Nice review. I own an XTZ A 2 300 and I must say for the money its well worth it. The tone is absolutely clean not harsh or fatiguing and delivers dynamism, details, pace and good bass. Very happy with it. I pair my XTZ power amp with the Musical Paradise 701 Mark 2 tube preamp for music and with my Onkyo 830 AVR for movies. On both counts the XTZ performs very well. The sound ticking on stand by mode is normal. I just leave it on since it consumes little electricity. Just a word of caution in terms of gain settings. If your accompanying equipment has gain settings like my musical paradise preamp, dont have your XTZ at full gain. It may just blow the speakers. Trust me I have gone through it a couple of times but thankfully my speakers were hardy to withstand ear splitting loudness for a brief moment ( as I jumped out and turned the gain off on my XTZ) and survived. You need to have the XTZ at zero gain and slowly adjust to match the gain of your accompanying equipment. For AVRs without gain its best to have the XTZ on 75% or full gain. It works best that way. I do so with my Onkyo and enjoy the effects.
I have the Edge 300 from more of One year with a tube preamp Lector LMA ....great couple... in the past i have owned final p.p. of 6L6 and classT but XTZ have a great Power reserve....that push well with my 3 way speakers 12" woofers....of 1976.....i am very satisfied....rear volume at 3/4 to protect the speakers ...
Please describe, what benefits do you get using 2 units instead of 1, in sound quality? I really would like to know. I have 1, and thinking of buying another
@@No_Limits_411 If you have two you can put them in mono mode an bi-amp your front speakers. I have three Xtz in mono mode, bi-amping my front and center, big improvment! Then you have "real" bi-amp! 😉 Not like if you bi-amp in your av-receiver, using the receivers surround back channels in pair whith the front channels for example. That's pretty much useless.
This XTZ A2-300 power amplifier is an AMAZING value. I've had tube monos, Threshold, Accuphase. This little cheap amp can MORE than holds its ground. A stunning product! The Edge amp sounds the best, left on all the time too.. I'm wondering if there would be a sonic penalty running the edge bridged. I have found most A/B amps (when bridged) lose fidelity. If anyone has tried using the Edge A2-300 bridged, please chime in. Cheers
If you mean running 2 x A2-300 with one for each channel, I did. The immediate effect is a widening of the soundstage resulting in better separation of instruments or groups of musicians such as the strings section of a symphony orchestra from the woodwinds or the the drummer from the guitarist and pianist. in addition, there is a perceived ease in the music especially in the loud passages. To me, the sound improvements more than justify the modest additional outlay.
Great review! And thanks for the gain control’s tips. Do you experience the clock sound “tick tick tick” when it goes standby mode? Mine sounds like boom timer when I put my ear close to it. It’s from the amp, not the speakers :)
Are This xtz edge A2-300 match with Yamaha network stereo amplifier r-n803 almost similar price range, which you think more better? Thanks a lot for your sharing
Do these little amps make good Monoblocks? I have one but but am considering another for my 4 ohm Elacs . They could use the xtra power, but things are starting to get expensive considering they are $500.00 each...wish they were cheaper or at least let the second have a suitable discount...
Hi. Just received and tested it. Big issue as there’s noise already when adjustable volume is set at middle. Noise very loud when volume is set at maximum. Not good 😌
Could you not use the gain like in car stereo installment. That you put it just under the clipping point. (That should protect your tweeters) But in my case that gain is priceless. My mains is on amps that has 33 in gain. And I want a amplifier to my passive subwoofers. So I can put it to the same gain with a volt meter. I can't use a amp there that also has a fix gain like the ones to my mains. Yes I could IF that amp happened to also have 33 in gain. And if it happened to have that I would has a hard time to switch one or the other out when the replacement also need to match that given gain. What is gain: "Amplifier gain is simply the ratio of the output divided-by the input. Gain has no units as its a ratio, but in Electronics it is commonly given the symbol “A”, for Amplification. Then the gain of an amplifier is simply calculated as the “output signal divided by the input signal”." But recommending to set the gain to max can be OK for some simple setups. But not for this or other setups. If you have for example gain of 25 to the mains and the xtz set at max and let say it is ~40. So we see the problem.. Maybe it could at low volume be nice with little bit more bass if the xtz drive those woofers. But when you go up in volume the bass increases MORE in volume than the mains does. So you end up with a greater and greater imbalance and have way to much bass then the other frequencies from your mains! Also a higher risk to destroy/overdrive your bass woofers. So we see why in this setup it is important to have the same gain/ratio of amplification as the other power amplifier/s.. I see that in other reviews some reviewers says "oh you could plug in your phone and use your gain as a volume control" That is also a bad idea. And when reviewers do not know so much about hardware and have not the knowledge that there is different types and quality of volume potentiometers. A gain knob is there to be adjusted once and then not touched again until something in the system like above is changed. In other words there is variable potentiometers that is specified and will only last hundreds or couple of hundreds times adjustments until they are worn out. The designers will select one of these cheaper potentiometers when it job is more like set it and forget it type of job. In the opposite to a real volume control that needs to be of a higher quality when it is used several times each day. Their is a reason why the gain is on the back of the unit.
