[clarke68]

Hey Danny!

Just got done reading through the Digital Amp shootout on your site. Seems that your lightly modded Sonic Impact T-Amp kept up with (and in most cases, surpased) every other design in the shootout, most of which cost in excess of $1000.

Care to comment?

[Danny Richie]

I was just the guy switching out gear behind the foam divider. I wasn't doing the judging.

I tried to remain the neutral host.

However, I did spend a considerable amount of time with all but one of the amps prior to the event.

The reason for the T-amp doing so well, in my opinion, is because there is so little there in the signal path. It is a very transparent amp that sounds exactly like whatever is feeding it.

I was feeding it with about as good of a front end, power supply, and cables as money can buy, and it sounded like it.

Secondly, the speakers were fairly efficient at 91db. So while we may have pushed the little T-amp to its limits, it wasn't asked to do any more than that. No one knew or suspected that it was only an 8 watt amp.

[arthurs]

I was there, and didn't spend half the day in a crouch changing out gear the way Danny did, a stellar effort by a gracious host by the way.

I think I had the T-amp rated 3rd if I recall, but it certainly held it's own against some high dollar stuff, and in several instances bettered them easily....

[clarke68]

I think I had the T-amp rated 3rd if I recall, but it certainly held it's own against some high dollar stuff, and in several instances bettered them easily....

Very cool. Being a hardcore budget audio guy, I found the results of your blind test very encouraging. I was a little concerned, however, they may say more about the overall quality of Class D amps than about the T-amp in particular.

Secondly, the speakers were fairly efficient at 91db. So while we may have pushed the little T-amp to its limits, it wasn't asked to do any more than that. No one knew or suspected that it was only an 8 watt amp.

That seems to be everyone's (understandable) recommendation for the T-amp, that it be mated with the most efficient speakers possible. Of all the speakers you've worked on (GR-Research, AV123, Epiphany, & whatever else) which would you most highly recommend with the T-amp? How about from a price/performance perspective?