Feedback - Page 2

MA-1 updated to Mk3.1
My sylvania tubes came in today and after about 10 hrs of break-in I can honestly say this is the best sound I have ever heard in my entire life! I have been searching for this for well over a decade! Holy s***.. I never thought it could get this good! You know Ralph its amazing.. I have a digital music collection of around 30000 tracks, whenever I would listen to a track that was "special" or moved me in one way or another I would put a star beside it. This way I could rate my music between 1 and 5 stars and choose to listen to only 5 star songs when I'm not feeling adventurous.. Before if I was lucky it would take me a couple hundred tracks to find the one special track.. Now I find I want to add a 5star to approx 1 out of ten tracks. Audio Bliss. Need I say more? I still can't believe it.. Dave V, Canada
Used M-60 Mk3.2, November 2018
These are truly exceptional amplifiers! I’ve been an audiophile for 20 years or so. The purchase of these amplifiers was a real revelation for me! It’s almost like getting a new level of consciousness. These are definitively my last amplifiers (unless Atma-Sphere comes out tomorrow with M-60 MK4 :-) Every audiophile shall consider testing these amplifiers before acquiring any other amplification! I’m using M-60 MK3s with Quad ESL 2912 speakers and EAR Yoshino DAC4. M-60 MK3 give to my Quad ESL 2912 all they need. There’s no need for greater power. Speakers play extraordinarily well. I am stunned by the richness of details, beauty of voices and deepness of the bass! Yes, deepness of the bass on electrostatic speakers! It’s the very first time that I hear my speakers going down to 30hz. After various solid state and tubes amplifiers (including all Quads, several Jadis and McIntosh etc) M60 amplification is a huge improvement in my system ! My overall impression is: everything sounds MUCH more realistic, there are MUCH more details, there’s no coloration of any kind, voices are so natural, every single sound can be perceived. You can actually mentally concentrate your attention on each instrument or just listen the whole scene in an organic way. In a sense, you can ”see” music both in microscopic details and as a whole picture at the same time. So, the first impression on listening OTL amplifiers is surprising. The sound is different compared to "classic" tube amplifiers, but it is also different compared to solid-state amplifiers. You may need a few minutes to adapt your ears to this new level of perception. M-60 MK 3 reunite the richness of details characteristic for solid state amplification, and musicality characteristic for tube sound. I have not yet tried tube rolling, I do not have expensive cables, not even power conditioner or zero autoformers. So there’s a lot of place for further improvements, but even without all those tweaks, already I can say that I’m lucky to have such an extraordinary system in my home today. Atma-Sphere M-60s are absolutely marvelous amplifiers and perfect match to Quad ESL. I have found my audiophile Nirvana ! Ocean, France
MA-1 MkII.3 updated to Mk.3.1
I just wanted to update you on a trial i ran yesterday. I have an old Adcom preamp and put it in the system. I am not sure how much gain this pre amp provides but it was sufficient to drive the MA-1's. So clearly more gain is needed in my system. The MA-1's were providing details, low level resolution and dynamics my system was missing. And this is with a pre amp of aged technology and parts. Bill N, FL
M-60 Mk3.1
I listen to these M-60s and I just grin-that is, until I think of all the time I wasted with solid state. Of course, I don't mean to slight the MP-3. It's absolutely the best preamp I've ever heard. What an amazing sound. Thank you for following this career path. Bob, IL
M-60 MkII.2
They are the best amps I have ever heard... thanks for the music. Ralph, WV
MP-3
Incredible! Ralph and his staff are the new "Wizards of Menlo Park." Michael, AZ
MA-1
Ralph, I've had the amps now for a week and all I can say is that after many years of listening to many amps, many highly regarded, and as a bit of an old coot jaded by the hobby, your amplifiers are a real revelation. I have never heard my system or any system as capable of communicating the musical message and performance. It feels as if these were the amps I've been waiting to own and it took my long path to appreciate how wonderful they are. Obviously the result of some great design work and thinking about how to make an amp that works to keep the musical message with minimal damage. A great job. My pre arrives next week, we'll see... Paul
MP-3
This is to let you know that I had a chance to buy a new MP-3, this time with all the most recent upgrades installed, including regulation, caps, etc. I traded in my old MP-3, plugged in the new one and... WOW, the difference is huge. Sonics have dramatically changed: tighter, faster response, more highs... I guess this is exactly what was to be expected from the updates. As you can see, Atma-Sphere has captivated me to the point where I have to buy the same gear twice. Thanks for your support. Stefano, Italy
M-60
Dear Ralph: The upgrade [from early Mk.II] to Mark III to my M60s was great! I can't believe the difference--more detail, more power to lower frequencies, more gain across the board--I couldn't be more pleased. Thanks and kudos to you and your staff for a job very well done! Jamie, NY
M-60 Mk.III
I'm in awe. How to describe the sound? A.R.C. with soul? Shindo without the added "liquidness"? At the end of the day comparisons fail, what's left is my drug of choice. By far. Terrence, AZ
MP-3
