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Opinions on Rowland 302 vs musical fidelity m8 700

Im thinking of picking one of these up in the next 6 months or so to replace m uh levinson 331. My pre amp is an ARC 5se and Dynaudio Confidence C4. Dac id Wyred for sound Dac2 sending signal via Transparent reference spdif. Im looking for any comments from those with experience on either of these amps. Thank you.
chenglo1

Showing 4 responses by guidocorona

guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi, I have heard the Rowland M302 several times. It is a very sweet and musical amp, which however suffers of an excess of "politeness". I fell in love instead with the M302 successor, called M312, which I used for several years, before upgrading to more recent Rowland designs.

Unlikely M302, the M312 amp is not only sweet, but is also exciting, with a high degree of macro and microdynamics... And lots of power.

If you are patient, you will eventually see an M312 offered on Audiogon. Of course, there are some newer and fab class D amps that you might want to look at, depending on your budget and what sound you are seeking.... Merrill Teranis at $2500, ROwland M125 at $3K, Bel Canto REF600 monos at approx $4900, Rowland M525 stereo at $4500.

GUido

GUido
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
In fairness, the only thing that M302 shares with M312 is... The chassis. The majority of internals are quite different.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Chenglo, Here are some additional questions:

* what are your amp power requirements...
* What speakers are you using, and what is their sensitivity....
* What are the most important sound characteristics for you...
* What music do you listen to?
* Realistically, what is your budget ceiling?

Regards, Guido
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Chenglo, in the $8K range I can think about two fabulous 400W amps for your Dynaudios....

* Rowland Continuum S2 integrated, $9500 new, will fall well within your target price on the used market. $8K new might be a little bit of a stretch, but might not be totally impossible. See Roy Gregory's review at:
http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/jeff_rowland_continuum_s2.htm

* The Merrill Veritas Monos also deliver 400W per channel. They list for $12K, but might fall within your budget on the used market. See my own review:
http://positive-feedback.com/Issue68/merrill_audio.htm

The only problem of these amps is they will deny you the "joy" of replacing aging/burnt tubes. They have an approximately 95% efficiency. They both use up to date class D modules... Continuum S2 on Pascal M-Pro2, while Veritas uses the NCore NC1200 module. Both amps are extremely musical.

Regards, G.
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