Stellar Beta Tester Reviews

Audio Components Integrateds
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Paul - It certainly seemed mysterious to me, which was why I sent it back the first time - I didn’t want to waste either of our times if it wasn’t right for some reason.

re: synergy: That is why for part of the time the chain was: P3/DMP/DSJ/amp(s)/speakers. During that period I also swapped the ICs out, trying Mogami XLRs instead of the Transparents. My impressions didn’t change significantly with any of the changes I tried. I guess you could say I spent the whole time trying to disprove my first impression, which is why I noted it in the review - it wasn’t a typical situation. I believe in cognitive bias, and admit I had it up front.

I would also say that this was in no way the sort of thorough and careful months-long review you would expect from, say, a magazine reviewer. One user’s subjective opinion only.

I realized partway through the process that the added gain of the S300 relative to my amp meant that the subs needed to be adjusted each time I swapped amps, which is another reason the first impressions need to be thrown out. I attempted to give the S300 the benefit of the doubt, so to speak, by making sure I tried higher and lower overall volume levels, as well as higher and lower sub levels. I also listened without subs.

I would not suggest that anyone make a decision on any piece of gear based on anyone’s review - especially mine. PS Audio will let you audition their gear in your system for 30 days, and take it back if you don’t like it.

If we came by for an audition, though, what would we be comparing it with? Not trying to be a PITA, just sayin’. I will be in Boulder in the fall (if not before) for work, and I can bring my amp - though I expect you will have compared with similar amps.

I truly hate to cause you consternation, as I am a fan of your work (see below). But I’m just trying to do my job to the best of my ability given the time frame and compensation ; )

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Badbeef, I would recommend you stop in at PS Audio. I was there last Monday and thoroughly enjoyed it. The folks there are real nice and it’s fun to see the people you chat with on the forum and the environment where all our (certainly my) favorite electronics are made. To hear your amp on their system would just be a bonus. Just to see the (monolith) IRS is worth it, those speakers dominate a room …

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pmotz - been planning to for a while. Totally intended to last fall, but got busy with work.

Can you imagine me coming into the Lion’s Den with my HYPE-x amp? It would be an interesting test of cognitive bias, for all of us, at least. ; )

I should state that I don’t have any great love or affiliation with Hypex - I was simply asked to compare, and I did.

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Interesting, I have the same NCore except with some custom noise tweaking.

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This reminds me in a way of the ongoing discussion we are having in the MQA thread. Compared to what?

Paul - when you listened to this amp in a number of systems, did you then listen to various other amps in those same systems, and decide the S300 was better in all cases?

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What I am not clear on is the lack of synergy. Where is it? The system was at times pure PS Audio, the only variables being the ICs and speakers.

I would think the DS Jr would match up well with the amps. Anyone slowly building a system, might leave the amps for last. Buy the best DAC and preamp you can afford, then move on to amps. I know in my system the next thing I would upgrade is my amp. This is hypothetical as I can’t afford to upgrade anything.

I would think the DS Jr and the Stellar amps would be a somewhat common path, especially the monoblocks. Unless you don’t like your preamp and DAC, the Stellar preamp/DAC would not be a direction to go in. Only someone building a system from scratch would consider the GCD and then for convenience. I do realize that all in one units are gaining in popularity, but personally I would never buy a 2 channel preamp with a built in DAC. Especially when you can use the DSs as simplified preamps.

I don’t recall, have any of the beta testers compared the GCD to the PSA DAC it replaced? I have read many positive things about the old DAC.

So any clarification on this lack of synergy would be helpful.

And I do agree with the Beef, that with PSAs 30 day trial, all you have to lose is shipping one way, so an at home audition is the thing to do. The Stellars may be ideal in your system. Make up your own mind. Legacy is selling amps again, and they are Class D. The last amps they sold were made by Coda, and were Class AB. That leads me to believe that Class D is worthy of consideration.

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The S300 and M700s were all voiced and auditioned extensively on the IRSV. They were driven by the GCD because we figured most people would want to pair the combo. We also did final checks using the BHK preamp, but mostly, the GCD was used.

We also spent time on the Elacs as well as Era speakers and then loaned them out to several in the community to try on their own - I am not sure what equipment they had.

I am not arguing with Mark’s conclusion - but I know these amps to be good sounding - excellent, in fact. So if they don’t match what we hear, that leads me to believe synergy. What else could it be? I am certain if I attended Mark’s listening session at his home, I would have heard exactly what he reported and would have likely reported the same thing. And the opposite is likely true. If Mark had attended any of our sessions here on the ultra-revealing IRSV powered by Stellar, he would have had a huge smile on his face as anyone else would.

