[gregfisk]

Thanks for the reply. Is the general consensus to use this as a standalone integrated or used as a power amp and external preamp?

I believe most people like myself are using them as an amp and using a preamp. I use a Joule Electra tube pre in front of two of them as I like the combination of tubes and solid state. In my system I have found They sound best at around 3:00 but others may have a different opinion what sounds best to them.

[StevenZ]

So, the TBI arrived yesterday to the office.  I gave it about 6hrs at the office and noticed a bit of channel imbalance at very low volumes.  This was beyond annoying and instantly rules the TBI out for desk duties here at the office.  Although what I heard was quite promising so I proceeded to take the little fella home and give it a fair shot in the main rig.

The main rig currently consists of a John Kenny Ciunas DAC, Twin Audio tube preamp (output transformer coupled) with Bendix 5Y3 and Sophia Electric 6SN7 drivers, and Class D Audio SDS-120C wired with Clairvoyant gold plated copper wire and Cardas solder.  Cables are Grover Huffman ZX+ interconnects and White Lightning DIY speaker cables.  Speakers are Mark Audio Alpair 10.3 in Pensil cabinets wired with Jupiter Condenser 18awg solid core with cotton insulation; cardas solder as well.

So, these first tests were done using the TBI as a standalone integrated.  I fired up my usual demo tracks, a few cuts from All Star Percussion Ensemble, some Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ryan Bingham, Kat Edmonson, Ray Lamontagne, and to mix it up, some James Blake and Animal Collective. 

Right out of the gate I noticed an incredibly black background to this amp.  Even at full volume it's dead quiet.  Very nice!  I'm shocked by how this little amp is able to show me such purity in the midrange and bring the presentation into the room, whereas I'm used to an amp projecting beyond the room.  It's very interesting as even though it brings the instruments and performer closer into the room, the image is still deep and wide with each instrument having it's own space with nice separation.  The midrange is very convincing, never sounding overbloated or thin, very natural as if the singer is in the room singing without a mic.  One thing that did irk me a bit was an upper midrange bite that my ears absolutely hated.  It was fatiguing to the max so I decided to swap out interconnects and see what happens.  I pulled out the Grover Huffman and threw in some interconnects made by Stephen Sank.  There we go, no more bite, just smooth vocals.  Folks who believe cables don't make a difference need to experiment with this amp.  Never before has a cable swap been so completely night/day difference than what I'm experiencing.

I was continually struck by how detailed this little guy is.  I'm able to hear deeper into the recording than ever before.  Attack is nice and abrupt, decay was nice and drawn out.  I noted on Ryan Bingham's "Boracho Station" the resonance of the guitar body and the sound of his fingers sliding around on the strings.  I could sense the 3-dimensional object in my room and was listening to the guitar body resonate in it's fullness.  Ryan's slightly raspy voice was just intoxicating. Again, I mention it seemed like both he and the guitar were actually IN the room playing un-mic'd.  Wow.  Seriously, wow.

The TBI does an exceptional job of portraying emotion; or the ability to emotionally connect the listener to the music playing.  This is a very intimate sounding piece that brings me back to the very few spine chilling moments I've had with a buddy's 2a3 SET amp which used massive Electra-Print transformers along with dual mono Promitheus Reference TVC's.  That's quite a testament if you ask me.  For this little piece of gear to reach those levels of refinement, air, body, emotion, texture, bass, etc. is really just crazy.

Now, i can't tell you how the TBI does with difficult speaker loads or even speakers with big crossover components as I'm using a single fullrange driver with nothing but speaker wire in between.  But I do know that this seems to be an incredible match and quite possibly the best I've ever heard the Mark Audios sound.  For once I feel that the Mark Audios are actually being used to their potential and the amplifier/preamp isn't holding them back. 

So, onto the other testing.  I'll make this short.  I used the TBI as a power amp with the Twin Audio Tube pre for about 10 minutes and just wasn't impressed.  There was a smoothness to the midrange that was nice, there was also an extended amount of bass and body to the bass, but it seemed as if the performance took a step back.  While the tube pre didn't entirely remove the presentation that I'm loving so much with the TBi, it did obviously reduce it.  To be fair, the tube pre was only used for about 15 minutes.  And with the iron-rich design of the Twin Audio I know this wasn't nearly enough time for the pre to reach operating temps or get into the groove.  I'll have to test this more later this evening or perhaps this weekend when I've got a few hours to warm up the preamp and give it time to show what it's really made of.

Other quirks, the binding posts.  While it doesn't bother me TOO much that it only accepts straight wire, it does put a kink in my ability to use my speaker cable with banana plugs.  If they DO accept bananas, I can't figure it out.  I tried removing what looked like a cap on the posts to no avail; so I was left to assume that it only accepts raw wire.  If I decide to keep the TBI, these will be changed to Cardas.  Jan did not advise that the RCA's themselves be changed as they are supposedly PCB direct.

