CH Precision L10 & M10 : My votes for the Best SS amps (for the past 5 yrs till 6-2021)

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
The flagship Series 10 of CH Precision was announced during the Munich Show in 2019.
A few engineering prototypes were displayed then and Florian claimed that they would be ready to launch by the end of 2019.
https://www.ch-precision.com/ch-cat/series/10-series/

Delay seems to be inevitable for flagship series launch of every brands & CH Precision is no exception.
Compounded by the COVID pandemic in 2020, there has been further serious delay.

There have been some posts on WBF from the various dealers :
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/just-arrived-my-m10-4boxes-l10-2-boxes.32979/
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/prestigious-awards-for-the-10-series.31965/
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/ch-precision-10-series.32193/

However many of the customers worldwide who had placed orders have not received the amps yet. The situation is the same in Hong Kong.
I am lucky and have visited the CH Precision Asia Office in Hong Kong 3 times to listen to these fabulous amps.
Let me share with you some photos.

The first visit in mid 2020 :
The HK office got the L10 only.

20201217_225414~2.jpg
20201217_215418.jpg
20201217_215442~4.jpg

The L10 was accompanied by D1.1 ; C1.1 Mono : Stenheim A5 speaker ; bi-amped by a pair of A1.5 and a pair of M1.1 :

20201217_225535~3.jpg


The second visit in late 2020 :
The M10 had arrived and was driven by the L10.

20210217_221330~3.jpg
20210217_223656~3.jpg

The frontend and speaker remained the same :

20210217_215300~2.jpg

The third visit was 1 month ago:
Still L10 + M10
Speakers changed to an Avant-garde horn :

20210513_220223~2.jpg


But this time there was a Goldmund Legend !

20210513_220143~2.jpg

I would share my views on L10 & M10 on a following post.
:)
 

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
IMHO and as stated on the title of this thread, IMHO the L10 and M10 are the best newly launched SS amps for the past 5 years, till June 2021.
(I can't predict the future :D )

What really impressed me are their Naturalness & Realness.
They have more of everything than CH's previous amps and possibly ss amps of every other brands …. beauty, timbre, density, details/resolution, macro-dynamics and micro-dynamics, ambience and acoustic information ... etc.
The list goes on & on.

They are extremely immersive & involving.
I soon forgot my initial aim of evaluating them but simply enjoyed the music during all 3 visits.

They are quite like my MSB Select combo in characters. :cool:

Between L10 and M10, the former must be the invincible brother.
I guess there isn't any poweramp which is unsuitable to pair with L10.

For the M10, the speakers used and the listening room size are the two confounding factors.
I think one stereo M10 betters a pair of M1.1 monos easily.
If the room is large and the speaker very power-hungry, bi-amping (such as by a pair of A1.5 + a pair of M1.1) will have advantage over a stereo M10.

Of course CH Precision offers an upgrade path of Mono L10 and Mono M10.
But the price will then be astronomical! haha
o_O
 
Last edited:

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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Fantastic! Great feedback.
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
IMHO and as the title of this thread, IMHO the L10 and M10 are the best newly launched SS amps for the past 5 years, till June 2021.
(I can't predict the future :D )

What really impressed me are their Naturalness & Realness.
They have more of everything than CH's previous amp and possibly ss amps of every other brands …. beauty, timbre, density, details/resolution, macro-dynamics and micro-dynamics, ambience and acoustic information ... etc.
The list goes on & on.

They are extremely immersive & involving.
I soon forgot my initial aim of evaluating them but simply enjoyed the music during all 3 visits.

They are quite like my MSB Select combo in characters. :cool:

Between L10 and M10, the former must be the invincible brother.
I guess there isn't any poweramps which are unsuitable to pair with it.

For the M10, the speakers used and the listening room size are two confounding factors.
But I think one stereo M10 betters a pair of M1.1 monos easily.
If the room is large and the speaker power-hungry, biamping such as by a pair of A1.5 & a pair of M1.1) will have advantage over a stereo M10.

Of course CH Precision offers an upgrade path of Mono L10 and Mono M10.
The price will be astronomical! haha
o_O
Have you heard the Robert Koda K160s? Have you spoken with anyone who has heard both, even if in different system?
 

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
Have you heard the Robert Koda K160s? Have you spoken with anyone who has heard both, even if in different system?
Yes, I auditioned K15ex & K160, but in a diff system.
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
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Very interesting! Any 'listening notes' on how you 'guestimate' they compare in terms of sound character? ie, one more neutral, one greater bass authority, etc?
 

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
Very interesting! Any 'listening notes' on how you 'guestimate' they compare in terms of sound character? ie, one more neutral, one greater bass authority, etc?
I have just shared my views with you via pm.
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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Thank you!
 

MadFloyd

Member Sponsor
May 30, 2010
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Great thread! CH Precision doesn't get enough attention imo. In fact I was just starting my own thread about them - which I'll still do since it's a system thread and not focused on the new 10 series.
 

MadFloyd

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May 30, 2010
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@CKKeung I'm curious if you know whether you were listening to the L10 in local or global feedback mode?
 

CKKeung

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Jun 17, 2011
3,053
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Hong Kong
@CKKeung I'm curious if you know whether you were listening to the L10 in local or global feedback mode?
Yes, I was demoed the diff settings of grounding/feedback and I considered one of them my favorite.
However I forget which is which now.
 