One question: HOW is it that this device is so good? What IS it that makes the difference? [We wrote back that its all about our patented direct-coupled output.] It [the MP-3] is clearly and demonstrably (even now after about 17 hours) better than my top telefunken tubed Aesthetix by a country mile, and I simply did not think it possible. Within my budget, I thought I was now into the sort of territory where significant improvement was unlikely and changes would be more a matter of taste than obvious improvement. Snare drum timbre improved at about 10 - 12 hours BTW. My wife is no audiophile and she can hear it too.... I simply don't understand how you have managed to get those stock russky tubes to deliver realistic timbre and so on.Best wishes, Dave
M-60
I was just writing to tell you how much pleasure it has been doing business with you. As a customer of yours for 10+ years, I can confirm all the glowing reviews that your equipment has received. This is not why I write. Many companies can make equipment that generates glowing reviews; the harder feat is customer service, and you have excelled in this regard. I recently upgraded my M-60s. After that I realized that there was some noise in my older MP-3 phono section. It was a low level 60 cycle hum mixed in with the noise floor. I explained it to you and you insisted that I send it in for a check up. Even though it was out of warranty you spent the time rooting out the cause, but best of all, you fixed the problem with significant work and parts and didn't charge me a cent for the service-even for return shipping. I love how quiet my system is now. I knew it was amazing when I was listening to an old Bollywood 45 and I could hear the 50 cycle hum from the amps used to make the recording oh so many years ago. Thank you, AG, California
MA-1 MkIII
It is spectacular! I've played acoustic guitar for 30 years and and used to be married to a classical pianist (with a B-model Steinway); your amps come as close as anything I have heard to making the system disappear. Jack, CA
MP-3
Just received my new (used) MP-3. What a fantastic difference it made in my system.. Great dynamics, great bass, wonderful soundstaging, delectable midrange, super highs. and most important, truth of tone. I couldn't be more satisfied-and I haven't even retubed it yet. It really compliments my M60 Mk 2.2s. Thanks for designing and building such a wonderful preamp! P.S. I always appreciate your being so available to answer my often ignorant but earnest questions. Jamie, NH
M-60
Living with the M-60 monoblock amplifiers as an exhibitor at the 2008 Rocky Mountain Audiofest, I discovered what might be one of the best kept secrets in audio - Atma-Sphere electronics. The obvious question is "what took me so long to audition them?". By the end of the show, I signed up as an Atma-Sphere dealer. My business model as turntable manufacturer is a hybrid one, with Galibier being both a manufacturer as well as a retail seller. I continually search for products designed with priorities in alignment with mine - components designed with an eye toward honoring the musical intent of and conveying the expressiveness of the performer. At the end of the day, if a hi-fi system doesn't provide insight into the performance, then it's all about sound effects and not about music. When a designer succeeds at facilitating this insight, many of these hi-fi "effects" naturally occur (dimensionality, soundstaging, pace, etc.). All too frequently however, designers get it backward and design to optimize these "sound effects" first and music last. This approach is doomed to failure. A successful designer is both technically adept and musically aware. Sadly, this convergence of talents and sensibilities is all too rare in the world of hi-fi components. I was smitten by both the MP-1 preamp and the M-60's during the show, but it was only when I plugged in the M-60's in at home that I realized just how faithful to the music these electronics are - hearing them in a familiar system. Needless to say, there's an MP-1 in my immediate future. My initial listen was with a CD player as I couldn't wait to set up my analog rig in order to give them a listen. The first CD I plugged in found me in slack-jawed amazement - Jorma Kaukonen's "Thorns in My Crown" - a collection mainly of American spiritual music primarily from the country blues tradition (Reverend Gary Davis, et. al.) as only Jorma can play them. What grabbed me most (apart from bandwidth, tonal accuracy, and stone-cold silence that I've only heard in Jim Hagerman's work) was the musical timing. The pacing, ebb and flow of Jorma's guitar work was like every live performance of his I've been to, and I've seen him some six times in the past few years. Jorma is a national treasure, and I've never heard his guitar mastery conveyed in a hi-fi system with such insight into his masterful technique. Those of you who treasure this value system above everything else, owe it to yourselves to listen to Atma-Sphere electronics in a system assembled by someone with musical (and not) hi-fi values. Cheers, Thom
MP-3
The equipment is sounding better every time I listen. The MP-3 is really a great sounding preamp. It is a lot more dynamic than my friend's $13,000 VAC preamp. Just plain outstanding air, dynamics, soundstage; just state of the art. Note the noise floor- there is none on my speakers anyway- well done! [on the MA-1] In my opinion, the finest sounding 140 watts around. Wally, NY
MA-1
THANKS, thanks thanks Ralph, for your generous and helpful assistance with the [older] MA-1s during my initial acquaintance with them. They are making very happy music indeed, and I've fabricated per your recommendation the banana plug/spade lug wire that simplifies checking of the DC/bias. The amps are holding bias very nicely. If the way you treated me, someone who had not purchased anything except a small upgrade from you, is an example of the way that you treat your real "paying customers," no wonder you have stayed in business so long with such success and such loyalty. Bravo. All the best, M. K.