First, I did not use the gain like a volume control, and also not recommend people doing it. All my meaning is set it one time, and keep it that way, unless gear changed The reason I suggested others can use the gain on the max is also according to XTZ. I did send out emails and chat with them about that. And I also respect everyone Will has different taste in sound, but all I said are just recommend. And you could also email XTZ about the gain control, and see what they reply Thanks for commenting
Prem Kumar you can start at the middle first (50%) and try to work your way up, stop where you start to hear noise, if you still can’t hear any noise when in 100% gain, then let it set at 100% gain
Any thoughts on if the icepower modules are close enough to ncore or even purifi when using under 1500 dollar speakers and an under 1000 dollar dac? I think the biggest difference is in SNR and Dynamic range. Can anyone make any comparisons in SQ to this vs is anything else that sounds a bit better within and up to $1500?
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Nice review. I own an XTZ A 2 300 and I must say for the money its well worth it. The tone is absolutely clean not harsh or fatiguing and delivers dynamism, details, pace and good bass. Very happy with it.
I pair my XTZ power amp with the Musical Paradise 701 Mark 2 tube preamp for music and with my Onkyo 830 AVR for movies. On both counts the XTZ performs very well.
The sound ticking on stand by mode is normal. I just leave it on since it consumes little electricity.
Just a word of caution in terms of gain settings. If your accompanying equipment has gain settings like my musical paradise preamp, dont have your XTZ at full gain. It may just blow the speakers. Trust me I have gone through it a couple of times but thankfully my speakers were hardy to withstand ear splitting loudness for a brief moment ( as I jumped out and turned the gain off on my XTZ) and survived. You need to have the XTZ at zero gain and slowly adjust to match the gain of your accompanying equipment.
For AVRs without gain its best to have the XTZ on 75% or full gain. It works best that way. I do so with my Onkyo and enjoy the effects.
I bought one of these a year ago and drive it direct with Bluesound Nodi for preamp. Sounds great, has external volume control too.
I just purchased the edge. Thank you for the tip on the gain control.
Great video!
Can you tell me how to adjust gain control? Thank you
I have the Edge 300 from more of One year with a tube preamp Lector LMA ....great couple... in the past i have owned final p.p. of 6L6 and classT but XTZ have a great Power reserve....that push well with my 3 way speakers 12" woofers....of 1976.....i am very satisfied....rear volume at 3/4 to protect the speakers ...
We have two of them connected to our Denon AVR too. Highly convenient with a small footprint.
Please describe, what benefits do you get using 2 units instead of 1, in sound quality? I really would like to know. I have 1, and thinking of buying another
@@No_Limits_411
If you have two you can put them in mono mode an bi-amp your front speakers.
I have three Xtz in mono mode, bi-amping my front and center, big improvment!
Then you have "real" bi-amp! 😉
Not like if you bi-amp in your av-receiver, using the receivers surround back channels in pair whith the front channels for example. That's pretty much useless.
I want to pair Elac BS-312 with a XTZ Edge 300. I like compact size equipment...
This XTZ A2-300 power amplifier is an AMAZING value. I've had tube monos, Threshold, Accuphase. This little cheap amp can MORE than holds its ground. A stunning product! The Edge amp sounds the best, left on all the time too.. I'm wondering if there would be a sonic penalty running the edge bridged. I have found most A/B amps (when bridged) lose fidelity. If anyone has tried using the Edge A2-300 bridged, please chime in. Cheers
If you mean running 2 x A2-300 with one for each channel, I did. The immediate effect is a widening of the soundstage resulting in better separation of instruments or groups of musicians such as the strings section of a symphony orchestra from the woodwinds or the the drummer from the guitarist and pianist. in addition, there is a perceived ease in the music especially in the loud passages. To me, the sound improvements more than justify the modest additional outlay.
@@wongsy1704 awesome...thanks for your report!
@@McgarickWAstate
You are welcome.
Great review! And thanks for the gain control’s tips. Do you experience the clock sound “tick tick tick” when it goes standby mode? Mine sounds like boom timer when I put my ear close to it. It’s from the amp, not the speakers :)
It’s normal, I also asked XTZ about that, they did confirm to me it’s normal
@@skysreviewdesk Thanks! I asked them too :). Just got the same answer.
