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T+A PA 3000 HV and MP 3000 HV

T+A PA 3000 HV and MP 3000 HV

I’ve been testing these two flagship T+A components for longer than any other review equipment in memory—over a year now, on and off. One reason is that they are so fascinating; in some ways they’re downright unbelievable. Another is that they are so comprehensive (especially the MP3000 HV music player) that there are seemingly infinite modes to evaluate. Throughout this odyssey, T+A has been gracious, helpful, and patient. (I offer my profound thanks to them for indulging me for so long.)

During this extended evaluation period, my perspective on these two components has gone through several phases. It seems fitting to recount them to you, in the order they occurred, so that you can share my journey with these unusual and in many ways remarkable products.

Phase 1: Abject Lust
I’ve had the opportunity to test quite a lot of very expensive gear lately, but none of those has inspired more lust than the T+A HV series. To uncrate these components is to be smacked upside the head by their obvious top-drawer quality. They are weightier than you’d expect. Hoist one of these things and you know you’re getting something for your money. Then there are the aesthetics. These are ruggedly handsome pieces that instantly telegraph “we mean business.” Yet there are also stylishly extravagant touches, like the glass inset on top that lets you peek at the classy componentry within.

There are lust-worthy operational touches, too. Large informative screens with touch controls dominate the front panels. The PA3000 HV integrated amp’s screen includes very cool, cassette-deck-like power output meters. The screens are flanked by enormous, positive-action knobs that imbue the user with a sense of complete command.

The FD100 remote, which is included with the MP3000 but treats all HV units as an integrated whole, is the most tricked-out device of its kind that I know of. A two-way system, it not only governs every imaginable function, but also displays status information such as the  source selected, volume level, and album cover art. Although T+A also offers a nice tablet app, I never felt the need to use it. Meanwhile, HV units communicate with each other via an “H-Link” connection, making operations even simpler and more seamless.

Finally, lust springs from the no-compromise sonically-oriented features. Like two AC inputs—one for digital and one for analog—on the player. Want to tweak the digital sound to your liking? The music player’s DAC lets you select from four available filters. You can make your choice on the fly from the listening position using that incredibly resourceful remote. For its part, the integrated amp sports an oversized AC input socket, massive heatsinks, and dual sets of binding posts made of rhodium-plated solid brass.

And these are just the visible signs of serious sonic design. The spec sheets and technical details read like audio porn. For instance, as is the case with such benchmark brands as Soulution, CH Precision, and Spectral, the HV-series is ultra-wide bandwidth. T+A employs additional top-tier touches like highly-regulated power supplies and dual-mono, symmetrical, discrete, fully balanced, zero-global-feedback circuitry. But these products are far from copy-cats; T+A has gone in some bold new directions. Most notably, the “HV” in its model names indicates that these pieces run at an unusually high voltage. Whereas most solid-state amp electronics operate at about 100 volts internally, T+A gooses its HV units to a whopping 360 volts—roughly the range of tube gear. As in valve equipment, these voltages ensure that the amplification devices are working well within their operating parameters. Indeed, the HV models utilize only about 20 percent of their amplification transistors’ available range. This, in turn, greatly reduces non-linearities. The goal, says T+A, is to mate the naturalness of valves with the speed of solid-state.

With all these aesthetic, operational, and technological goodies, it’s impossible to meet these HV components and not fall at least superficially in love with them. I certainly did. Ah, but would the promise be fulfilled? The need to hear what these HV Series components sounded like was becoming urgent.

 

Phase 2: Corporate Culture Envy
In the course of getting ready to do just that—what with setting everything, meeting company reps, and poring over manuals—I learned a few intriguing things about T+A. One is that those letters don’t stand for what you thought they did. (And, by the way, shame on you!) Rather, they stand for Theory + Application. That’s not hype. As its name implies, T+A has always prioritized pure theoretical research over technological ideology, marketing trends, or price points. As a result, the company’s history is impressively replete with innovations that T+A either spawned or was among the first to adopt, including software-based digital filters; multiple speaker advances, like active amplification, transmission-line configuration, and digital room matching; and discrete, switching power supplies.

