People like Nord also offer the ICE 1200 units. The new kid on the block, the Purifi 400, is getting rave reviews, hardly surprising given the team behind it.
https://purifi-audio.com/about/
To think what people were paying for their NC1200 Mola Mola amplifiers only a few years ago.
To put it in perspective, there are Class D products from $500 to $30,000 and more, and I’ve used them for most of the last dozen years or so. They range from the most basic off the shelf amp and power modules to highly sophisticated proprietary hybrid designs.
What can be said is that the designs using third party power modules are increasingly common, most are sold direct and priced very competitively because you can add up the component cost. For this reason Paul’s decision to sell direct was probably largely forced upon him, and very sensible too.
In the UK Stellar are still sold through dealers, as are March amps and DACs from Australia.
The question is who needs this power compared to, say, a conventional 150w Class A/B amp. I’ve used 300w mono blocks with my speakers, but for the last years have been using a faster Class A/D hybrid at about 180w into 8 ohms.
A costly set of conditions to suffer from, no doubt…
Proud to be Catholic in my tastes, worldview, and strongly held opinions on amp design.
I’ve figured out a plan to be able to move my BHK pre allowing enough room for the M1200 to fit where M700 (and BHK) currently live.
No way I can physically fit a BHK amp, but another couple inches of M-goodness, yes. Well, perhaps a BHK250, hmm. Nah.
After reading @brett66 comment on his logistics of placing a BHK amp, I looked at my setup. Currently my BHK Pre stands about 1/2" higher than my M700 monos. I use a coffee table and have 3 stacks with my prized BHK Pre prominently in the middle. I love the look. Replacing the M700 with the taller M1200 would raise the side components above the BHK Pre. I will have a hard time with the visual of the BHK taking a lower aspect. Many possible solutions certainly exist. Call me superficial but this could be a very aesthetically difficult problem for me to deal with. Psychologically, just looking at the BHK makes listening to music more pleasurable.
Chas
Great “first world problems”, no?
Cheers.
Correct @scotte1, I will try to keep it real. I admit to some superficiality. Maybe a lottery win will help, 
Chas
Guilty.
The solution is Easy - don’t buy them! Sound don’t matter! ; )
I will admit to not getting the visual thing. I don’t look at any of my gear except as needed. They are tools. The last thing I want is to be visually distracted by some “altar”.
You may want to try finding a used ps audio powerbase or use some iso acoustic pucks to raise the BHK pre
Beef, not to detract anything of this positive experience and the performance of the M1200 alpha, but a comparison with full class A will be something very different than with AB. Possibly you already had this experience.
Just as one experience of my personal history I can tell I earlier had e.g. a Gryphon AB amp on the first two pictures. The later full class A amp on the third picture was a completely different animal, the AB was nowhere close. And you only know what class A means, if you heard an A preamp combined with an A poweramp. One of them alone is only half the deal. I guess the BHK for other reasons than pure class A is also in another league.
What I want to say is, I can imagine, that sophisticated class D amps get close or surpass several AB amps. I can’t imagine at all they get somewhere close to A amps of their era and design sophistication (except in class D‘s superior power rating and its implications).
I don’t doubt that all-A is the shiz. I had ARC Pre and Amp briefly, and it was magical. All A typically has higher heat and price, and the lower wattage to go with it. There are always tradeoffs for those of us who are…less-heeled than others.
For The Rest of Us, I would say…Few have heard these yet. So - hey, who knows? I doubt very much Mikey would have anticipated the SPP before he heard it. I would not bet against Darren at this point. But I also doubt a lot of Full A peeps will want these. They do Different Things.
You would be a good beta tester, assuming they end up conducting whatever PS defines a “beta” as.
(Paul - where’s my check?)
I’d love to, but I have no passive speaker available anymore 
Just to make clear…“A“ is just one aspect also for me. The design skill is always more important and in case of close competition can lead to a better overall performance with just a certain compromise (not having that typical A performance).
I also had to make the compromise not having A poweramps anymore for having the advantage of active speakers instead. And as you say the heat of an A poweramp is hardly manageable in multiple ways.
Forgive my confusion, but - no passives…so what is powering your actives?
Amps within the speakers (no passive crossover)
Yeah - sorta goes without saying.
The majority of such amps these days are Class D or G, and the above read like you were dissing the M1200s without having heard them, based on them not being Class A.
In my case it’s still AB design (little higher biased than normal)…but no, no intent to diss class D or the Stellar, just a healthy scepticism that a D design (even if it’s from PSA and Darren ) automatically trumps any finding , science and experience of the last decades as well as what most other manufacturers (as well as PSA) are doing by principle
Who suggested that?
Exaggerated…you did not!
