Creek Audio 5350SE Integrated Amplifiers

Creek Audio 5350SE Integrated Amplifiers 

DESCRIPTION

90 Watt per channel integrated amp.

USER REVIEWS

Showing 21-30 of 51  
[Sep 08, 2003]
rapopper
AudioPhile

Strength:

unbilivable sound

Weakness:

no balance

it is by far one of the best integrateds. midrange is superb,plus excelent highs. the bass is there with great control. its very musical.

Similar Products Used:

classe,mark levinson treshold etc.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 05, 2003]
lee lane
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

two pairs speaker posts, simple controls, remote controlled volume(most important remote feature), powerful with 4 ohm speakers, cute, sleek, stylish, nice all around integrated, i don't regret buying it.

Weakness:

none, at this price, well, ok., no balanced outputs, no tone defeat switch

one of the best integrateds at the price, only one i can think of to rival this is the musical fidelity A3.2 integrated. nice amp, but speker posts aren't as tough as they should be, replace power cord if possible, i used cardas quadlink 5, no balanced xlr's, that sucks if you are using a superb hi fi digital component, nice sounding, especially on psb stratus gold"s, a good match for this amp. no need for sub, but like one guy said, and i still need to do this, replace the u bar jumpers with some good cables.

Similar Products Used:

roksan, pioneer, harmankardon, sansui, more, but who really cares?

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 14, 2003]
sang-youp synn
AudioPhile

Strength:

Clean and sweet

Weakness:

none at this price range

I've been using 5350 for 4 months. Before purchasing this, I read many affirmative reviews on 5350. Now I absolutely agree with them. I compared 5350 with krell 300i. Each has pros and cons. It depends on the characteristics of software. But Clean and sweet are appropriate to describe 5350.

Similar Products Used:

arcam, krell 300i, aura, etc

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 07, 2003]
Doug
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Soundstage. Simplicity.

Weakness:

None really. May not totally rock out if that's what you like.

This amp excels in separating detail and throwing a wide soundstage. It takes a long long time to burn-in, but once it does, it is very musical and can give many many hours of pleasurable listening. Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

NAD C370, Arcam, Plinius, others

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 08, 2002]
ckazanci
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Quiet, Midrange detail, Very nice headphone out, Nice looking, Enough bass (not as good as the midrange tough)

Weakness:

Keep in mind that it's not perfect, as one would conclude from the reviews everywhere. Make sure that you listen with your system, with your recordings before buying it.

Great amp for sure. You've heard the positive reviews from everyone. I agree with almost all of them. Detail & musicality is unbelievable. Excellent headphone out, handsome unit, comes with remote, quiet passive preamp section. Unfortunately I had to sell mine after 6 months. Here's why: * The sound coming from my speakers were much worse than what I heard from my Senn HD600 through the headphone output. So, make sure that this nice little amp matches with your speakers; don't even think about buying it because of the nice reviews; here it for yourself; if possible with your very own speakers. * Although it comes with a remote, it does not power up with it; and it doesn't even have a 'stand-by mode'. So you have to go reach the unit whenever you want to listen; or quit listening... * Tone controls generally ruin the sound; but there are some recordings (and not negligible amount of them) which sound pretty bad without one. So tone controls with a 'tone defeat switch' would be actually great with it. (almost necessary) It all depends how you like your music. Do you want to hear every detail; or do you just want to enjoy what you hear, no matter how crappy it may be for some people ? I personaly like my music a bit stressed on the highs. But no flexibility is allowed with this nice amp, but again; most pople are happy with what they here... I've never seen another product with this much detail in the midrange in this price range; and I know 'nice tone controls' are only available in more expensive amp; so I guess I'll just wait and save a little money, and listen to a Nad C370; and miss the detail of Creek meanwhile... And... I've seen better lows than this one, I guess we should accept that this amp is not the ultimate performer in low freq's. It's good, certainly enough, but not perfect... Creek already does so many things great for $1500; so I guess we should leave the rest to the $4000+ amps.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
3
[Nov 06, 2002]
Ben Gordon
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Deep, tight bass. Superb mids and hi's w/o the grain. Wonderfully musical and listenable. Great looks - low and sleek - I ordered mine with the traditional black case with green lettering. Separate input and output selectors, headphone jack, phono stage available. Creek rocks.

Weakness:

None at this price. Buy this and sell your heavy separates on eBay and buy some decent vinyl.

Excellent dynamics and soundstage. Really nice separation of instruments and voice. Takes a while to break it in, that is the nature of the beast. A minimilist approach to presentation - no balance or tone controls. Nice to have a built-in headphone jack. Ditto the ability to be-amp or drive another pair of speakers. This amp is a definite step-up from the mid-fi mass consumer crap from the usual suspects. Don't go looking for fancy dials, gain meters, led blinkies, etc This baby supplies the sound without the flash.

