Giant killer: The magnus ma-300

The new power supply/cap board is breaking in, and I am shocked how good my MA-300/MA-500 hybrid sounds. It completely blows away my old Burmester 911 MK3 (in my system). I thought it was me when I did not listen to music as much as I used to. Last night I could not stop listening and went to bed a 3 am.

LL21 said:

Congrats...sounds like a winner. In fact, looking at your system...Venture...concert fidelity...big a-s amp, Modwright DAC and Purist Audio cables...that is a sound i think i could get used to really fast.

Just curious...when you upgraded...what has happened to your sound? Is it more delineated sound (as in orchestral lines spread apart while remaining a cohesive whole)? More powerful presumably during crescendos? any other improvements?

Click to expand...

I listen mostly to Armericana music. I listened last night to mostly bands with women vocals (Civil Wars, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams) and also threw in some new Willie Nelson. Also some Curtis Mayfield and Miles Davis. It was if I was standing in the shower and then squeegeed the shower doors. All vocals and instruments were a lot more separate and 3D. Wider sound stage, more puncher midbass, and those rock solid vocals between the speakers. In short, a more emotional connection, and that , "Ahaaa" feeling.

I own a MA-300/500 hybrid, but it has the same sonic character, just more of it.

Magnus Audio MA-400 Amplifier
By Terry London
October 29, 2015


At the beginning of this year I reviewed the superlative sounding Canary Audio reference KD-2000 DSD tube DAC. Canary Audio only designs and builds tube based equipment. However, Canary Audio also has a solid state division that is called Magnus Audio. All of Canary/Magnus Audio’s gear is hand built in Irwindale, California. Based on my very positive experience with their KD-2000 tube DAC, and also being familiar with their tube amplifiers which are excellent, I was intrigued to review one of their solid state amplifiers to see if they would have the same “musical touch” in their solid state line. The decision was made to review Magnus Audio’s new model, the MA-400, which retails for $7,950.00.

The single chassis MA-400 is a large amplifier which weighs 100 pounds and measures 8 inches high by 19 inches wide by 23.5 inches deep. The appearance of the MA-400 is reminiscent of the classic Mark Levinson gear from years ago. The front of the amplifier has a black plate in the center were you find the engraved Magnus Audio badge and the name of the amplifier, along with the on/off button. The rest of the front plate is grayish silver and flanking the center black plate are two black handles. On the side of the MA-400 there are heavy duty heat sinks, a special thick rib design, which ensures a lower operating temperature. On the back plate there are two pairs of inputs, single-ended RCA/balanced XLR, with a toggle switch in between them to choose one or the other of these inputs, the IEC power connection, and a pair of high quality speaker wire binding posts. The MA-400 is rated Class A/B 250 Watts into 8 ohms and 500 A/B Watts in to 4 ohms. The first 25 Watts, into either 8 ohms or 4 ohms are pure Class A. The MA-400 uses 24 carefully selected and matched MOSFET output transistors of very high quality. Another special feature of the MA-400 is its massive custom wound audio grade toroidal transformer with separate windings for the left and right channels, insuring a rock solid and stable flow of current for massive peak transits. The MA-400 uses very high quality internal components and the chassis materials and build quality are at a level that competes with much more expensive solid state equipment. I found the MA-400 to be a handsome looking amplifier that comes from the “old school/traditional “ type of style.

My first selection of music, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers album “Jahmekya” (Virgin Records America, Inc) has massive micro-dynamics and very powerful extended low frequencies based on using a Hammond B-3 organ. The MA-400 sailed through the most thunderous dynamics/bass passages effortlessly with total control and percussion. It provided the foundation to this pulsating and hard hitting music from Bob Marley’s son.


My next selection was one of the most highly regarded Blue Note albums done by tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, “Soul Station” (Blue Note Records). This album would allow me to evaluate how the MA-400 would reproduce the timbres and tonality of Mobley’s sax and Wynton Kelly’s piano. First, the MA-400 was totally devoid of any grain and had an overall silky smooth, slightly warm presentation, which was tube like in its sonic signature. The tonality and timbres of the sax and piano had the correct color density and sounded natural as they would in a live performance.


My last selection was Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery’s album “Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes” (Verve) to explore how the MA-400 would handle such spatial qualities as sound-staging, layering/location of different players on that sound-stage and finally would each player sound three-dimensional with palpability and a sense of air around them. The MA-400 was able to place Smith’s Hammond B-3 organ, Montgomery’s electric guitar, and the small seven piece band in the very positions that they were in the day that this music was recorded in a small studio setting. The illusion that I was in that studio listening to musicians playing in “real space”, each standing or setting in different locations in that space and hearing the slightest decays reflecting off the walls was quite amazing and allowed me to connect with the music.


High Points:

The MA-400 is constructed of high quality internal parts, is hand built, has massive current reserves that can control and drive virtually any speaker on today’s market, and its physical appearance belies the craftsmanship of this amplifier.

The MA-400 overall sonic signature is silky smooth, slightly warm, with the type of tonality/color timbres that normally are associated with tube based amplifiers.

Because the MA-400 has a high level of transparency it renders micro-details with great clarity and has airy/detailed, yet sweet top end.

The MA-400 delivers a powerful and taut foundation to the music because of its quick and dynamic presentation of the low end frequencies.

The MA-400’s spatial qualities such as air around individual players, realistic size of the sound-stage, where different players are located is excellent and very tube like when compared to many solid state designs that compress space and sound somewhat flat and less three-dimensional.

Low Points:
The MA-400 is a large and heavy amplifier and because of its dimensions it might be difficult to place in a typical A/V stand. It runs cool and does not generate that much heat, however, it still needs space around it to be properly ventilated.

The MA-400 old school styling might not deliver enough visual “eye candy” for customers that would be looking for a flashier piece at this price point.


Competition and Comparison:

Two amplifiers that match the price point of the MA-400 and would be its natural competitors are Aesthetix Atlas, which retails for $8,000.00 and the Sanders Sound Magtech, which retails for $5,500.00. The Magtech is a very neutral and detailed sounding amplifier. It also delivers very well controlled dynamics and bottom end extension. It falls way short in two sonic parameters. First, the MA-400 has beautiful lifelike tonal colors/timbres which are lacking in the Sander’s amplifier and secondly, does not have the overall silky smoothness of the MA-400 that allows you to relax into the music. The Aesthetix Atlas comes much closer to the colors/ timbres and over silky smoothness of the MA-400. However, its shortcomings are its lack of presenting spatial qualities in a three dimensional way as the MA-400 does, along with not being able to match the powerful dynamics and lower end grunt of the Magnus amplifier.


Conclusion:

I had stated at the beginning of this review that I was very curious if Canary Audio could bring the same “musical touch” that they have in their tube based equipment to their solid state Magnus line. The answer is a resounding yes. The MA-400 has tube like sonic qualities such as richer and more natural colors/tonality/timbres, three dimensional imaging, with an overall grain less liquidity often not found in solid state amplifiers. This does not come at the expense of the loss of transparency/micro-details or a lack of dynamics and lower frequency extension or control. I believe based on performance, quality of parts and the high level of construction, the Magnus Audio’s MA-400 amplifier belongs in the higher echelon of solid state equipment that is on today’s market. If I did not already own the superlative Pass Labs XA-60.8 Mono Blocks I could see myself seriously considering buying the MA-400 to power one of my systems.


Ratings:

Performance: Five Stars

Value: three stars