T+A’s culture also includes a genuine commitment to social consciousness. The Herford, Germany, campus consists entirely of green buildings, and the production line avoids substances that are potentially damaging to the environment or worker health. That means no CFCs or even chlorine-based cleaning agents. Most plastics and PVCs are also shunned. Wherever possible, parts and casings are made of recyclable metals, an approach that serves the dual purposes of screening components from external electrical interference while protecting the atmosphere from electro-magnetic radiation.    

As much as I admire these corporate touchstones, the element of T+A’s culture that I most wish other companies would emulate is its dedication to fair pricing. Almost all high-end manufacturers give lip service to this principle, but T+A walks the walk. For example, as you may be aware, over the past two years the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar has undergone a seismic shift in favor of the greenback. This makes European goods sold in the U.S. cheaper—at least in theory. Yet, can you name any European audio company that has reduced its prices accordingly? I didn’t think so. In contrast, when the rates shifted, T+A lowered U.S. prices across its entire lineup. That’s just the kind of company T+A is, and I for one applaud it.

Phase 3: Value Incredulity
As I (finally!) embarked on the listening stage of my time with the HV components, the word “Value” with a capital “V” constantly swirled around my brain. Let me tell you why. As readers will know by now, I am a dedicated fan of what I call the Swiss Sound. At first this school was represented by Goldmund and Spectral; now there is Soulution and CH Precision as well. What makes them arguably the best electronics on earth is that their high-speed circuitry and power supplies deliver fast, virtually unlimited dynamics, well-defined transients, vanishingly low distortion, tremendous timbral detail, and near-perfect linearity in both frequency and time domains. The resulting sound is exciting, engaging, and true.

But these virtues come at a price. Circuitry bandwidth must be much wider than usual, power supplies have to be carefully regulated, and the builder is obliged to include extensive protection mechanisms. None of that is cheap. So the first miracle of the T+A HV-series is that it employs all of these design principles yet delivers them at a fraction of the price of the Swiss alternatives. The second miracle is that—significant price difference notwithstanding—the sonic result is a dead ringer for this school’s more expensive gear.

How close is the sound? Let me start with the PA3000 HV. At $17,000, this 300-watt integrated amp costs about 15 percent of my reference CH Precision C1/2xA1 combo. Yet when I switch between them the most striking thing I hear is their utter similarity. Of course, I tried to find differences. On the Original Master Recording LP of Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly, I queued up “The Goodbye Look” and carefully compared bass (identical), vocals (identical), the twang of the solo guitar (identical), and the snap of the xylophone (identical). Most importantly, both presentations preserved the percolating rhythm that make this—and many of the album’s other songs—such an enduring pleasure. To be sure, the reference CH equipment creates a wider soundstage, and its tonality is a little more fleshed-out. But I seriously doubt I’d be aware of either of these without a back-to-back comparison.

The biggest difference between the T+A and the CH Precision is at the very top end, where the reference is more refined, though not any more extended. Bear in mind that even this difference, though audible as a touch of roughness, still falls into the subtle category. As evidence, consider that while trying my darndest to ferret out differences like this one, I frequently put down my pen and succumbed to the music. I listened to entire sides of even the most familiar albums. That’s an indication of how little these scant distinctions matter, and how miraculously close the PA3000’s sound and capacity to captivate come to the higher-buck Swiss Sound stalwarts.

As icing on the cake, T+A offers an optional phono module for this amp. I’m sure such an option, were it available from a Swiss brand, would run many thousands of dollars. But T+A’s module costs just $1500. Eminently fair, as always. Naturally, I compared it to my Swiss reference, a Goldmund PH-01. Once again, the similarities vastly outweighed any differences. Speed! Dynamics! Nuance! As before, there were some disparities; however, in this case, they were not all in favor of the reference. For instance, the T+A phonostage is actually more linear and less euphonic than the Goldmund, with purer tonality. On the other hand, the HV’s bass is less meaty. A tradeoff—and a tossup. Without question, if you don’t already have a high-quality phonostage and are investing in a PA3000, the optional phono module is a no-brainer.

