My Review of the Digital Amplifier Company's Cherry Jr. ...err in a DAC4800a chassis.Well, as you DAC fans know (and to inform the casual reader), the last run of DAC4800a's made in December of last year were in fact Cherry Jr.'s in the old 4800a chassis. Being a value oriented audiophile still finding his way in the audiophool world, I had tried different amps using Audiogon as a means to explore in a cost-effective way. But, at some point I heard about Spectron and Cherry amps and the description of their characteristics seemed to match what I thought would interest me, and since Tommy often offers great deals (case in point- the last run of 4800a's) and is a small technical company fighting in a marketing-oriented world, I took the plunge and ordered my Cherry Jr/4800a in late December 2011. An Xmas present to myself I guess.
I received the amp later in January and set about burning it in all the while jotting down notes on how the sound evolved so I could contribute to the DAC community here by writing up my impressions. I had been planning to write this review for some time, originally targeting late March. But a subsequent move across the country which resulted in my stuff being in boxes for
over a month brings us to the present.
SystemSony Vaio Z Win7 -> Foobar2000 -> Halide Bridge -> Metrum Octave -> JRDG Capri -> DAC4800a/"Cherry Jr". Interconnects are custom length Mogami with Neutrik connectors. Speaker cables are Acoustic Zen Satori. My philosophy has been to try and keep things toward neutral. The speakers are a bit unusual: Vintage Technics SB-6.
For comparisons sake, I have heard this system with a cheap Denon receiver, a vintage Yamaha amplifier, the Almarro A318B and JRDG 102. The Almarro didn't match well with these speakers as they seem to really need some serious current, although curiously it output prodigious (more but unresolved compared to the Cherry) bass. The 102 was decent, but also clearly lacking in power as the sound stage would often collapse. But I liked some of the things I could tell the 102 did well, and I liked the idea of power efficient Class D technology - so, enter thy Cherry.
Initial impressionsOut of the box the imaging is excellent and the resolution is very good as well. You can tell that this amp is going to image great and be very resolving. It's probably already at 75%+ along these two dimensions of where it ends up after being broken in. No collapsing/spatial distortions here!
The general nature of the amp out of the box is one of ease but a bit of a lazy ease for lack of better words. On complex and fast passages in some of my electronic music there were moments where one could notice a sense of lag or confusion. While I do believe this is partially amp dependent, there was also a room factor I believe (neither of my rooms have been especially optimized) As an example though, the effect was very noticeable in the song
End of the Road from Infected Mushrooms'
The Legend of the Black Shwarma album. At around 30 hrs, it seems the amp is starting to find the path here, but it's still quite off. Around 40 hrs though it was getting very close to being sorted.
Surprising to me, the bass out of the box actually seemed somewhat lacking, although again the resolution and articulation of bass details is there. As for mid-range/vocals, at this early stage one can already tell that there is more fullness but this becomes even better later on. I believe this has been described as "putting meat on the bones" and is a pretty accurate description of what the Cherry does here (and is definitely right in my mind, but I suppose there are those who prefer a more thin/etched view of the sonic landscape). The treble is nice and refined, perhaps a little bit tipped up on some songs out of the box but ends up being a little bit tipped down after burn in.
At 40 Hours
The bass has arrived
Now the amp has what I could describe as an alert ease. What the heck does that mean? Well, it has ease in the sense that it never seems strained to put out enough power or maintain the stereo image - it doesn't break a sweat to do these things. But at the same time, if the music is supposed to be emotionally exciting, active and fast, the amp reflects this so it's not holding back the flow of such music. Which is very important for my musical tastes. (It's probably not the ultimate in terms of speed, but at 40 hrs i didn't feel that it was really holding things back - we're talking an epsilon difference between what it does at this point and what my ears/brain are physically able to resolve). Vocals are beautiful - this is clearly noticeable on good recordings. The image is rock solid irregardless of loud passages, quiet passages, fast passages, complex passages, transients, etc. Instruments are layered front to back in the sound stage as well as placement in terms of width and height and the illusion is never lacking. Soft to loud transients are handled much much better now. In retrospect, there was also a big improvement here after my move, so a lot of this had something to do with the first room, so a bit hard to pick that apart further. At this point it felt like the amp is well on it's way to converging to its final state, so I figured I'd let it burn to about 100 hrs and that should be representative of what it does.
>200 Hours
Well, I got busy and had to move, so I didn't get a chance to write down detailed comments at 100 hours. But I would say the amp continued to become more refined in its characteristics up to the current point, which is well past 200 hours by now I should think. In my general experience with audio gear, 200 hours is a reasonably typical number of hours to expect for burn-in. The only item I have that required significantly more for very discernible improvements are my Sennheiser IE8's, which take _FOREVER_ to burn-in
So, what has changed? The Cherry continued to improve and become more refined in what it does. My new room (which is actually temporary) was also an improvement - cement basement walls with insulation and dry-wall instead of the cheap & hollow flexi-walls of my previous upstairs townhouse apartment.
This level of refinement is actually quite noticeable and surprised me. For instance, pitch is rendered not only in the mids and highs, but also in the bass, which I had not heard until the Cherry. People should definitely give the Cherry around 200hours to sound its best in my opinion. It can also need a couple hours to settle down after being unplugged/moved in my experience. It has become so effortless in its power delivery, wonderfully resolving and incredibly spatially accurate in painting the sonic picture, and produces a fun and dynamic sound that portrays the playfulness present in many of my electronic files in an accurate way, which is what makes good electronica really fun to listen too. And, it renders vocals with that bit of wholeness/meat/presence that just makes good vocals to die for. Perhaps, describing what this amp does well is rather hard because it does so much well based on my experience and my ears. In fact, what became clear to me through this experience is that my electronics are now at a level where the limiting item is quite clearly the speakers. How frustrating is that!
So, why is it called Cherry? Well, I don't know for sure, but when I think of the logo, I think of a maraschino cherry adding a bit of a colorful splash of taste to an otherwise crisp & clean vodka martini. I think that is an apt image of how this amp communicates music.
I hope you liked my review (first time doing one!), and in return I only ask 2 things:
1. Speaker recommendations! I am quite intrigued by the Talon's in particular, anyone have
experience with this pairing?
2. Please don't let Tommy name the new amp the Olive (sorry Tommy!). DAC Maraschino actually
sounds good to me!