In any case, that’s why we have our in-home trial. And why we pay shipping costs both ways. And why we don’t sell your trade-in until after 30-days. Just in case you’re not happy with the purchase because of system synergy or any other factor. We don’t ask why you’re returning it, we just want to make sure you’re delighted to keep it and would prefer to have it back if you’re not.

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I have to give props to Duncan, Darren and Paul for their openness. I offered to drop out of the beta when I returned the amp the first time, as I could not imagine it changing enough that I would want to keep it. They sent it back to me at their expense in order to get my thoughts on it anyway, knowing I was not likely to give it a good review.

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Thanks Mark for the well written and detailed review.

I’m surprised you didn’t enjoy the Harbeth and S300 combo since I have the S300 driving some P3esr’s here at the office and it’s an absolute joy to listen to. What’s interesting is that a small nit pick of mine regarding the P3esr is that with certain electronics they can sound closed in and slightly lacking in resolution. The S300 opened them up and made them sound the best I have ever heard them. Unfortunately, I don’t have much experience with the HL5’s to know how the two speakers differ in presentation.

1 Like
90

Darren - this brings up some interesting points. I mention this because I found this to be a fairly challenging task vs. the DSJ and DMP betas, and it calls many things into question for me with respect to reviewing components. Please understand that I’m mentioning this stuff in the spirit of, “Isn’t this an interesting problem?”

If the new component is clearly better in a number of ways than what you’re coming from, it’s pretty easy, everybody’s happy and few question it.

If I had at first listened to a broken in S300 and you had simply asked me to let you know if it “sounded good” with any of my speakers without comparing it to anything, I would probably have said yes. I would also speculate that if this were the first high quality Class D amp I had heard in my system, I would have been very impressed.

But it wasn’t my first Class D, and the entire time I was focused on the question, “Is it better - or do I like it more - than my amp enough to replace it?” Very different questions.

What amp were you using before on your Harbeths that the S300 “opened them up” comparatively? You don’t have to answer - it’s a rhetorical question - I would assume that if you were using a BHK to run them, your experience would have been different. I’m trying to get at the difficulty of knowing exactly what it is one is hearing, and why.

The only common element in the scenario you outline is the S300. You and I are different, you designed the S300 and I didn’t, the P3esr and SHL5’s are different (and Quads and ACI’s), our rooms and associated components are different, etc.

If everyone agreed on a single component it would be impressive indeed. Having an opinion in this area and expressing it is asking for trouble!

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badbeef I actually originally wanted to beta test the s300 but my friend mentioned the b&o iceamps measure worse and are usually subjectively not preferred to ucd or ncore modules so I chickened out and switched to the gain cell dac. Which I’m glad I did because I have a stack of amps, but not many dacs/pres. Your experience kind of confirms what I expected.

unrelated but I kind of prefer the old beta remote control for the gain cell dac to the new one. the new one doesn’t have raised buttons so it’s harder to locate the volume up/down by touch.

old remote pic

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I recently received a set of the Stellar 700 monos to listen to in my system. Before writing, I thought it would be good to give them some time to break in before actually listening. My reference system is similar to the one at PS Audio. I have two sets of IRS V’s in a room 30’ wide by 35’ deep. They are driven by McIntosh source components and an Aurender N-10 music server into a McIntosh tube preamplifier, Pass Labs crossover and solid state amplifiers. The system is cabled with a Wireworld silver loom. Even though I bought the Stellar system for a second home, testing it on my known system would give me a frame of reference for comparison. To summarize, I was very pleasantly surprised that they sound as good to me as many systems that have a much higher entry point. They have now found themselves at home in a second home with McIntosh speakers and an Oppo 205 to play CD’s.

During my test, I listened to recordings by Norah Jones, Jane Monheit, Melody Gardot, The Rippingtons, Brian Simpson, Michael Buble, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, and on and on until I realized it was after midnight. Needless to say, the amps sounded better than I had expected and represented a bargain in today’s audiophile world.

They are keepers.

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Thanks for the report and welcome to the forum!

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Thanks for a great review!!

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Thanks lwschwartz! Two IRS…I can only imagine how awesome that must be!

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My current system: Classe CP47.5 pre. Classe CDP 1.5 cd player. PS Audio HCA-2 amp. Vandersteen 3a signatures. Vandersteen 2WQ sub. Harmonic Technology Pro-Silway XLR interconnects. Harmonic Technology Pro-9 Plus bi-wire speaker cables. PS Audio Dectet, Lab power cable, Mini-Lab power cables, AC5 power cables.

Some of my music: Secret Garden, Aaron Neville, Enya, Henry Mancini, Collin Raye, Lionel Richie, Craig Chaquico, Nora Jones, Neil Diamond, Alan Parsons, Sarah Brightman, Michael Crawford, William Tell & Other (Telarc), James Oneil Miner, Orchestral Spectaculars (Telarc), Little River Band, Celine Dion, Hilary Stagg, Brooks & Dunn, Madonna, Copeland - Fanfare for the Common Man (Telarc), Tabernacle Choir

Newly purchased Jan 2017: PS Audio Perfect Wave Transport, PS Audio Direct Stream Junior DAC.

