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Are ICEpower amps really that good?

Hi folks, it's getting a bit boring now, but I would like to hear your opinions about the following issue. I have the eAR ICEpower based amps (with the ASP1000 modules with built in SMPS). Some audiophiles and amp manufacturers believe they are just trash. In my opinion they are no slouch compared with the almost 8 times more expensive Accuphase A-50V stereo amp. In fact, I prefer the ICEpower amps above the Accuphase. Now I'm a bit in doubt (audiophiles are such weird creatures): are this sub $2k ICEpower amps really that good that they can compete with the $$$ Accuphase amp, or is it due to my own shortcoming (I might have some form of insidious and progressive hearing impairment) or is it just imagination? If the ICEpower amps are really that good, what's the point of buying $$$ amps? Btw, I have Dunlavy SC-V loudspeakers.

Chris
dazzdax
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Dazzdax...You are suffering from the early stages of upgradeitis. The cure is to buy a much more expensive ICE amp like the H2O.
dazzdax OP
599 posts
 
Hi Tvad, if you are right that the ICEpower amps are hyperdetailed, transparent and dead neutral, then we are talking about the best (most honest) amps in the world? Or am I wrong? If some audiophiles don't like the sound, that would mean they don't want a dead neutral sound, with other words, they want a colored sound. You see, it is not very clear to me whether the sound, or better: the non-sound of ICEpower amps is in fact due to lack of distortion or is it due to insufficient rendering of harmonic overtones (fucked up harmonic structure).

Chris
slaw3
136 posts
 
I bought the Nuforce 9s after extensive auditioning of several mega buck tube and SS amps in my system. While the 9s and Bel Cantos do not have the midrange tube bloom of good SE amps, it's the only thing they DON'T have.
For me, clear answer is YES- THEY ARE THAT GOOD! I'm done!
arni
313 posts
 
Tvad,
I have read an Nuforce owner argue (Audiogon thread) that it was more musical and warmer than the Conrad-Johnson SE60 it replaced. Have you ever listened to an ICE power based amp in direct comparison to the type of amps you believe are "better?"
I haven't, but I am definitively interested in exploring this evolving new amplification.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
06-04-06: Arni
Tvad,
I have read an Nuforce owner argue (Audiogon thread) that it was more musical and warmer than the Conrad-Johnson SE60 it replaced. Have you ever listened to an ICE power based amp in direct comparison to the type of amps you believe are "better?"
I have auditioned NuForce Ref 8 and CI Audio D100 and D200 in my system. I don't know if they are ICE based amps.

The NuForce Ref 8 that I heard in my system...and the NuForce Ref 9.02SE that I heard at the LA audio show this weekend were less warm than any tube amp I have ever heard.

Honestly, I believe warmth is a product of distortion, as the distortion fuzzes up the leading edges - among other things - and creates what we consider warmth. That in combination with attenuated highs.

Since digital amps have such low distortion specs, and have such wide bandwidth, I find it difficult to believe that they can be warm in any sense of the traditional audiophile definition of the term.

It's somewhat system dependent, I'm sure.

I'd have paid someone at the LA audio show if they could have pointed me in the direction of a demo room with a warm sound. The Acapella and Wilson rooms came closest. Even the Lamm room was not warm, although I liked the sound.
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