S-30
I purchased this amp without ever seeing or hearing it based only on Sound Image's very accurate description of its sound. This is the best amplifier on this planet - I have owned or heard many very good tube amplfiers. Charles, PA
MP-3
The MP-3 is really a well-kept secret. Now that I have used a number of other preamps on the M-60's I can better assess the value of it and describe in what areas it seems to set itself apart from those other preamps. What struck me first is how tuneful it is, in other words it leaves the full timbre of musical instruments intact. The overall sound is crisp and firm and there is an extraordinary sense of being able to pinpoint the location and true size of any instrument. There is absolutely no artificial bloom added to the sound. It is a highly sober and natural sound. From one narrow point of view one is reminded of solid state because of this sober way of playing, only it is without all the deficiencies that haunt each and every solid state design I have heard, such as smearing of details, flattening of the overall soundstage and lack of proper integration of the whole overtone spectrum. The MP-3 is called a 'music preamplifier', but it could just as well have been called a 'musical preamplifier', because that is what it is. K.L., Denmark
Novacron
Your Novacron amplifier brought tears to my eyes again last night [...] Thank you for my latest revelation in high-end audio. M. H., New Jersey
MA-1
Very emotional, can't drag myself away! Richard N., WI
M-60 Mk. II
In my opinion there is Atma-Sphere and then there are all the others. I have listened to so many different amps over the years but compared to the M-60 mk.II they all more or less sound like what they basically are: electronics. With the M-60 the electronic haze is simply gone and the music itself emerges out of an empty black space, much in the same way as you will experience from a very good turntable. Once you hear this incredible amplifier you simply know it is right and you stop worrying about whether any other amp might do a better job. My estimate is they won't. Here in Denmark I will do whatever I can to get as many as possible to listen to this fabulous product. The M-60 has been an eye-opener among audiophiles here and I am certain the news will spread quickly. Karsten L., Denmark
M-60 MK2
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your extreme patience and courtesy. The level of service that I received from you and your staff is world class. I have been in the customer service business for over 30 years as a stock broker and finance manager. Therefore, I know how difficult it is to take care of customers on a daily basis. Especially when you are dealing with technical information visa vi some pretty ignorant people such as myself! Your staff is "5 stars" in every area! The only thing that exceeds the excellence of your service is the product itself!!! Oh my!!! What a glorious sounding amp! I have owned Levinson, Krell, McCormack, Counterpoint and Conrad Johnson. Your M-60 Mk. II beats them all!!!! I am so thankful that you are designing such beautiful sounding gear!" Jack, AZ
MP-1
It's just about ten months since I bought my Atma-Sphere MP-1 MkIII. It's everything I hoped it would be, even though I could not imagine a pre-amp making this much positive improvement to the rest of my system. My system was now more open and reveling to such dimension, that friends who heard it prior to the MP-1 being added thought that I had done a total upgrade. The same music I was listening to before I got the MP-1, that had no life, suddenly were alive - voices are life-like, especially female voices, it's almost as if they are singing to you personally and instruments are more solid and full-bodied. There are details I didn't know were missing: The soundstage is deeper, wider and the background blacker-- while the mids and highs are sweeter. I'm happy I took all that time auditioning those countless other manufacturer's equipment and reading all the reviews I could find from Stereophile, TAS, Hi-Fi News and on-line publications. The payoff in musical enjoyment listening to my system with the MP-1 is priceless. Ralph, thank you very much for this wonderful pre-amp! Jonathan, VA

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