Currently beta testing the Stellar Gain Cell DAC and the Stellar S-300.

 I could not believe the improvement the PWT and the DSJ made to the sound of my current system.  I was almost going to stop the upgrade process with those two fine components but I didn't.  This isn't supposed to be a review of them, but I couldn't resist a brief comment.

Compared to the 47.5, using the Stellar as a pre is a noticeable improvement. It’s like cleaning a window that you don’t realize is dirty, but when it is cleaned, it’s amazing how much clearer the view is. The Stellar presents a sound in my system that is detailed, focused, clear and bright without sounding harsh or grainy. This was true throughout the audio frequencies. I liked it right out of the box (ok a little harsh) and it has just gotten better. Several days ago I returned the beta version (I was critical of its cosmetics) for the production upgrades version. Upon its return I was very pleased with it. It has the same appearance as the PWT and DSJ and looks very nice on the same rack with them.

Compared to the dac in the CDP 1.5, the Stellar dac was a significant improvement. All of the sound characteristics I described about it as a pre were even better using it as a dac. Even my wife, who claims to have not interest in such things, immediately expressed a preference for the sound of the Stellar. The sound is more realistic. A piano sounds more like a piano, violins more like violins, …etc.

I’m keeping the Stellar. The dac is very good (not as good as the DSJ but you wouldn’t expect it to be). True, I don’t need two dac’s, but I really like it as a pre. It is much better than the 47.5 and my system sounds better going from the DSJ thru the Stellar than it does going directly from the DSJ to either amp. Don’t know why but it does. I wish there was a ‘beefed-up’ Stellar pre without the dac. Count me in for that one.

I was one of the original beta testers for the HCA-2. I have had mine since day one. I have really enjoyed it. Somewhere on this forum someone confessed to being a ‘bass whore’. Guilty as charged. I liked the HCA-2’s bass. A lot. I had greats hopes that after all of the years since the HCA-2 was released, the S-300 would be a big improvement. Oh baby! The S-300 did not disappoint. I liked it instantly. The HCA-2 bass that I liked so much now sounds like jiggley Jell-O. By comparison the S-300’s bass is crisp taught, focused, powerful - not just heard but felt. The S-300 also presents the same improvements as does the Stellar. Across the entire audio spectrum the sound is clear, clean, focused, bright but not harsh with plenty of power in the bass. I am also hearing detail in my cd collection that I have never heard before. It’s almost like having a brand new musical library - obviously there is a significant synergy between the PS Audio components. I like the S-300. I like it a lot. In fact, I like it so much I’m sending it back. I want the M-700’s.

This review has been hard for me to write. First of all, I am not an expert audio person. I can’t comment on a ‘…slight hint of dryness…’ or ‘…with maybe a bit of bloom in the mid-bass…’, …etc. Secondly, I have gone from my current system described above to my new system: PS Audio PWT, DSJ, Stellar DAC, & S-300. The improvement for me is thrilling and breathtaking. Every time I would sit down and try to do some critical listening I would instantly be ‘carried away’ - carried away in my thoughts, dreams and my own delusions of grandeur. It was so hard trying to stay focused on the sound of the components, when their music thrilled my soul from top to bottom and transported me to places I had never imagined, stirred my emotions until I could contain no more and then gently brought me back to reality.

Outstanding PS Audio! Very well done! And thank-you. I’m enjoyin’ the ride!

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Hi Kurt… Craig here… I can’t speak to the S300 directly, but I can to the M700s and I know you will enjoy them. I was a GCD beta tester and my posts relate that I was so impressed that I moved to it from my expensive Sonic Frontiers tube preamp and kept the GCD. Then I traded my long serving and loved PSAudio 200C power amp to a pair of M700s. I loved the 200C for it’s easy power and sweet response, but the M700s (after sufficient burn in) easily surpassed it and are all that PS says they are. I’ve studied class D output stages and had some reservations but the M700s blew away all those reservations. They (with the GCD) present all that your sources can deliver. You will not be disappointed.

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kurtkwk said

Several days ago I returned the beta version (I was critical of its cosmetics) for the production upgrades version. Upon its return I was very pleased with it. It has the same appearance as the PWT and DSJ and looks very nice on the same rack with them.

Nice write up! Can you fill us in on the production upgrades? I am happy with the cosmetics on mine, but hoping that they would fix the crosstalk on the toslink/rca digital inputs. Do any 'upgrades' have an effect on the sound?
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I don’t know the specifics of the upgrades. That’s a question for tech support. The sound? I don’t know how much impact the upgrades have had on the sound because so far the unit continues to improve.