corus vs coherence 2

I owned Rowland gear in the 90's, then I made a long stop from 2001 until 2011 because none of those newer units moved me. In a way, power, but dead. I bought Coherence II.2 + Model 2 with Battery Power Supply 2012 and I think, they have indeed something to do with a musical reproduction.
Marketing will let us know that the latest is always the best. But you don't get a definition of "best". Instead you get a lot of technical explanations what parts are inside but you don't know what they do. A good Design is very often a combination of knowledge and pure luck. There is absolutely no guarantee that the next unit from the same designer will be better. Different of course, but better? There are endless examples out there, countless Audio Research units, Cartridges, Tonearms .... and so on. The old Pass Aleph amps beat any new in any second of the day when they are connected to a matching speaker. They can't drive ultra low loads, but is that a proof that they are worse?? Isn't it more intelligent to avoid such a Speaker Design and to look for something better....?

I listened to Criterion and I decided to go for Coherence II, but my priorities will not be shared from everyone. Most think, when they hear a difference, that this difference is better (for example, louder is always better, faster is always better.....) but a musical reproduction, the illusion of being part of a Performance is something different. Spectral for example is fast, but none of their units have something in common with music. It is the way it is.

Rowland gear is good, personally I don't like the Switch Mode Power Supplies, the sound is going on my nerves after a few hours, but there are others out there who like it more.
The Coherence II has a very unique internal Design with some very, very expensive parts and intelligent technical solutions. The XLR input and output are different from the "old" ones and the newer ones, so when you compare them you have to get the right cable terminations :-)
Specially when a Cadence Phono is used also (a very amazing unit, but wrong cable termination will rob a lot of its abilities...).
It is no secret that the very best sounding Rowland amps were Model 2/6/8/9.... some - intelligent - Dealers announced the 625 Model as the next best units after Model 8.... Marketing is one side, proof or time another....

Hi Syntax, Rowland seems to have passed through an inter-regnum at the end of the age of the single digit classics, when for a spell his soul seeking lead to some devices which fell just short of being emotional. Which amps and preamps did you experience as somewhat unemotional? G.

Let me throw another comment into this discussion since i have owned the Model-12 monoblocks. hey, remember the #10 and #12? doesn't come up much in discussions. after hearing Diane Krall through a #10 at the local dealer (whose main listening room is a marvel of great acoustics) i threw a large am't of money down on the 12's. they sounded absolutely great except they didn't like brown outs- which i have all the time. after going back to colorado twice Jeff assured me the ps's had been modified/replaced and would never give me any more problems.
by then i was kinda bummed out about the whole affair and got Levinson 33H amps which completely floored me- dynamics and musical and every nice adjective you can come up with. i still have the 12's as backup and can't decide whether to sell them or not. but they easily matched the Pass Aleph 1.2's (the biggest in that line) for smooth relaxed "tube sound without the tubes" presentation. without getting so hot.
but even if the 10 and 12 never got much attention. am i to understand that the newer products are going to make the 12's sound veiled or whatever...?
even with significant improvements i AM interested in the new pieces. BUT-
that day listening to Ms.Krall years ago was pretty amazing...thrilling. $14,400 for a pair of amps- WOW, i must have been pretty moved...

Hi Syntax, I fully understand your point as I myself have wrongly taken different for better and had to eat my words. Sometimes companies strive for improvement and mess up a good thing and that's the irony of this hobby.

French_Fries, it is my understanding that the group of products formed by M10, M12, M112, M302, and M301 up to serial 71, were all sweet sounding to the detriment of some emotionality at the micro and macro level.

the following generation of amps followed two diverging routes...

the higher end M312 stereo and later production M301 monos were much more emotional products than the previous 2 generations in the micro/macro domains, while the lower end products like M201 and M501 sounded somewhat matter-of-fact unless they were fed through the JRDG PC-1 rectifier. M301, M312, M201, and M501 are all withdrawn.

The current generation of amps is growing into a much broader family: M925, M825, M725, M625, M525, M125.

The early incarnation of the M625 stereo exhibited a denser harmonic content than M312 but in some cases sounded slightly less transparent. It is my understanding that the slight regression in transparency has been addressed by a minor internal change. The original M625 stereo in my system generated stage and images that were approximately 2/3 the size of M312... Driving the Vienna Muzik, it sometimes gave me impression of having to "work for living".... There was the slightest impression of the amp running out of steem on intense orchestral tutti.

M725 mono cleans up all the residual issues of M625... At least as transparent as M312, but with lots more harmonic content, equal or larger stage and images, authority galore, and oddly enough, greater control and musicality of the bass, in spite of it having lower damping factor than M312... Which points to the fact that published specs are not necessarily good predictors of product behavior. Oh yes, and apreciably better control of intermodulation in treble, which yields treble that is even sweeter than M312 without being dampened nor foreshortened. Bottomline: M725 replaced M312 as my reference because it is more resolving, more transparent, and more musical than M312.

M625 and M725 remain current products. The amp line is being augmented both upward and downward.... M925 monoblocks have been released in January and I have a pair on order. The M825 stereo will be released in April, together with a lower end M525 bridgeable amp, and an entry level M125 stereo. How will they sound? I do not know yet, and any conjectures on my part would be quite worthless.

Saluti, G.