Well since I have the new Bifrost 2 and finally sold my Bifost 1 with a Unison USB card, I have been doing some comparing with several amps…going to sell some, my Mainline is up for sale…
Here is a shot of an all black stack I am using and comparing…listening to Johhy Cash, the man in black with a black stack ha!! sounds great! America IV The Man Comes Around…
The Monoprice THX AAA 887 has been in the stable for several weeks and I am comparing to other amps. The picture shows the B2 on top of the THX AAA and its on top of Mark Johnsons Noir DIY 2 watt Class A map…listening with HD600s presently.
Going back and forth I am very surprised how well the “Noir” amp hold up to the THX AAA amp, remember the THX AAA is running in Class AB with its novel way to reduce or eliminate the transconductance cross over distortion by differentially detecting and inverting and reinserting it to cancel out the distortion and help give those vanishingly low specification. While the Noir is just a brute force 2 transistor (well maybe 3) that oeprates in Class A 100% of the time…heat but no cross over issue.
But its been measured and has well mediocre measurements! BUT!!
It sounds just GREAT to my ears…regardless on those measurements! Ha!
So the unscientfic listening tests for the past hour is: They are very close, the edge goes to the THX AAA amp, its just a smidge clearer…but unless your really listening very closely you would be surprised!!
The THX amp is a $400 investment!! The Noir is a $29 pcb, case and parts…about $200 or so, The kit was available at the diyaudio store, but I dont see it listed as a kit, but the pcb is and case. EASY build. really EASY…highly recommended for a great Class A first time DIY project.
Alex