Starkrimson® (150W) Reviews, Accolades, & Awards
Accolades and Awards
Reviews
Print and Online Publications
Dick Olsher – The Absolute Sound (January 2022)
Budget Product of the Year Award
“I know that Starkrimson is supposed to be a pear, but to my mind it is a peach of an amplifier, sweet and dynamic, at a delicious price point. To my ears, it sounds like a high-definition Class A amplifier and surely offers a glimpse into the future of Class D amplification. An absolute must-audition.” and “The Starkrimson performed flawlessly with excellent bass impact, transient clarity, and purity of tone.”
David Price – Hi-Fi Choice (June 2021 Issue)
Hi-Fi Choice Recommended Rating
“This design has a really pleasing tonality, one that renders the natural timbre of the instruments being played in a surprisingly natural way” and “…this pair of Starkrimson monoblocks offers seriously good value for the money – especially if you’re all about getting the best sound per pound”
Stuart Yaniger – AudioXpress (September 2020)
“At 1 W into an 8 Ω load, the amp’s distortion is below the Audio Precision analyzer’s measurement capabilities.” and “No matter what sort of music I played from acoustic jazz to Americana-folk to electronic progressive rock, whether my own minimally miked uncompressed recording or highly produced loud studio rock the amplifiers did exactly what they were supposed to, noiselessly, without stress or strain, and in a perfectly transparent way.”
Ron Nagle – Enjoy the Music (August 2020)
“The Orchard amplifiers at $1499.99 set a new benchmark for value, laser-like clarity, and inner detail at this price range. Highly recommended.” and “Power on and my very first impression was clean and clear music overlapping what was a very dead black background.”
Ross Wagner – Stereo Times (June 2020)
“Leo’s little guys, boasting the newest GaN (gallium nitride) transistors and modestly priced at $1500 for the pair, lit up the music room.” and “…dynamic, well defined deep bass, excellent staging, imaging and resolution throughout. All this was maintained through demanding crescendos, with airy upper ranges, while conserving the subtleties of decay- especially welcomed on pizzicato and percussion segments.”
Adam LaBarge – The Audio Beatnik
“I wanted to stop my heart so I could hear the music better. I was being sucked in, pushed out, and unable to focus on anything else but the music. There were all the little bird-like chimes, dancing between clicks and pings and bongs of xylophone harmonics with dry reed raspy sounds zooming in and out, floating on top of deep rolling strings and organ-like bass. I didn’t want to miss a moment of it.”
Jack Roberts – The Audio Beatnik
“I found them very dynamic, very musical, and beautifully detailed in the top end. The tone was better than in many transistor amps. The same could be said about emotional involvement. Listenability was very good with a relaxed and detailed sound. The soundstage and imaging were also very good.”
Paul Rigby – The Audiophile Man
“I immediately noticed a major drop in high frequency noise and a swathe of new air and space within the midrange which pushed open the soundstage, expanding it left and right. All of the reconstruction work of the soundstage created a new level of clarity and transparency.” and “Sound quality is quite sublime for the price, detail, character, clarity, it’s all there. A fascinating power amplifier and definitely one to investigate.”