Starkrimson to Starkrimson 25 Upgrade

The new amps are really really good. I received my Starkrimson 25 Mono Premiums back from Orchard yesterday after sending in my OG Mono Premiums for the upgrade. I added them into the system last night and was very glad I did the upgrade. Unfortunately I couldn’t do a direct comparison so just going off of memory — but am confident in saying that the soundstage opened up a little in my room, imaging improved in terms of placement of voices and instruments, and everything is a little more dynamic and alive. I really enjoyed the OG Mono Premiums but these are definitely a step up. The one really nice surprise with the 25 upgrade is that there’s now light inside the amp. When the amp is on you can see a red glow (assuming LED) through the top vents of the amp. The OG Mono amps had no lights at all and the position of the switch was the only way to know if they were off/on — aside from when they were playing music. It’s a small thing but good to know Leo is incorporating customer feedback into new designs.

System: Holo Red streamer (Qobuz and files via Roon/HQPlayer) > Holo Cyan 2 DAC > Supratek Chardonnay tube preamp > Orchard Audio Starkrimson 25 Mono Premiums > Devore Fidelity Gibbon Nines

Thanks, Leo, for making the upgrade available to OG owners.

Very worthwhile upgrade to the previous incarnation of this amp. All the grip, punch, clarity, and micro/macro dynamics are all there as before. The most immediate improvement is with the smoothing out of the ever so slight upper treble glare that was present before that is no longer present in my system.

With the previous version. I needed a preamp to run between my Chord TT2 DAC and the Starkrimson amps in my system to listen to certain recordings—and to listen for several hours. That’s no longer needed with the Starkrimson 25’s. I can run direct from DAC into the amp with perfect clarity and linearity. I still do use my tube preamp for that editorialized magic that I very much love. The Starkrimson 25 passes that experience through with great fidelity.

I actually lucked out and got a bit of a jump on this tasty upgrade. I sent my amps in to have the gain increased, because the low gain version that I had did not match up real well with the powered woofer section of my speakers. Leo asked me if I’d be interested in a “not yet released” upgrade module that his trusted listeners had deemed to be an improvement – and contained the desired gain increase. Even though it cost a bit more than just the planned gain modification, I decided to go ahead and get the new module with “upgraded” technology. AND . . . . am I ever glad that I did!

The Starkrimson Mono’s already sounded great considering their price range, and I really didn’t know what to expect. Having owned a number of very expensive “high-end” amplifiers (Spectral, Krell, BAT, Ayre, Thor, NYAL, etc), I am familiar with the sonic impact that “special” amplifiers can manifest. To make a long story short, the 25 upgrade took the Starkrimson Monos to a level of performance that I really didn’t think class D amps would attain. While the unmodified Starkrimson Monos’ were great amps with superb musicality, excellent detail retrieval in addition to a sense of effortlessness power, the same amps with the 25 upgrade installed – suddenly sounded “world class”. One of my favorite recordings (Chesky’s excellent capture of Mozart’s Ave Verum) revealed an amplifier capable of digging out the very last bit of inner detail available in that recording! I’m not referring to brightness or etched detail – rather to spectral and spacial detail that reveals a much better picture of the recorded space. The 25 upgrade greatly enhances the “air’ surrounding and defining the space around each vocalist leading to softer and more natural rendering of the ensemble while also revealing a larger choir in a bigger room with a longer and significantly more complex reverberation signature. Wow – I was amazed. With all of my favorite recordings, the upgrade improved every area of the amplifiers performance. The 25 upgrade brings tighter bass with outstanding pitch definition, an extremely natural rendition of timbre, and an expansive soundstage with rich layering and tremendous depth. If your goal is “realistic and natural” sounding reproduction, the 25 upgrade is quite simply a “Must Have”. Bravo! Leo and Orchard Audio team!

At ABX Audiophiles, we were glad to be among the first to get the upgrade in our Starkrimson DUO amplifier. This was my personal amp that I purchased from Leo and later upgraded! The step up in overall performance, bass, and timbre was really great. I appreciated that Leo was able to keep the same overall sound signature and tonality, but give a nice boost to overall performance!! 10/10 recommend.

PS – As a reviewer of stereo gear, I want to be clear that I originally paid retail price for my Orchard Audio SK Duo amplifier and was not paid to do a review.

Cheers and enjoy the upgrade!! You will like it. . 😉

James – ABX Audiophiles.