Anyone read the review of M700 in Stereophile yet? I saw the February issue is out but I have not received my copy yet. Just wondering how the review read.
I get the digital version of Stereophile and received it yesterday. Excellent review! Hurry and buy them before Paul raises the price!
Hi sfseay,
I don’t know when i will receive the copy via snail mail, would you be able to send the pages in the digital copy on the M700?
Thanks just the same.
It’s a rave.
I don’t want to violate any copyright stuff by copying from the digital version but it was a rave review. He compares them favorably to his Prometheus mono blocks that cost four times the M700s. Congratulations to Paul and his team.
I do wish that they had also compared the M700s to the Bel Canto REF600m’s, though, since they are closer in price and have gotten a lot of rave reviews.
I’ve had the M700’s for over a month. They really do get better with use. My large Maggie 3.6’s are known to need power and they sing with the M700’s. I’m using the DS DAC w/BridgeII as a pre and streaming Tidal through Mconnect Control (I’ll be glad when it’s replaced with the BridgeIII software). I’ve been listening to the Masters and placing favorites in my playlist. The magic Maggies effortlessly produce delicate details or powerful burst. Whatever is presented is presented with truth. Bad recordings that I used to think sounded pretty good on a car radio are presented for what they are - bad recordings. But good recordings are amazing. I’m finding many new favorite tracks and listening has never been this good.
Really looking fwd to seeing the Stereophile review. That the M700 is compared favorably to the Prometheus (arguably one of the best Class D amplifiers made to date), is not small potatoes! Impressive.
Thanks guys but the credit really go to her designer, Darren Meyer.
Thank you all for the kind words!
I have centered my design approach around listening. Correlating measurements with what you hear is profoundly more important than making a component simply measure better. When Paul and I first started talking a few years ago, it was clear we had this design philosophy in common.
At the time I had a hard time enjoying most Class D amplifiers. They smeared the soundstage and flattened it in a 2D manner. The top extreme usually was masked and rolled off with a harsh and grainy lower treble/upper midrange (3-6kHz).
This is why when I first approached Paul about the idea of some Class D amps in the Stellar range he was reluctant to move forward with the project. We then agreed that we would create a prototype based around an input stage idea of mine to see how it would sound. After many days of listening and modifying the circuit, Paul and I found ourselves in music room one completely engulfed in the music. For the first time, I forgot I was listening to a Class D amplifier. I think there’s a picture of this listening session somewhere…
Stay tuned…there is much more on the horizon! 
Darren is a gifted and passionate engineer. One we’re proud to have on our team.
Just so you all know - I pulled the trigger and ordered the M700s with Stellar GCD DAC this morning. Can’t wait to receive them.
I don’t know what you are replacing, but, I think you will delighted with the GCD and M700s. I beta’d the GCD last spring and was delighted with it’s preamp and DAC function…So I happily replaced a tube Sonic Frontiers pre with the GCD.
Then I took the class D plunge and replaced my trusty PS Audio 200C amp (1986) with a pair of M700s. I am very glad I did! The M700s do benefit from some burn-in. I sped it up with a pair of dummy speaker loads (8 Ohm/100W resistors) so that I could run them 24/7.
Let us know what you think.
I hate conversations like this, they make me want to buy something when I’m not dissatisfied with what I already have nor have a reason to trade. Very intriguing products. 
I want to relay a story regarding the M700s. As some of you may know, up until recently I had a solid state McIntosh amp. After having read so many good reviews, and at Paul and Darren’s reassurance that I wasn’t about to make a huge mistake, I decided to switch to the M700s, despite the reservations of my friend, audio sales guy, and serious amplifier snob, Donny. You see Donny has never heard a class D amp he likes. He is class A or A/B all the way. He loves the BHK monos and my relaying to him that the M700s were voiced to match the BHKs made him laugh. He said no class D amp will ever sound like the BHKs! So after having broken in the amps for a while (easily over 300+ hours), I invited Donny to take a listen to system. In the meantime I had also gotten a new turntable, the Gold Note Mediterraneo, and he was very curious about that one too. So after listening to a few records, Donny was gobsmacked at how good the new table sounded. (It really is fantastic, I must admit. :)) So after we had talked about the table, I reminded Donny that we were also listening to the Stellar M700s. He looked at me somewhat shocked and said, “Holy shit! I forgot about that! They sound amazing!!” I began to rub it in his nose a little bit that he had been lost in the music listening to a class D am, but he took it well. He finally admitted they were not only the best sounding class D amp he’s ever heard, but that it had nothing that sounded like class D at all and it was just a great sounding amp. “Did it sound like the BHKs at all”, I asked. He responded, “more than I’d like to admit!” Which is Donny speak for, hell yeah they do!
Wow! Perhaps it is true that the M700 is 90% of the BHK as Paul stated earlier.
These are tempting me. My hesitation is that I owned a pair of Reference 1000 Mono’s. They sounded good, that is until they were compared with a good A/AB amplifier. They then came up short. They were boring, they lacked dynamic contrast, and if anything were too smooth and lacked transparency. I have found digital amps to so far share these characteristics.
So when I read the adjective “Smooth” used to describe the M700’s in the Stereophile review it makes my Spidy Sense tingle. I am fairly sure that the 700’s are better than 90% of the BHK’s, because I believe that the differences that us Audiophiles chase is actually smaller than 10%. I’d argue that the difference between good and great is in reality much smaller, 1% maybe 2%. Us Audiophiles are kind of obsessive, we chase small differences or what I like to call chasing the dragon .
So I am again feeling myself being sucked into the allure of digital amplification (Small, Light, Powerful, Cool, inexpensive and of course good Sounding), but are they? Are they really good sounding? Because ultimately that is the only thing that matters. I am endeavoring to not get sucked in by excessive hyperbole.
i borrowed a S300, and it is already better than the $4000 Ref1000’s that I owned a decade ago, but I believe that is sort of feint praise. Are the M700’s much better than the S300? And was the S300 really broken in? Well at least the M700’s are fairly inexpensive.
While I am proud of all our products, I will say the M700s blow away the S300. Noticeably. Immediately. Though both need considerable break in. Why not take advantage of our generous trade-in policy and in-home trial period? You don’t have to send us your trade until you’re convinced the M700s are what you want. We try our best to make it easy.
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What’s a better upgrade, (1) adding a DS Jr to the SGCD and S300, or (2) changing out S300 to M700 and staying with SGCD as dac?
Paul McGowan said ...I will say the M700s blow away the S300. Noticeably. Immediately...Ruh roh. I just ordered an S300 yesterday to go with the GCD I bought as a beta tester. Will replace an ancient Odyssey Khartago.
Guess I’ll try out the S300 and if I like it will then try out the M700s. Never liked Class D (I have owned Bel Canto REF1000, Channel Island D200, PS Audio HCA2) so S300 being excellent will be a big surprise.
Andy