Cary Audio Design CAD-308SA Amplifiers Reviews

galex

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.33 of 5, 9.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1895.00 from Audio Connect

Summary:
For the price I was expecting this to be an entry-level amp. After living with it for a while I think it's much better than that. I found it to be very detailed without being aggressive. After swapping out the supplied tubes for a pair of Mullards I thought that it sounded warmer, which I preferred. It has an open and spacious character which works well with the kind of music I listen to. It's the kind of product that just works well for me. It's reliable, sounds wonderful, doesn't require biasing, and doesn't give off a lot of heat. It just reproduces music in a way that helps the entire experience become more immersive for me. I think this is an excellent example of a hybrid amp done properly.

Strengths:
Solid build, reliable, detailed and spacious sound.

Weaknesses:
The power meters. For me they're kind of useless.

Jacktoz

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from dealer load

Summary:
This is nothing short of a remarkable amplifier. Its only limition is it's ability to control a complex, low impendence load. With that limitation aside, this amplifier rivals the best that I've heard in terms of detail retrieval, image size and specificity, depth. This is remarkable performance for a $2k amplifier. It uses a tube front end and a solid-state output section based on what I believe is a National Semiconductor output device. The construction is top-notch and the quality of parts is extraordinary.

Strengths:
sweet top end incredible imaging first rate detail retrieval

Weaknesses:
ability to drive difficult loads

Similar Products Used:
ARC, CJ, Krell