I'm going to do a lot more listening to the TBI throughout the weekend and play with different cables/wires and speaker placement to get the setup completely dialed in.  From there I will determine if I should keep the TBI and sell off the rest of my gear.  While I may not think one setup is "better" than the other, I do think that each has it's own superior strengths to the other.  Perhaps two polar opposite ways of portraying the music.  One warm, inviting, full and a bit colored although with a touch of HF roll off.  The other is clean, pure, and with a bit more forward presentation.  Will report back after I've got 50hrs or so of listening.

Cheers,
Steven

[kp93300]

Hi Steven,
Many thanks for the review.
I have a very similar experience to you .
I have another TPA 3116 board obtained from Aliexpress  and this drives the Markaudio 12p in superpensil. I presume the TBi uses the same chip.
There is great synergy in the pairing .
The timbre of piano and string instruments is the best I heard.
cheers

kp93300

[jonbee]

I've used my stock Millenia MG3 for a couple of years in my bedroom system, where I've been enthralled by its wonderful clear 3D sound. The only change from stock is the use of an Astron linear Power supply. I've owned nearly 20 "class D" amps over the last 20 years, so I have a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses.
I'd never tried it in my big system, where my modded N-Core NC-400 has done superb duty. However, the N-Core has had a problem lately and Hypex is repairing a module, so I'm swapping around my MG3 and my other amp, a Cullen modded PS-Audio GC-250 (Icepower) amp.
My speakers are 96 db/w/m sensitive Daedalus DA-RMA v2s.
When I switched from the N-Core to the PS Audio, the sound became slightly muffled and more distant, with the highs not as clear and distinct. Still very good sound, but not quite as in-room sounding, with a bit of soundstage flattening. Bass power and control were similarly excellent.
Today I switched to the MG3. The sense of immediacy returned, with a soundstage that was very nearly as open and clear as the N-core.
This is indeed a very fine sounding piece.
That said, there are some give ups.  The bass clarity and snap is reduced compared to either of the other 2- not flabby or woolly, but the clarity and impact of bass drum skins is reduced and more indistinct. These are areas both the N-core and the PS Audio excel in, so it is a bit unfair. That said, the bass tonality is still very satisfying nonetheless.
The upper registers are more distinct and lively than the PS Audio, but there is a slight forced quality to them, with a a bit of edge, compared to the other 2 amps- just not as smooth and liquid on top. This is pretty minor though, and doesn't get in the way of the music to a great degree. It is also the kind of thing that cable rolling or mods may improve or eliminate.
All said, this little amp might not kill my giants, but it stands tall in their company. At 1/4 or 1/8th the list price of the others, in a system of high sensitivity or a smallish room this simple amp is a real find. It makes a great backup amp too. I'm sure I'll enjoy it greatly while waiting for my main to return.

[OzarkTom]

There were a couple of Ncore owners that sold them after hearing the tour TBI amp in their system. They said that they liked the midrange of the modded TBI amp better. One TBI amp owner had a shoot-out with the Merrill monos, and the Merrill owner thought they sounded the same.

[jonbee]

Since I own both amps I will upgrade the connectors and wiring in the MG3 and do more comparisons, possibly with my audio group. The idea that this wonderful amp can be made better relatively cheaply and easily seems like a no brainer.
My N-core has Cardas and Furutech CF connectors, upgraded input and power wiring, and Ric Schultz's custom Wima caps. These mods notably improved the N-cores, which originally had some glare and a bit of a hi-fi-ish sound, while still sounding very good otherwise. Maybe the modded MG3 will be similarly elevated, but as it is my N-cores outpoint the MG3, but as I said, not by a big margin, which is pretty amazing as it is.
Ignoring the nitpicking, I could live with this amp long term as-is in my main system. It is very fast and transparent, with a great highly focused 3D soundstage and wonderful, natural tonality. Who would think that this sound quality could be had for a few hundred $?

[gregfisk]

I have not heard the N-Cores but have two of the upgraded TBI MG3s with the upgraded connectors and they are wonderful sounding amps. The only downfall currently is that they are in my great room which is very large with 17" ceiling and even with my new Super V's which are about 97db efficient I can't play them as loud as I would like sometimes. I will soon be finished with a dedicated building 20x30x10 ft. and I'm hopeful that they will have enough power in this new room as I really like the clarity and realism that they convey.

I would recommend that anyone looking at a low watt amp to give them a try. To me, so far they are the exception to class D or BD? and are really a great bargain.

I'm happy that others have had the opportunity to try these amps. Thanks to O. Tom for bringing them to my attention in this thread, I am lucky to have them in my system.

Greg

[ljbrandt]

So anybody still using the TBI Millenia MG3's?  I've not owned one, but the design intrigues me.  Wondering if these have been over-shadowed by something newer/better...

I was also wondering about using them as mono amps to get better dynamics on less efficient speakers.  A few posts suggested it worked by using just the left channel input, but I'm curious to know if one could get more power out of them by splitting the signal to both inputs. You would then run 2 sets of speaker wire individually to each the tweeter and woofer on a single bi-wireable speaker.