Justin & Jerry's Hifi Blog

[jandl100]

Oops, I somehow managed to forget my passionate love affair with Black Rhodium Opera DCT++.
Probably the most expensive of my recent i/c investigations.
Very impressive all round, an engrossing and entertaining listen that really brought subtle dynamic shading to life, but ultimately a little smooth for my tastes, just a little but consistent laidbackness that began to bug me after a while.
A lot of folks seem to like 'smooth', if so put this one on your Want List!

[jandl100]

I feel left out

If I'd know you were doing a cable tryout, I'd have sent you some of mine to throw into the mix!

Next time

That's a thought.
I was just following my usual stream of consciousness box cable swapping muse.
It's an ongoing thing, I certainly haven't completed the journey (i.e. I'm not dead yet) so if you fancy throwing something into the mix, Oli, that would certainly be interesting.

The only reason I made the above multi-cable review post was that a couple of folks asked me about what I'd been up to after seeing a few cables appear in the classifieds!

[Bigman80]

That's a thought.
I was just following my usual stream of consciousness box cable swapping muse.
It's an ongoing thing, I certainly haven't completed the journey (i.e. I'm not dead yet) so if you fancy throwing something into the mix, Oli, that would certainly be interesting.

The only reason I made the above multi-cable review post was that a couple of folks asked me about what I'd been up to after seeing a few cables appear in the classifieds!

Ha, I know mate. I follow what you're up to with interest and as you know, I like a bit of cable swapping myself

I have a couple of cables here that I can send your way if you want a listen. Bigbottle Emeralds and Spotfires.

They have AECO plugs on at the moment so I could compare the merits of the Emerald fairly. I'll send them as is if you want?

[jandl100]

I have a couple of cables here that I can send your way if you want a listen. Bigbottle Emeralds and Spotfires.

They have AECO plugs on at the moment so I could compare the merits of the Emerald fairly. I'll send them as is if you want?

That would be fun.

[Bigman80]

That would be fun.

Cool, give me week, I'll drop you a message and we will get them over to you.

[lordmortlock]

A couple of new amps to play with.
Both excellent if with rather different capabilities.

Two lovely amps there Jerry. Which ones getting more air time?

[jandl100]

Two lovely amps there Jerry. Which ones getting more air time?

The Krell is the newbie, so that's on currently.
It certainly is a great amp.
I did have a thought last night about going back to the Crayon, that'll probably happen tomorrow.

[User211]

Is the Krell similar in character to the KAV-250a you brought here? Not great IMHO on my speakers but fabulous on yours.

[jandl100]

Is the Krell similar in character to the KAV-250a you brought here? Not great IMHO on my speakers but fabulous on yours.

The 250a was great fun but a fair bit on the forward side imo.
The 400xi is pretty much neutral, I think, but has the same sort of unstoppable power delivery. I like it a lot.
I suspect it doesn't quite match the exceptional subtlety of the Crayon, but I need to go back to that to confirm.

Certainly both are excellent amps.

[jandl100]

So, the Big Duel between the Crayon CFA-1 & Krell 400xi solid state integrated amps.



28wpc vs 290wpc* of KrellPower. (* according to Stereophile, who measured one).
And yes, you can hear that difference.
The Krell just cruises through the biggest dynamic swings with my ~86dB/W speakers.
The Crayon does surprisingly well up to about mezzo forte and then starts getting a bit confused, rough and squealy. although for momentary dynamic peaks the Crayon seems able to draw on an unexpected reservoir of power, but it can't maintain that.

Apart from the high power presentation thing, it's fairly even stevens between them.
Tonally very similar, I would call them neutral.
Hi rez and fast.
Good to very good at 3D soundstage, well focussed images, with tonal colouring well presented, taut well defined bass.
Very transparent and open sounding.
Both are a real pleasure to listen to.

And then, after a few hours of being powered up, the Crayon starts to stretch its legs - and seemingly quite suddenly the Crayon opens up in both 3D imaging and tonal texture.
The first few times I listened to the Crayon, well, I was about ready to prepare the eBay listing to sell the thing. It was good, but anything it could do was matched by the Krell, and then add in the unlimited dynamic power of the Krell and on balance there was no real contest tbh.

Then came the day when it was pissing down with rain and we were staying in, so the Crayon stayed on all day.
It was early afternoon, when I suddenly looked up and thought "wtf?!?". Transformation, big time. It was the texture of the sound that had suddenly deepened with a whole new layer of subtle resolution being presented. This in turn enhanced the soundstage/image presentation - my speakers are good at the disappearing act, but with the warmed up Crayon this improved even further, and not by a little.

Both Krell and Crayon are very good "low-high-end" amps, if you know what I mean.
Then the Crayon warms up, and steps up to another level of subtlety and deeply textured musical conviction with big dollops of palpable presence.

No, it would need more efficient speakers than mine to do real justice to heavy metal or electronic dance, let alone big orchestral climaxes.
I can easily imagine some other folks having different musical priorities and favouring the Krell, but for 95%+ of the music I listen to I suspect the Crayon is the best amp I have owned so far.

Jake (lordmortlock) knows my audio and musical tastes well, I bought the Crayon amp from him and he won't be at all surprised by my reaction to it, I think!