Integrated Amplifiers

I mentioned in our recent review of Audiolab's contemporary 6000A [HFN Mar '19] that some brands are more conservative in their power specification than others. So while the 6000A is flying close to the wire with its 2x55W/2x85W 8/4ohm output and restricted 99W/55W delivery under dynamic conditions into lower 2/1ohm loads, Emotiva's TA-100 goes further offering 2x63W/8ohm and 2x95W/4ohm with a dynamic 87W, 153W and 234W possible at <1% THD into 8, 4 and 2ohm loads [see Graph 1]. The current limit is 10.8A so the TA-100's protection kicks in at 116W/1ohm, suggesting the amp will be most comfortable with 6-8ohm nominal impedance speakers. Distortion remains a low 0.001-0.002% over the first 10W of its range through bass and midrange frequencies, increasing to 0.011% at the rated 50W/8ohm. THD also increases with frequency above 10kHz, reaching 0.012% at 20kHz/10W and 0.04% at 40kHz/10W. Output impedance is low enough at 0.04ohm and the response suitably extended at –0.35dB/20kHz and –4.85dB/100kHz.

Analog Device's venerable AD1955A DAC performs well here, the maximum preamp output (at 0dBFs) of 4.15V being supported by a wide 111.5dB A-wtd S/N ratio and an impressively low 1.5ohm output impedance (increasing at bass frequencies to 17ohm/20Hz). Distortion reaches a maximum of 0.0005–0.065% (20Hz-20kHz) at 0dBFs and a minimum of 0.0003-0.002% at –25dBFs [see Graph 2, above]. Low level resolution is good to ±0.5dB over a 110dB dynamic range and the response reaches out to –0.2dB/20kHz (CD/48kHz data), –2.0dB/45kHz and –5.6dB/90kHz (96kHz and 192kHz data). Jitter is complex but low at <180psec for all sample rates. PM