The Fez
Well-Known Member
=== V-FET SHOOT OUT - SONY V YAMAHA ===
Sony TA-N7B
- 1977
- 160,000 yen
- 100w + 100w 8ohms
- 21kg
- Two independent monaural amplifiers
- Harmonic distortion .01%
First stage – Voltage amplifier. Dual FET input, a differential cascode amplifier, current mirror output circuit at the first stage and a bipolar transistor cascode amplifier at the next stage.
Drive stage – Fully complimentary push-pull power amp. – Sony V-FETs 2SJ18 & 2SK60 plus bipolar transistors in cascode configuration. Triple dual output configuration per channel.
Yamaha B-2
- 1977
- 200,000 yen
- 100w + 100w 8ohms
- 26kg
- Two independent power transformers
- Harmonic distortion <.08%
First stage – voltage amplifier – Dual FET input, a differential amplifier with cascode bootstrap circuit.
Drive stage – Fully complimentary push-pull power amp. Mirror image, complimentary pairs Yamaha V-FETs 2SK76 & 2SJ26. Two pairs per channel.
________________________________________
Power --- I like power! The power of the V-FET! - Both these amplifiers could be considered statement products from their respective manufacturers at the time of release. “High-End” (I hate that term!) late 70’s style. Incredible build quality is evident in both amplifiers.
I’m no professional “reviewer” of hifi gear; these are simply my subjective ramblings about how these amps sound in my own set-ups.
Preamplifiers
1. Musical Fidelity A3CR Dual Mono preamplifier
2. “Parley” A single valve (12AU7) preamp with Jfet/buffer driver stage designed and built by retro-thermionic. http://retro-thermionic.blogspot.com.au/
Sources
1. Squeezebox Touch (EDO)
2. Audio-gd NFB 1.32 ESS Sabre DAC
3. Yamaha CD-S1000 Player
Speakers
Krix Apex Floorstander
________________________________________
Yamaha B-2
The B-2 is a super amplifier. No, wait a super-duper amplifier….
Plenty of power on tap, more than enough and the Yamaha delivers the sound very nicely. The B-2 drives the 4ohm Krix speakers with ease, up to very loud levels if you so desire, always very composed.
I describe the B-2’s sound as clean and dry. It’s extremely accurate, and less smooth or musical than the Sony. The bass is deep and very well defined and controlled. Midrange is very close to neutral in my system, maybe just a little backward compared to the N7-B. Highs are nicely detailed.
Soundstage of the B-2 is excellent; it bests the N7-B in this regard. It’s big, detailed, and wide just great. It comes close (from memory) to the best soundstage I’ve heard, in a power amplifier, the Sony ESPRIT TA-N902.
The B-2 in my system performs better being driven by the single tube pre-amplifier. It does sound good with the Musical Fidelity, but my recommendation to all B-2 owners is – you should try it with a tube preamplifier. I think being an all v-fet output stage; the B-2 is a little fussier when it comes to preamps
Sony TA-N7B
The Sony TA-N7B – revered by some as the best power amplifier ever made - period. It’s the biggest call isn’t it! It’s a very refined sound. Transient speed and dynamics are wonderful. It’s a “quick” amplifier the N7-B. Low frequency is amazing. The amplifier goes so low and with wonderful definition and control, deeper than the Yamaha.
Stereo imaging and soundstage is very good, however it’ is not as deep and wide as I expected - not as good as the Yamaha.
The N7-B has a sense of transparency about it that is just wonderful. It is a beautiful sweet and open sound. Don’t misunderstand, the Sony is not a “lightweight” sound, it also has plenty of “grunt” but it also has this beautiful openness to its delivery. A unique combination in my experience.
More forgiving than the B-2 regarding preamp matching, the N7-B is just as good with either preamplifier.
Sony did something unique with the TA-N7B. As a good friend of mine said, the N7-B is a “solid state power amplifier R&D project”!. The ultimate sonic signature being the goal at the time, never to bettered.
Conclusion
In many ways it’s ludicrous to compare the Sony and Yamaha. How do you “choose” between these two amps? Simply you don’t. If you are lucky enough to have both, you enjoy each one as they are. Both amplifiers are designed and built to push the limits of sound reproduction and technology. And both sound very, very good.
It does not matter what type of music you throw at these two amps, they will never be flustered or stressed.
Both amplifiers are brilliant – simple as that.
Footnote
I’ve mentioned before that the Krix speakers are not the best that could be put in front of these amplifiers. They are passable for sound, however you can obviously hear the potential of both amplifiers, and the Krix are at a point that cannot reproduce the full potential of each amplifier. And others that I have.
I have been researching and looking at options for a major upgrade in speakers for many months now, but have yet to purchase another pair.
