I logged some time earlier this evening listening to my stereo system with the new
PS Audio Stellar S300 amplifier in place. This is my third time listening to it since I hooked it up last Saturday. I typically hesitate to write about my experiences with new gear this soon after trying them out, but I have some initial observations which I feel are poignant and impactful.
To put it simply, I'm very impressed with this amplifier. I really like what I'm hearing, and it sounds quite good for being brand new with under 10 hours on it. PS Audio quotes a 200 hour break in time. If that's the case and it's going to get even better from here, then I'm in for a real treat.
To compare it to the outgoing Bryston 3B ST which was clean, this is even cleaner. This is evident at lower volumes, but especially when playing in the 75db range. I hate to use the simple term "better", but the S300 simply sounds better at these higher volume levels. My theory is that this is because it is technically more accurate. Because it is more accurate, it's therefore more true to the source - more true to the music. And because it's more true to the music, there's more emotion there as well.
So, if you value accuracy over other elements, then it could be "better" than your current amplifier. Personally, I love accuracy and detail so it sounds damn good to me.
That being said, there is no harshness, brightness, or fatiguing quality to it's sound. There's nothing that's inherently evident about it's sound signature that would lead you to believe it is Class D, such as a lack of musicality or a digital glare. I'm confident that if you listened to this amplifier without knowing what it was and what it's topology was, you would probably guess typical A/AB SS or tube. It just sounds "good".
The first day I tried it with RCAs going from the preamp to the S300. I noticed a quiet ground loop style buzz could be heard coming through the speakers when no music was playing. Additionally, when I turned on my Cambridge Audio CXN V2 I could hear a slight static-y interference and random modulating noise coming through the speakers as it communicated over WiFi. Again, this couldn't be heard over the music, but it's clear that the SE RCA hookup wasn't ideal, and that maybe the shields on the cables were acting as a sort of antenna as well.
The next day I decided to try XLRs running from the preamp to the S300 and all the noises were gone. No more faint ground loop buzz and no more WiFi noises. Great! But it gets better. The soundstage got wider AND taller, dramatically so. Midrange also felt fuller and lusher. I'm aware of how sometimes the volume increase from going from RCAs to XLRs can be perceived as an improvement, but that's not the case here. It was much more substantial of a change versus just a rise in gain. I verified with my db meter that I was playing at the same levels that I typically listen at. Clearly, if you have the PS Audio Stellar Pre/DAC and the S300, they are designed to be hooked up with XLRs.
Going back to it's fit and finish and overall performance. It's a fairly plain enclosure that won't win any beauty contests, but that's because they focused on what's inside. There are some niceties like two sets of rhodium plated binding posts though! Another thing I appreciated is how there is no power on or power off transients/thumps heard through the speakers. It also runs remarkably cool, getting just barley warm to the touch after several hours of listening.
On the amplifier front, I've now tried a NAD 316BEE integrated, a McCormack DNA-125, the Dayens Ampino Monoblocks, and the Bryston 3B ST. I feel that the S300 outperforms all of them. It's just smoother and more coherent top to bottom. It also has great dynamics and rhythm. It presents a huge amount of musical information in a perfectly coherent package. No one single sound overshadows another. Everything is just held out in front of you, ripe for the picking.
You can pick and choose what individual element to get lost in, or enjoy the performance as a whole. The detail, clarity, top to bottom even frequency response, and rhythmic drive are fantastic. I highly recommend you take a listen to an S300 and change your whole perception on what Class D can sound like. I know I just did.
I'm enjoying it so much that I'm actually hesitant to swap in some new SCs and ICs that I have on deck, for fear of changing what I'm hearing right now. Desire to tweak fading, desire to settle in for a while with the Stellar Pre & S300 combo growing. Now for someone like me who likes to try out a lot of different gear and cables, that's really saying something.
