Integrated Amplifiers

As Dan D'Agostino has always supported trickledown developments, so the Momentum MxV Integrated Amplifier combines technology – novel circuit design as much as choice components – from earlier MxV separates. Where it differs from the previous Momentum Integrated [HFN Dec '14] is in its capacity to host aftermarket modules, here in the guise of streamer/DAC and MM/MC phono stages. In base form it is analogue/line-level only, a sensible choice for those with legacy source equipment.

In practice, 'MxV' denotes changes sufficiently comprehensive that upgrading the previous version means a return to the factory. The new preamp section is derived from the Momentum HD Preamplifier [HFN Apr '20], D'Agostino's first to incorporate a high impedance J-FET front-end. But the most obvious benefit is its increase in power, a specified 250W/8ohm and 500W/4ohm, up from the earlier model's 200W and 400W, respectively. A new transformer claims over 50% more current output from the same footprint, suggesting greater headroom during dynamic passages. A new winding scheme minimises (hysteresis) power and thermal losses, just as the 53,000µF capacitor bank represents a 60% increase over the original Momentum Integrated – all these features promising gains in output.

For the output stage itself, there's a claimed 50% increase in operating bias, said to directly correlate to better sound quality, while the combination of its enhanced copper/alloy heatsinking and new bias circuit ensures the amplifier becomes warm but never excessively hot. Finally, the output stage features the power transistors originally sourced for D'Agostino's flagship Relentless Epic 1600 Monoblock Amplifier – all 28 of them (seven pairs per channel).