While the integrated’s value proposition is based on sonic miracles, the MP3000 HV is attractive partially for the same and partially for different reasons. In the latter category, know that this is one of the most all-encompassing units of its kind you’re likely to find. Let me count the ways in which this thing delivers music. First, naturally, there is the superb built-in CD player (more about that later). But that’s merely the iceberg’s tip. The MP3000 is also a full-fledged DAC that handles USB and SPDIF—the latter via coax, BNC, AES/EBU, and TosLink interfaces. You can also plug a USB hard drive or thumb drive directly into the unit. Then, too, the MP3000 will happily stream music from a NAS, and it will do so through either a wired or a wireless connection. As if all this weren’t enough, the MP will play Internet radio and even pick up good old FM. You may be thinking that managing all these source options—and the content within each—must be a nightmare. The truth is that the remote (or the tablet app) makes it easy.

 

Of course, sonics matter too. In its CD mode, the MP3000 is every bit as impressive as the PA3000. This is one remarkably good CD player. Not only is it clean, open, richly detailed, and dynamic, but it gets completely out of the way of the music and imposes virtually no coloration or digital artifacts. While the CH Precision C1/D1 DAC/transport combo (about $80k) has certain advantages—greater scale, timbral density, and dynamic jump—when considered independently, in the context of a PA3000-based system, the MP3000 actually sounds better. This is not unheard of; the synergies reaped by staying within a given manufacturer’s line can be surprisingly powerful. In any event, the HV combination plays music more organically than when mixing and matching, with greater rhythmic drive and coherence.

As an additional reference point, I compared the MP3000’s CD playback with that of my trusty Bryston BCD-1. Although this great CD player is no longer in production, when it was available and selling at $3500, it punched well above its weight class. My goal in this comparison was to see if the T+A, even without all those other inputs, justified the extra money. So, did the Bryston come close to the MP3000? No, it did not. Not even a little. The MP3000 is far more open, larger in scale, deeper in dimensionality, more extended, and even more musically compelling than the Bryston.

Another of the MP3000’s inputs that squarely hits the sonic mark is SPDIF. This input runs a bit mellower than the CD, but in every other way the two sources are very close. Of course, the SPDIF input has an advantage in that it can handle hi-res source material, and this sometimes gave it the edge over CD. All in all, listening to either of these two sources had me once more agog at what I was hearing.

Stage 4: Reality Check
As it turns out, the MP3000 is not perfect. Specifically, its other sources don’t measure up to the benchmark set by its own CD and SPDIF prowess. Switch from either of these to NAS streaming, for instance, and the soundstage and instruments flatten. The sound isn’t objectionable, mind you, but nor does it engage. If you must stream into this DAC, be sure to use a wired connection. That route will still be less dynamic, open, and extended than the CD, but not to the same extent as going wireless, which throws a thick soggy blanket over the proceedings. For all I know, this is no fault of the MP3000’s and is instead endemic to wireless connections. More research is required, but I can say for sure that this particular instance of WiFi streaming isn’t suitable for anything other than background music.

There is better news on the USB front. This interface, at its best, sounds way better than streaming. “At its best” means downloading T+A’s custom USB2 driver rather than using the ones that self-install when you first connect the unit to your computer. T+A’s research revealed sonic problems with kernel streaming drivers as well as ASIO drivers, so it developed its own approach. The MP benefits from the use of a good USB cable. You’ll want to select the “Bezier”—as opposed to the “Bezier plus IIR” or any other—filter. Thus armed, the MP3000’s USB sounds quite good. The only problem is that the CD and SPDIF sound very good.