Similar Products Used:

Mass-consumer black panel plastic crap from the names we've all come to know.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Oct 15, 2002]
COBALTBLUE
AudioPhile

Strength:

price, looks, sound, very simple, very complete.

Weakness:

none worth at this price.

As with many many other audiophiles out there I read the glowiing reviews of Stereophile, I must admit I was hooked, I wanted to try this amp. I found a good deal on a mint demo with full warranty from Audio Waves and bought it for $1000.00. I had just sold my Mcintosh MA6450, that is what I was used to listening to befor the creek. What I diden't like about my MAC was that everything always sounded so pleasing and there was a lack of detail because of it. What I wanted was a amp that would resolve while not being overly harsh in the highs and upper mids - I had owned a creek 4330 before and that was exactly the case with that amp. I figured that the 5350se would sound better than the 4330, or at least it should at the price. I had liked the 4330 very much but it just didn't have the right quallity for music sometimes, to harsh, to thin, ect. When the 5350se arived I was so excited! The first music played was U2's Where the street have no name, I had remeberd the 4330 had done about as good of job as any amp I had herd on this song. Right off the bat I was inpresed with the "low level detail" I could here the organ in the openig clearly and it also had bass, without being muddy - that was a problom I had with my Mac. Things seem clear with the Creek there just isn't any harshness in the highs, I listend very close for days to many many recordings and I can't here any grain or overly bright parts in the music , save for in poorly recorded music. When I bought this amp I didn't expect it to be as good as it is. I just thought it would be nice to have a change, the Creek 5350se seems to have it all, good bass, warm but not overly warm mids and highs that resolve without sounding bright or harsh. THIS IS A GREAT AMP!!!! GO MIKE CREEK!!!!

Similar Products Used:

Cambridge Audio, Creek, Denon, Dynaco, Kora, Mcintosh, NAD, Rotel, Sony, yamaha.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 28, 2002]
J DJ
Casual Listener

Strength:

clean and tight. nice looking unit. 'CREEK'logo is cute and sounds good.

Weakness:

Nothing except ugly remote. But you can use Marantz remote instead of creek's

I've been using 5350 for 4 months. Before purchasing this, I read many affirmative reviews on 5350. Now I absolutely agree with them. I compared 5350 with my previously owned Marantz receiver. OF course, 5350 put out more tight and clean sound than Marantz. That's right~, Clean and tight are key words describing this intergrated amp. And speaking of desgin, It's a definite British style amp. 5350 has no bass,treble,balance control. So,It looks more reliable and endurable.

Similar Products Used:

Mark levinson No.33,Krell master reference Linn Klimax,Pass Aleph~~~I'm joking~~

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 08, 2002]
john
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Good in just about every area. Quick and dynamic but also delicate and subtle when called for -- transparent. Match with somewhat sensitive speakers!

Weakness:

Ubars are cruel joke --replace! Warranty should be longer.

This is an excellent integrated, but only when you replace the stock 'ubars' which connect preamp to amp, with more susbtantial hi-end interconnects. I spent considerable time comparing the ubars to .5 meter XLO Type 1 wires, and there is no doubt that the ubars make the sound more homogenized, less punchy, less detailed, and also somewhat forward and 'flat'. Don't even think of seriously listening before you do that upgrade. (I'm also using a JPS power cord with it, but I never even tried the supplied power cord). This piece also takes quite a while to fully break in. Kenny Barron's CD "The Moment" is one of example of deep bass beautifully rendered through the Creek, with the right assoc. equipment. A steal. These days I'm very cautious to rate a product 'Bargain, giant killer' but this one deserves it.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 05, 2002]
Max Wickham
AudioPhile

Strength:

Highs are very pure and extended, and not at all harsh. Strings sound natural, and high voices too. Detail!! You can really hear into the recording. Seems powerful for it's small size and rating, with excellent dynamics. Mids too are so natural, and find that recordings set aside because they sounded strained have become in many cases very enjoyable (but you can hear they are not ideal recordings, it just does not irritate)

Weakness:

Needs a LONG break-in period before making judgements. I made mistake of changing wire and speaker positions after couple of days because it was lean sounding, and over time ended up changing everything back as the sound warmed up. It took a good month to be what it is. I would say the bass is not as robust as the big 250/chan Hafler, (no surprise), but quite satisfactory.

Wonderfully clear and transparent. Details in LPs and CDs that I have owned for decades have come to life with this amp. I sold Hafler 9505 amp and british pre-amp to switch to this little number, and for my smaller room it has been all pluses.

Similar Products Used:

Many amps over the years, and several integrateds, but nothing in this class. Makes all the other amps I have owned sound a little crude by comparison.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 21-30 of 51  

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