Opinions on Rowland 302 vs musical fidelity m8 700

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

I had 302. Guido is absolutely spot on correct. It sounded as if it was never broken in, but it was. Drab and colorless, and not in a good way.

In fairness, the only thing that M302 shares with M312 is... The chassis. The majority of internals are quite different.

Thanks for the input guys. Sounds like i may steer away from 302 for now. My budget is somewhat open. Im also considering the Boulder 1060 which is slightly over my budget at this time.

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

Guido

My spkrs are Dynaudio Confidence C4. Sensitivity is 89 db with impedance at 4 ohms. If i recall correctly the recommended power is 400 watts. I would like to get an amp in the 300 watt rms or higher. I like the warmth of tube amps and hoping to hear more of it with the next amp be8ng paired with my ARC 5se. I listen to an extremely wide variety of music from classical to rock n roll to unplugged acoustic performances. Lately I've been listening to Chee Yun Kim, a korean violinist. My ceiling for budget is $8k on the used market. Monoblocks preferred but a really nice 2 channel would also be welcome. I don't want to replace again for another 10 years.

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.

M8 700 mono's on sale for $5995 pair Music Direct. Good amps for that money. Had them on Sasha, nice.