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Review NaN of
, from Santa Fe, NM, USA
Price Paid:
$7750.00
from Dallas Audio Concept Summary:
Caveat: My review is actually for the Chord 1200E which is a 350 Watts into 8 ohms product.
In a word I can summarize the Chord 1200E: AMAZING.
Nuances Revealed!
The evening that I plugged in my new amp I immediately starting hearing nuances in beloved old recordings that I had never heard before. The extra roll of a cymbal here and the slight vibration of vocal chords there. That was the obvious stuff, but what floored me was the fact that I could finally here the muscianship of performers coming through. Case in point was listening to the Police's "One World (Not Three)" and hearing the band start playing more intensely after the first chorus. Mind you, they didn't start playing faster, but with a greater passion and the entire band did so in unison. This is something that the Chord immediately brought to light. Pulling back the abstruse layers of a piece of music and hearing the raw humanity of a performance is what buying high end equipment is all about.
Imaging:
The Chord brought an extra dimension to my already impressive imaging. My B&W Nautilus 802s are renowned for their imaging and formerly I had awesome detailed imaging, but only in two dimensions. That is, I could place instruments in the sound stage perfectly left to right and top to bottom. But there was no front to back - until Chord, that is. Now I hear beautiful detailed full three dimensional imagery. Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" was revelatory and you could place Mayfield easily in front of his drummer, instead of on top of the drummer.
Spectacular Low-End:
My 1200E also brings out the full rubbery richness of deep bass. Larry Graham's bass (of Family Stone fame) finally sounds like the real thing. What is more drums normally have a snap to them or a peak sound that was previously not reproduced well on my system, but now they are there in full rich technicolor. Live, that is, real bass sounds are very complicated and the quality of a single note changes slowly as it decays and most stereos do not reproduce bass in a warm fashion. My old system was boomy.
Power:
In short, the Chord is very neutral and very powerful, consequently you hear music.
Comparisons:
I travelled around the country a bit and listened to many other amps before selecting the Chord. Most folks that I talked to recommended Mark Levinson (which is more expensive by the way). The Levinson was the proverbial analytical amplifier. I was listening to "Let Down" by Radiohead wherein Thom Yorke (singer) is pouring is guts out for the listener and even my old Adcom revealed the raw emotion. But the Levinson was absolutely lifeless. I was hearing everything, but not feeling everything.
Conclusion:
With the Chord I am no longer thinking about my componentry and instead am obsessing about the soul of the musicians. Its like casting a spell and commanding history's best performers to play for you in your living room. I must commend my fellow reviewers on this site who mentioned that the Chord 1200E was the ideal mate for B&W Nautilus 802s as that is my speaker of choice and the match is flawless. Strengths:
1. Nuances, nuances, nuances. Especially in things like discerning musicians increasing or decreasing the intensity of their playing.
2. Precise, three dimensional imaging.
3. Warm, rich deep tones.
4. Plenty of power. Weaknesses:
None of which I can think. Similar Products Used:
Levinson, Linn, Krell, Adcom
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