Review: Spectral DMA-360 Amplifier


Category: Amplifiers

This was the setup at the Spectral dealership in Columbus Ohio (Progressive Audio). It is in a room by itself (well treated acoustically).

I listen to jazz and progressive jazz (Phish) mostly. I brought several CD's with me but only listened to 3 of them. The first one I played was disc 1 off the Phish "A Live One" album. I listened to that CD for 25 minutes before I realized there might be other people waiting to sit in the chair. I looked back over my shoulder and saw no one... so I kept listening.

My point is that I was immediately sucked into the music. The sound was wonderful... as it should be for a system that retails for well over $100,000. Wonderfully fast and detailed. I have found that Spectral is the best of both worlds (tube and solid state). I have a pair of Cary tube monoblacks but am currently saving up for a more Spectral system.

In case you were wondering, I spent a total of 50 minutes in that room . In addition to Phish I played through several songs by Brad Mehldau and a few by Dan Faehnle.

Everything was perfect!

Associated gear
Spectral DMC-30, Spectral 2000/3000 CD/DAC combo, Avalon Opus speakers, MIT Oracle cables
trthomp
How does the Spectral DMA-360 compare to the DMA-150? Other than power, of course.
Kocsis, I have owned both the 150 and the 360's. The 360's have better channel separation and cleaner image definition than the 150. They have better bass all around, more nuanced dynamic shading, and considerably better macrodynamics. They are very good amplifiers.