http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/audiozone2/zone.html"The STi expands over the AMP-1 by offering three inputs via the selector knob on the front. The STi also uses a single volume control rather than the AMP-1's dual attenuators. However, there's no power on/off switch! The source selector knob has a fourth position labeled 'off'. Designer Peter Daniel believes switches compromise sonics. "Peter has sweated all details including resonance control. The thickness of the chassis panels, the materials used and the cone feet are all there for no reason other than sonic contributions. I have met and conversed with Peter on several occasions. He practices obsessive attention to the tiniest of details, including the sonic effect of each minute resistor and capacitor and their precise location and orientation. "Sonically, I could easily spot the family resemblance with Audio Zone's other amps: lightening-fast transient response, bodacious -- almost tube-like -- image density and a smooth, grain-free effortless ease that I find all too rare in solid-state amps at or even above this price point. Peter's amps have a very unique sonic character. It sits somewhere between tubes and solid state. His amps rarely sound pinched, strained or harsh. It is simply not in their vocabulary. Compared to the AMP-1, the less expensive STi was tonally slightly warmer and apparently not quite as transparent. Neither were soundstage width and depth as clearly delineated. Bass extension was slightly curtailed by comparison. However, all the best of the Zone's sonics were still present: gushing ease, a great sense of flow and momentum, mondo image heft and agile dynamic swings." Asylum Feedback under my former moniker is Stephæn is 4.9/5.0 http://www.audioasylumtrader.com/ca/feedback.html?reviewed=6942 US Audio Mart feedback:
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