I own the Sapphire M3s...and I had the Orchard Audio Starkcrimson Stereo Utra (Leo's most expensive amp) (not the older, lower powered monos) in my system for the past week. I also had it in my buddies system who has Maggie 3.7i's and both a Parasound Halo A21 and a Sanders Magtech...we compared both to the Stereo Ultra...You can go, to this link and read the comparison by scrolling about half way down the post to my post titled "what flavor do you prefer today?"
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/orchard-audio-starkrimson-stereo-ultra-amp-tour.1148415/page-8(I have a Belles 22a dual 12au7/mosfet hybrid preamp...my buddy was using a Lyngdorf 2170 integrated, preamp section only and set to neutral)
Meanwhile, here is MY review of the Stereo Ultra in my system with the M3 Sapphires...as you will see, I liked the amp a lot...but I like my current amp a lot even though they sound different:
"I’ve had the Ultra playing in my home system for the past five days alternating with my own amp which is Class a/b, biased to 15watts of class a with 210 watts into 4 ohms, stereo not dual mono and intentionally voiced with 2nd and 3rd harmonics to have bloom, warmth, sweetness which some audiophiles covet and others disdain. If only it were that simple...
After selling the 2Cherry and living with its replacement (Wells Audio) for the past five months, I was pretty sure I had become a ‘class a’ convert. Now, I can honestly say that I could be happy with either the Ultra or the Wells because for some music selections I prefer the Ultra and for other music I prefer the Wells. In the perfect world, one would own both with a set up location that made switching back and forth easy based on the music being played.
Here is an example. I discovered this piano prodigy on Youtube, Luca Sustek, and was memorized by his sound...check him out, but hang in there until at least the 2:20 mark!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD_bspN-RYsI ordered his CD -
Luca Sustek “Nuway” and darned if on half the cuts, I preferred the clarity, detail and slam of the Ultra presentation while on other cuts I preferred the sweetness of the Wells. I’m pretty sure though that the Ultra is the more accurate portrayal of the piano.
Now another CD:
Rush – Presto the first two songs “Show Don’t Tell” and “Chain Lightning”...both amps sound great!!
Ultra – clear, enveloping, and slightly more low end, the sound floats but not as much as the Wells
Wells – a little less clear, slightly different tone, slightly more enveloping
Next Up:
Eric Church – Chief country music with a great beat, strong vocals and beautiful harmonics
Ultra – Clarity and Speed, the attack on the strings is awesome, snare drum and bass clarity, beautiful, big soundstage
Wells – Lush, bigger bass but not as fast or deep, also a big soundstage, strummed strings, beautiful
Alex Fox – Cest La Vie Nylon String Latin Guitar with strong back beat support and no vocals
Ultra – Deep, powerful, clear low end….man, those strings when picked, beautiful
Wells – Deeper low end but a smidge less punch, beautiful tone when the guitar body is tapped
Hamilton Broadway Show – 2 CD set
Two words describe the difference between the amps...the Ultra is crystal clear, you can understand every word….the Wells is more warm, the presentation less intense
Jethro Tull – Original Masters
“Locomotive Breath”...Ultra wins the piano clarity and tone Wells wins the flute and sound stage
“Witches Promise” – Ultra wins the flute and vocals...but the Wells vocals have more body
“Skating Away” – the xylophone on the Ultra is hauntingly beautiful
“Tales From The Woods” – both great but different
“Thick As A Brick” – again, both great but different
We all have our own way of listening to and auditioning new equipment. Not to be presumptuous, I’d like to throw out a suggestion to the remaining people on the “amp travel list”….or to anyone that just pulls the trigger and buys it:
Don’t listen to your current amp for at least a day before the Ultra arrives. Then put the Ultra in your system and listen to it exclusively for 2 or 3 days so that you really get to hear what it can do. Then try some back and forth with your amp and finally a few more days with only the Ultra.
I think there is a pretty good chance that if you bought the Ultra and try this method, you will decide before the 14 days is up that it belongs in your system permanently.
Four things about the Ultra will jump out at you with this method:
The background between notes is completely black and the presentation is CLEAR
It is not bright or harsh
It has really good detail and authority from top to bottom
It does a really good job of defining vocal and instruments location
That was the end of the review....what should I try next?
I really have to give the Atmasphere Class D's a try because Ralph has said that similar to the Ultra, their distortion profile is very, very low...but unlike the Ultra, they do have some 3rd harmonic as the dominant remaining distortion, which if I understand correctly, might just result in clarity plus a little bit of warmth.
Because I was going to review the Ultra, I turned off my subwoofer a week prior to the amps arrival and used my Wells to slightly repositioned the Sapphires an extra 2" out from the rear wall to better tune the low end without the sub...not only don't I need the sub in the system any more...the bottom end tone became even better without it. It's really a shame that Clayton isn't going to be making this speaker in the future...the sound that they can put into my really large listening area is really special!