The main knocks on USB compared to the MP3000’s best inputs are that vocals are more recessed, dynamics are more restrained, and the presentation isn’t as three-dimensional. None of these do major damage, so USB turns out to be quite enjoyable. As an illustration, consider Charles Mingus’ Ah Um. Listen first to the album via USB, and you’ll be tapping your feet and marveling at how realistic the brass sounds. The first track “Better Git It In Your Soul” can lose all sense of cohesion in the wrong hands. But the MP3000’s USB DAC is fully up to the task. Yet when you switch to the CD, the sound suddenly bursts with more life, the stage opens up, and those tonally convincing instruments now take on three-dimensionality. The same contrast holds true when comparing CD with USB-tethered hard drives.

These discoveries tempered—but didn’t eradicate—my original excitement about the MP3000. Naturally, I yearned for USB and streaming that sounded every bit as good as CD and SPDIF. I also found myself wishing that the MP3000’s transport handled SACDs and that its DAC supported DSD files. It’s worth noting, though, that T+A makes a more expensive music player, the PDP3000 HV Reference DAC/Transport ($20,000). That model includes everything the MP3000 HV does (except client streaming functions and an FM tuner), adds in the missing SACD and DSD capabilities, and utilizes a more sophisticated DAC.  

Stage 5: Full Circle
After a Reality Check stage that, as noted, somewhat curbed my enthusiasm, I decided to set all that aside and listen afresh to the T+A combo playing either CDs or hi-res files via SPDIF. The sound, once more, just blew me away. I invited fellow TAS writer Karl Schuster to drop by and have a listen. He summed things up perfectly when he described the sound as “spooky good.” That spook factor stems from how eerily close these units come to the sound of far costlier Swiss gear. And that, I realized anew, is really the bottom line here.

For $13,500, the MP3000 delivers tremendous versatility and, on its best sources, sound that rivals digital playback from components that cost six times as much. Not all of its sources are up to that standard, so consider your own listening habits and decide if the MP3000 is for you. Similarly, the $17,000 ($18,500 with phonostage) PA3000 not only competes directly with integrated amps that run all the way up to $50k, it holds its own against $120k worth of Switzerland’s best separates. This is a component that’s not to be missed.

But these HV models not only stand up to their Teutonic brethren, they sound just like them. What T+A has done is to make it possible for audiophiles of more modest (though still significant) resources to get in on the extraordinary build-quality, sonic merit and character, and sheer musical enjoyment of the Swiss School. And that is surely a promise fulfilled.

SPECS & PRICING

PA3000 HV Integrated Amplifier
Power output: 300Wpc into 8 ohms
Inputs: 4 XLR, 2 RCA, H-Link (HV data bus), LAN (system control), trigger input
Outputs: 2 pairs speaker binding posts, XLR balanced line-level, RCA line-level, 3/8″ headphone jack
Input impedance: 20k ohms single-ended, 5k ohms balanced
Gain: 38.6dB
THD: .001% (pre-amp stage), .03% (power amp stage)
Frequency response: .5Hz–450kHz (pre-amp stage), .5-150kHz (power amp stage)
Dimensions: 18″ x 6.7″ x 18″
Weight: 84 lbs.
Price: $17,000; optional phono module $1500

MP3000 HV Music Player
Inputs: FM antenna, remote antenna, 5 SPDIF (2 BNC, 1 coax, 2 TosLink), 1 AES-EBU, LAN, USB, USB Master-Mode (stick or HDD)
Outputs: USB, SPDIF, H-Link (HV data bus)
File formats: CD, UPnP 1.1 streaming, UPnP-AV streaming, DLNA streaming, WiFi streaming, FM, Internet radio, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, ALAC
Dimensions: 18″ x 6.7″ x 18″
Weight:  57.3 lbs.
Price: $13,500

T+A ELEKTROAKUSTIK GmbH & Co. KG
Planckstraße 9 – 11
D – 32052  Herford, Germany
Phone +49 (0)52 21 / 76 76 – 0
info@ta-hifi.com

U.S. Distributor
Rutherford Audio 
rutherfordaudio.com

Alan Taffel

By Alan Taffel

I can thank my parents for introducing me to both good music and good sound at an early age. Their extensive classical music collection, played through an enviable system, continually filled our house. When I was two, my parents gave me one of those all-in-one changers, which I played to death.

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