Are This xtz edge A2-300 match with
Yamaha network stereo amplifier r-n803 almost similar price range, which you think more better?
Thanks a lot for your sharing
Do these little amps make good Monoblocks? I have one but but am considering another for my 4 ohm Elacs . They could use the xtra power, but things are starting to get expensive considering they are $500.00 each...wish they were cheaper or at least let the second have a suitable discount...
Question - what preamp best fits the Edge amp? Thanks.
I use Pro Ject pre box s2 analog. It is not too expensive and does the necessary job very well
HEY HAVE YOU COMPARED THEM TO EMITOVA POWER AMPS? HOW DO THEY STACK IN COMPARISON TO THOSE?
Hi. Just received and tested it. Big issue as there’s noise already when adjustable volume is set at middle. Noise very loud when volume is set at maximum. Not good 😌
Son Nguyen what system did you pair with? And what speaker?
Sky's Review Desk my receiver is Arcam AVR 390. Loudspeakers B&W 683 S2
@@sonchinh you can try different rca cables too because mine initially has hissing noise but gone after cable change
Mine is dead quiet, VERY low noise floor. Maybe your source?
Several other reviewers have expressed the same concern and XTZ will not address the issue or offer to replace flawed units….stay away from XTZ
Could you not use the gain like in car stereo installment. That you put it just under the clipping point.
(That should protect your tweeters)
But in my case that gain is priceless.
My mains is on amps that has 33 in gain. And I want a amplifier to my passive subwoofers. So I can put it to the same gain with a volt meter.
I can't use a amp there that also has a fix gain like the ones to my mains. Yes I could IF that amp happened to also have 33 in gain. And if it happened to have that I would has a hard time to switch one or the other out when the replacement also need to match that given gain.
What is gain:
"Amplifier gain is simply the ratio of the output divided-by the input. Gain has no units as its a ratio, but in Electronics it is commonly given the symbol “A”, for Amplification. Then the gain of an amplifier is simply calculated as the “output signal divided by the input signal”."
But recommending to set the gain to max can be OK for some simple setups. But not for this or other setups. If you have for example gain of 25 to the mains and the xtz set at max and let say it is ~40.
So we see the problem.. Maybe it could at low volume be nice with little bit more bass if the xtz drive those woofers. But when you go up in volume the bass increases MORE in volume than the mains does.
So you end up with a greater and greater imbalance and have way to much bass then the other frequencies from your mains! Also a higher risk to destroy/overdrive your bass woofers.
So we see why in this setup it is important to have the same gain/ratio of amplification as the other power amplifier/s..
I see that in other reviews some reviewers says "oh you could plug in your phone and use your gain as a volume control"
That is also a bad idea. And when reviewers do not know so much about hardware and have not the knowledge that there is different types and quality of volume potentiometers. A gain knob is there to be adjusted once and then not touched again until something in the system like above is changed.
In other words there is variable potentiometers that is specified and will only last hundreds or couple of hundreds times adjustments until they are worn out. The designers will select one of these cheaper potentiometers when it job is more like set it and forget it type of job.
In the opposite to a real volume control that needs to be of a higher quality when it is used several times each day. Their is a reason why the gain is on the back of the unit.
First, I did not use the gain like a volume control, and also not recommend people doing it.
All my meaning is set it one time, and keep it that way, unless gear changed
The reason I suggested others can use the gain on the max is also according to XTZ. I did send out emails and chat with them about that.
And I also respect everyone Will has different taste in sound, but all I said are just recommend.
And you could also email XTZ about the gain control, and see what they reply
Thanks for commenting
I own marantz sr6013. XTZ edge on its way. What would be ideal gain?
Prem Kumar you can start at the middle first (50%) and try to work your way up, stop where you start to hear noise, if you still can’t hear any noise when in 100% gain, then let it set at 100% gain
@@skysreviewdesk thank you
I got a sr6013 no noise at 100%
Any thoughts on if the icepower modules are close enough to ncore or even purifi when using under 1500 dollar speakers and an under 1000 dollar dac? I think the biggest difference is in SNR and Dynamic range. Can anyone make any comparisons in SQ to this vs is anything else that sounds a bit better within and up to $1500?
How can you promote crown amps for home use? Crown is terrible!!!!
porn music is distracting ... slightly lower volume maybe? i dont know try it.
If it only costed 500$, here it cost 750$ 😒
My understanding is this unit is not reliable another influencer changed his recommendation to “a do not buy”based on many issues after a years use
What influencer ?
What a load of.... 😅