I've read some posts that claimed that Digital Amp Co amps work well w/ Maggies but had not heard this myself. Until last weekend.
Tommy and I were at an audio buds house and after we rocked his system with a pr of Maraschinos driving Gallo 3.1s (compared to the 20 yr old SS amps the owner used, the improvement wrought w/ the Maras was huge) we visited an old friend of mine who has a pr of Maggie 1.7s (thanks Gopher!) and hooked the amps up there. The rest of the system was a VAC preamp and a Peachtree DaciT. Previous amp was a DAC Cherry Jr. from several years ago.
After a quick setup and speaker alignment (and turning off the sub) we went to work listening.
Well I don't know what overused audio superlatives to use - they all apply. The sound was exceptional, in the large basement. I didn't think the Maggies could do bass with such impact.
The amps (w/ dual 60V supplies) were completely strain-free at substantial volume.
I asked my friend to write something T could post - he's not a forum dweller - and all I got back was "It is da bomb".
I joked with Tommy that we were not going to go home with those amps but Tommy really wanted to keep them. I was right - the amps stayed and my friend is a happy camper.
I'd love to hear these amps on the bigger models someday, but for now I am sure that the Marachino/1.7 pairing was just fabulous.
(Interestingly, at the Gallo owners house we compared some inexpensive RCA-XLR adapters to my Cardas ones, and the Cardas ones were distinctly better. So if you need to adapt, consider the possibility that different adapters may sound different. My pestering of Tommy for RCA inputs on DAC amps continues...
)
-Mike