MadFloyd

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Yes, I was demoed the diff settings of grounding/feedback and I considered one of them my favorite.
However I forget which is which now.
So you heard a difference with the grounding as well?
 

CKKeung

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Jun 17, 2011
3,053
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Hong Kong
So you heard a difference with the grounding as well?
Yes.
The final preference gave a more open sound IMHO.
Not difficult to differentiate.
 
Last edited:

rsorren1

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
365
133
348
Dallas area
Hi Everyone. The L10 has a new feature for our preamps, the ability to select 0% global feedback or 100% global feedback. The L10 defaults to 0% but one can easily change this setting from the front panel or with our CH Precision control app. I prefer 0% in the listening I’ve done with L10 stereo and the L10 mono. The presentation seems to be more three dimensional and real with the 0% setting.

As far as grounding is concerned, we implemented the same design concept on the L10 as the L1. Rather than the jumper that was present on the L1 we now have a switch that ties signal ground to earth ground on the L10. In an all CH Precision system I recommend engaging the switch on the L10 (to connect signal ground to earth ground) or placing the L1 jumper in the black/yellow position. All other CH Precision components should be black/black or jumper removed (1-series) or switch open on M10s. In my system this provided the quietest background that let even more details in the recording come through.
 

pweg

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2014
171
121
353
Australia
Hi Everyone. The L10 has a new feature for our preamps, the ability to select 0% global feedback or 100% global feedback. The L10 defaults to 0% but one can easily change this setting from the front panel or with our CH Precision control app. I prefer 0% in the listening I’ve done with L10 stereo and the L10 mono. The presentation seems to be more three dimensional and real with the 0% setting.

As far as grounding is concerned, we implemented the same design concept on the L10 as the L1. Rather than the jumper that was present on the L1 we now have a switch that ties signal ground to earth ground on the L10. In an all CH Precision system I recommend engaging the switch on the L10 (to connect signal ground to earth ground) or placing the L1 jumper in the black/yellow position. All other CH Precision components should be black/black or jumper removed (1-series) or switch open on M10s. In my system this provided the quietest background that let even more details in the recording come through.
HI Ralph

when u say you recommend to engage the switch on the back of the L10 wrt grounding - u mean push the switch to "Linked"?
 

AMR / iFi audio

Industry Expert
Aug 21, 2019
2,636
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UK
ifi-audio.com
IMHO and as stated on the title of this thread, IMHO the L10 and M10 are the best newly launched SS amps for the past 5 years, till June 2021.
(I can't predict the future :D )

What really impressed me are their Naturalness & Realness.
They have more of everything than CH's previous amps and possibly ss amps of every other brands …. beauty, timbre, density, details/resolution, macro-dynamics and micro-dynamics, ambience and acoustic information ... etc.
The list goes on & on.

They are extremely immersive & involving.
I soon forgot my initial aim of evaluating them but simply enjoyed the music during all 3 visits.

They are quite like my MSB Select combo in characters. :cool:

Between L10 and M10, the former must be the invincible brother.
I guess there isn't any poweramp which is unsuitable to pair with L10.

For the M10, the speakers used and the listening room size are the two confounding factors.
I think one stereo M10 betters a pair of M1.1 monos easily.
If the room is large and the speaker very power-hungry, bi-amping (such as by a pair of A1.5 + a pair of M1.1) will have advantage over a stereo M10.

Of course CH Precision offers an upgrade path of Mono L10 and Mono M10.
But the price will then be astronomical! haha
o_O
Very nice review! Thank you for posting this.
 
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matakana

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2020
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UK
The flagship Series 10 of CH Precision was announced during the Munich Show in 2019.
A few engineering prototypes were displayed then and Florian claimed that they would be ready to launch by the end of 2019.
https://www.ch-precision.com/ch-cat/series/10-series/

Delay seems to be inevitable for flagship series launch of every brands & CH Precision is no exception.
Compounded by the COVID pandemic in 2020, there has been further serious delay.

There have been some posts on WBF from the various dealers :
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/just-arrived-my-m10-4boxes-l10-2-boxes.32979/
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/prestigious-awards-for-the-10-series.31965/
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/ch-precision-10-series.32193/

However many of the customers worldwide who had placed orders have not received the amps yet. The situation is the same in Hong Kong.
I am lucky and have visited the CH Precision Asia Office in Hong Kong 3 times to listen to these fabulous amps.
Let me share with you some photos.

The first visit in mid 2020 :
The HK office got the L10 only.

View attachment 79218
View attachment 79219
View attachment 79220

The L10 was accompanied by D1.1 ; C1.1 Mono : Stenheim A5 speaker ; bi-amped by a pair of A1.5 and a pair of M1.1 :

View attachment 79221


The second visit in late 2020 :
The M10 had arrived and was driven by the L10.

View attachment 79222
View attachment 79223

The frontend and speaker remained the same :

View attachment 79224

The third visit was 1 month ago:
Still L10 + M10
Speakers changed to an Avant-garde horn :

View attachment 79225


But this time there was a Goldmund Legend !

View attachment 79226

I would share my views on L10 & M10 on a following post.
:)
I dig the Goldmund! in particular the gold relief clamp.
 

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