptable by turning the gain controls down to about half.Plus installing gain controls means you can better match it to preamps or even use them as a passive preamp-which will sound better than a lot of active preamps.
The3876T amp is very silent.I installed Alps blue 100kohm pots in this without any apparent degradation of the sound.

Passive preamps do seem to work unusually well with these chip amps but the combination with a good tube preamp[like the Suprateks] really is pretty special.An adsurd mix of technologies and costs I know,but it is probably,on balance,as good as I have heard for anywhere near the combined cost.