Κώστας Φ.
Truth hurts. Here's a teddy bear.
- Μηνύματα
- 8.978
- Reaction score
- 895

Περισσότερα: Stereophile.comExternally, there is nothing to distinguish a Mk.II from an original Ref1000 except for the name printed on the rear panel. Connections and operation are identical. Selectable XLR and RCA input connectors share the rear panel with the AC input, a power switch, and those confounding but sturdy, EEC-conforming speaker posts. The front panel's single LED indicates when the amp is powered on.
Under the skin of these little bricks, however, the differences are significant. You can see this by comparing the Mk.II (see photo) with the picture of the original. In the original, there appears to be only the B&O 1000ASP ICEpower module with Bel Canto's added ferrite filters, high-quality connectors, and damping. The Mk.II has a new version of the B&O board, still with BC's tweaks, and accompanied by a more complex input board (the small one in the upper left) and a new power-supply board (at the right, with the two large capacitors). According to Bel Canto's John Stronczer, the new input board is "our own custom high-CMRR input stage," and the changes to the power supply are "to improve the raw DC supply fed to the switching power supplies on the ICE amp modules.
...
How much of an improvement is the Mk.II over the original Ref1000? In some ways, it's only incremental—both models sound clean, powerful, and neutral. On the other hand, these incremental improvements move the Mk.II beyond the category of "really good for a digital amp" to just plain "really good" (footnote 1). The Bel Canto Ref1000 Mk.II can be compared with the cream of the other amps I've had in my system: the Classé CA-3200, Mark Levinson No.433, and Ayre Acoustics V-6xe. Each of these distinguishes itself in different ways, and particularly with different speakers. Because of this, I think I must keep the Bel Canto Ref1000 Mk.IIs as a reference amplifier—an easy decision even when based solely on its sound, but also: in my living room, none of the others can be so easily hidden in plain sight.