Music
Amy Winehouse – Lioness Hidden Treasures
John Lee Hooker – Mr Lucky
Melody Gardot – My One & Only Thrill
Angus & Julia Stone – Down The Way
Kraftwerk – The Man-Machine
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV
The Alan Parsons Project - Pyramid
Sony TA-N7B
- 1977
- 160,000 yen
- 100w + 100w 8ohms
- 21kg
- Two independent monaural amplifiers
- Harmonic distortion .01%
First stage – Voltage amplifier. Dual FET input, a differential cascode amplifier, current mirror output circuit at the first stage and a bipolar transistor cascode amplifier at the next stage.
Drive stage – Fully complimentary push-pull power amp. – Sony V-FETs 2SJ18 & 2SK60 plus bipolar transistors in cascode configuration. Triple dual output configuration per channel.
Yamaha B-2
- 1977
- 200,000 yen
- 100w + 100w 8ohms
- 26kg
- Two independent power transformers
- Harmonic distortion <.08%
First stage – voltage amplifier – Dual FET input, a differential amplifier with cascode bootstrap circuit.
Drive stage – Fully complimentary push-pull power amp. Mirror image, complimentary pairs Yamaha V-FETs 2SK76 & 2SJ26. Two pairs per channel.
________________________________________
Power --- I like power! The power of the V-FET! - Both these amplifiers could be considered statement products from their respective manufacturers at the time of release. “High-End” (I hate that term!) late 70’s style. Incredible build quality is evident in both amplifiers.
I’m no professional “reviewer” of hifi gear; these are simply my subjective ramblings about how these amps sound in my own set-ups.
Preamplifiers
1. Musical Fidelity A3CR Dual Mono preamplifier
2. “Parley” A single valve (12AU7) preamp with Jfet/buffer driver stage designed and built by retro-thermionic. http://retro-thermionic.blogspot.com.au/
Sources
1. Squeezebox Touch (EDO)
2. Audio-gd NFB 1.32 ESS Sabre DAC
3. Yamaha CD-S1000 Player
Speakers
Krix Apex Floorstander
________________________________________
Yamaha B-2
The B-2 is a super amplifier. No, wait a super-duper amplifier….
Plenty of power on tap, more than enough and the Yamaha delivers the sound very nicely. The B-2 drives the 4ohm Krix speakers with ease, up to very loud levels if you so desire, always very composed.
I describe the B-2’s sound as clean and dry. It’s extremely accurate, and less smooth or musical than the Sony. The bass is deep and very well defined and controlled. Midrange is very close to neutral in my system, maybe just a little backward compared to the N7-B. Highs are nicely detailed.
Soundstage of the B-2 is excellent; it bests the N7-B in this regard. It’s big, detailed, and wide just great. It comes close (from memory) to the best soundstage I’ve heard, in a power amplifier, the Sony ESPRIT TA-N902.
The B-2 in my system performs better being driven by the single tube pre-amplifier. It does sound good with the Musical Fidelity, but my recommendation to all B-2 owners is – you should try it with a tube preamplifier. I think being an all v-fet output stage; the B-2 is a little fussier when it comes to preamps
Sony TA-N7B
The Sony TA-N7B – revered by some as the best power amplifier ever made - period. It’s the biggest call isn’t it! It’s a very refined sound. Transient speed and dynamics are wonderful. It’s a “quick” amplifier the N7-B. Low frequency is amazing. The amplifier goes so low and with wonderful definition and control, deeper than the Yamaha.
Stereo imaging and soundstage is very good, however it’ is not as deep and wide as I expected - not as good as the Yamaha.
The N7-B has a sense of transparency about it that is just wonderful. It is a beautiful sweet and open sound. Don’t misunderstand, the Sony is not a “lightweight” sound, it also has plenty of “grunt” but it also has this beautiful openness to its delivery. A unique combination in my experience.
More forgiving than the B-2 regarding preamp matching, the N7-B is just as good with either preamplifier.
Sony did something unique with the TA-N7B. As a good friend of mine said, the N7-B is a “solid state power amplifier R&D project”!. The ultimate sonic signature being the goal at the time, never to bettered.
Conclusion
In many ways it’s ludicrous to compare the Sony and Yamaha. How do you “choose” between these two amps? Simply you don’t. If you are lucky enough to have both, you enjoy each one as they are. Both amplifiers are designed and built to push the limits of sound reproduction and technology. And both sound very, very good.
It does not matter what type of music you throw at these two amps, they will never be flustered or stressed.
Both amplifiers are brilliant – simple as that.
Footnote
I’ve mentioned before that the Krix speakers are not the best that could be put in front of these amplifiers. They are passable for sound, however you can obviously hear the potential of both amplifiers, and the Krix are at a point that cannot reproduce the full potential of each amplifier. And others that I have.
I have been researching and looking at options for a major upgrade in speakers for many months now, but have yet to purchase another pair.
Music
Amy Winehouse – Lioness Hidden Treasures
John Lee Hooker – Mr Lucky
Melody Gardot – My One & Only Thrill
Angus & Julia Stone – Down The Way
Kraftwerk – The Man-Machine
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV
The Alan Parsons Project - Pyramid
Last edited:
