Thank you! Definitely looking forward to trying the Claymore. In fact even more after reading @flutteringwow comment!
I received Colins Claymore Integrated from @ABCaudio on Friday, and had it on over the weekend.
As you know, I am fairly critical and honest from my review of the EWA LS40’s, and the truth is, I love this thing. It’s such a cracker.
It has the smoothness of a valve amplifier, with the quietness and precision of a solid state. It pairs lovely with my Naim ND5XS2 and Q Acoustics Concept 300’s and provides a detailed, warm, absorbing and smooth sound – everything is *there* but portrayed in such a natural way, it’s truly addicting.
It really excels in portraying lifelike voices with texture and details that render them extremely life like and natural. Listening to John Smiths ‘The Fray’ and ‘Great Lakes’ is an absolute treat of calm, subtlety but engagement and pleasantry. There is a tiny little bit of sibilance but it's barely noticeable. Drum work is extremely life like, and dare I say it renders the lower treble area of the snare drums nicer and more natural than my Prima Luna at four times the price! Switching to Jason Isbell’s ‘Reunions’, it really manages the tempo and dynamics of some of the quicker tracks. Its timing is impeccable., and it leaves you enjoying each riff and set of harmonics while be exciting for the next change and hearing how it does that. It can however occasionally get a little ‘snappy’ and on the edge of coping with with very heavy tracks with lots going on which leaves you reaching for the remote to knock it down a notch…but wait..I couldn’t find the remote.
There is very little blurring of instruments which I often find with amplifiers at this price, normally for me they sound too critical and over egged, or too dull, boring and uninspiring. The Claymore is anything but. It has the detail, instrument separation and the retains natural warmth. It exceeds its price tag quite easily.
Being honest, it’s not going to rumble your house with a large explosive powerful sound and I found the bass a little faint at times – I knew the bass riff and rumble was there but it was a little too polite and didn’t hit me in my stomach. The cymbals didn’t crash into my hypothalamus disturbing my amygdala like a shot of top shelf absinthe. This however does lead to an un-stressful listening experience though - no exhaustion or feeling like your nervous system has been rattled with stimulation. It’s just, natural, dynamic and enjoyable and simple. Fatigue free sound. It has balance. And balance is probably the most important thing in our universe.
This is one amplifier I would probably purchase if I was downsizing. Sadly, it’s a deal breaker for me not to have a remote. Having to get up to adjust the volume just seems rather silly when in a world where I can adjust the volume on my tv from a different country! If you however have your rack right next to you or don’t mind the get up to adjust, then this amplifier would be a no brainer at the price. But in my opinion, it needs a basic remote to gain more appeal.
It’s been about six years since I have owned an amplifier of this price range, and I remember being completely bemused by the offerings at the time forcing me onto the upgrade ladder. And I tried a LOT ranging from £500 to £5000. If I compare this to say the Pathos Classic Remix (£2700) which I had for a while, while it can’t compete on looks, it kicks the backside of the Italian in sound production easily.
If this amplifier had arrived to me at that stage, it would have put my faith back into more budget units, and I may not have even searched for better. it’s just so, satisfying. Its harmony with the Naim and Concepts is spot on.
Big thumbs up to @CJ14 on this one! Im gonna have it on for a few more days and enjoy it a little more before sending it on though. Next person will just have to wait. Sorry.
Hello flutteringwo,
Have you prove the phonostage?
OK, thanks!I didn't , no. My TT is over 7metres away from where the amp goes. Its enough of a hassle getting up to turn the volume up and down, nevermind moving my TT!
great write up, thanks.It's a great match with the Holo May (both get hot, too ;-))
great write up, thanks.
How much heat would you say this dumps in normal use? This is a consideration for me, my audio basement can get warm if there are many people in the room or if any piece of kit puts out a lot of heat (e.g. my jvc projector outputs about 150 or 200W which gets the room toasty after a few hours).
I wouldn't know mine was even on as there is virtually no heat given off.It's a 3/4 width case which stays cool enough to keep your hand on, but I'd still call it hot rather than warm. Not an issue for me, although I was a little surprised — I've read other comments that say the amp gets barely warm.
The M-50 arrived last week in Hecky with the box of EWA cables (see earlier for my cable impressions). As I already owned the LS-80 cables, I was able to get the full EWA experience. The test system was as follows: Mac mini M1, Denafrips Hermes DDC, Holo May DAC, Goldpoint SA2 volume control, M-50, ATC SCM19. Also on hand were my Sugden ANV50 integrated and PMC 25.23 speakers, and thanks to a visiting friend, a DIY Purifi amp and Chord TT2 DAC. A deluge of new stuff to compare!
In the end it was not hard to hear the contribution of the M-50 in this system. Tones and timbres just became even more natural and unforced. Often when a component does this you have to add "with the right speakers", "with the right genre of music" etc. But not with the M-50. All the dynamics, timing and control were fully present too. It's capable of intoxicating beauty without ever sounding polite. It's a great match with the Holo May (both get hot, too ;-)), All in all, and with all the cables, the best sound I've ever heard in my living room.
The M-50 also best showed up differences between some of the other components, a sure sign of true resolution rather than just added pleasing harmonic distortion.
Before hearing the M-50 I was not in the market for a power amp. Well, that has changed now ;-) Just need to figure some other things out first (pre, ATC actives / other speakers, rack space, total budget etc.)...
Thanks again @CJ14 and @ABCaudio -- lucky to know you guys! It's like knowing a big time dealer who will share their personal stash of pure unadulterated stuff before it gets cut for mass consumption. Very few people will ever realise what they are missing ;-)
Looking forward to it. Since my time with the LS-40 I have made a few changes to the system that has brought out more detail and layers in the music. So hopefully with the increased resolution I will be in a better place to evaluate the various.The box is on its way to Rajive, and listening with my own cables back in place, everything's fine, but a little sharp, as if someone's overdone the picture processing
Thanks again to Colin and Alan at @ABCaudio for the opportunity to try these- can you let me know who is next on the list?