Sony TA-F444ES -or- Sony doing it right.

M Jarve

Audio Geek and NGE Freak
Many here may be aware that I am not over fond of Sony’s products, with some exceptions. Sony, in many ways, was the poster child of the so-called BPC era- Cranking out massive quantities of under-built (at least not over-built by any means), mediocre components that were built to meet a certain price point, not a high standard of quality. Even up to today, Sony’s mass-market offerings sound thin and weak and are certainly not sold on the virtues of their quality of construction or sound, instead relying on a plethora of features and colored LED’s to move them off the sales floor. Sony is not alone in this, but is the subject of this review.

Having established Sony as the epitome of the just-good-enough mentality of the BPC age, it should be said that they had, for those willing to look, a beacon of hope in the form of the Sony ES line.

I will not get into the heritage and vagaries of the ES line (Axel provides just that on his excellent website), but it will suffice to say that the ES line has traditionally been Sony’s high-end consumer range since the 1980’s. If you were willing to pay the price, you would receive a truly quality piece of equipment using the best of state of the art technology and time-tested designs. Such a description would be fitting for the TA-F444ES integrated amplifier.

The TA-F444ES is an 80-wpc amplifier featuring Sony’s Audio Current Transfer (ACT) technology. This circuit transferred current, not voltage, from one stage to another, which apparently maintained better channel separation, increased the SNR, and allowed for greater frequency extension than more ordinary designs. The power supply in this unit was also built to a very high standard, featuring a single large EI core transformer with dual secondaries. This meant that each channel, in essence, had its own power supply, much like the comparable (and contemporary) h/k PM660. Each channel had its own rectifier diodes, and two 63v/12,000uFd (four total) Elna for Audio power filter caps.

The fit and finish of the unit is excellent. The anodized aluminum front panel is well laid out and labeled. All knobs are cast aluminum and are held to their shafts with hex-key set screws. The volume control (“Attenuator” in Sony speak) is on the left side of the panel, which is different, and has a two-color status LED embedded in it. Red indicates a fault, flashing amber indicates startup sequence, and green indicates normal operation. Around back, the speaker connectors are some of my favorite ones ever, much like the connectors on the back of the Altec 890C. The only down side to them is that you must use either bare wire or pins: Spade connectors and banana jacks will not work. All input RCA’s are standard aluminum affairs, except the phono input, which is gold plated.

Listening to the TA-F444ES, it is easy, very easy, to forget you are listening to a Sony. Bass is full and accurate, even with the tone controls bypassed, and highs are not the least bit fatiguing. For comparison, I put it up against the h/k PM660, also an 80 WPC integrated.

I bypassed the tone controls on both units and disabled loudness/bass boost, and set the volume on both so that white noise (from a Kenwood SA-90 spectrum analyzer) would average 4 volts AC when connected to my JVC zero9 speakers.

The h/k seemed to have more energy in the deepest bass, though cone movement looked the same. The Sony, on the other hand, seemed to have greater high frequency extension: the h/k sounded comparatively veiled. The Sony sounded quicker with music that had fast transients or piano. A cello solo from a movie sound track had more of a live raspy quality, and horns sounded brasher and bawdier, but not harsh. Imaging was also better with the Sony, even though both units are a dual mono layout. Bass was quick, clean, and deep on the Sony, but more so on the h/k. All told, in a flat, average volume configuration, the Sony was the superior unit.

I then dialed in the sound to what I normally listen to. On the h/k, this is with the unit set in Main/Direct mode (bypassing the tone amp and balance entirely), but with the loudness/contour on. I dialed in a similar sound on the Sony by disabling bass-boost, increasing the bass by 4 clicks, and the treble by one click. I listened to a variety of music ranging from Fatboy Slim to Wagner. I also listened at a variety of levels.

With similar settings dialed in, I found, to my surprise, that I liked the sound of the Sony more. It seemed to bring out deficiencies I never noticed in the h/k before. I was drawn more into the music, listening to individual instruments, and not the performance as a whole. It was the difference between watching a movie on VHS and seeing the exact same movie on DVD. It was very easy to follow a single instrument throughout a piece with the Sony.

But the TA-F444ES was taken to school in its own turn. On louder rock and more dynamic music (notably an LP of Rhapsody in Blue), the h/k demonstrated a brute force that the Sony lacks. When playing at very high levels, the h/k had greater dynamics, where as the Sony tended to compress a little. The almost endless headroom of the h/k does help at these insane levels.

The Sony is definitely more accurate, and has greater resolution, but at the same time, it is not grainy or harsh. Exceptionally well balanced and natural. Comparatively, the one standout quality of the PM660 is its dynamic range and headroom.

During listening, the Sony never became more than moderately warm, regardless of level. My initial worries of the rather simple heatsink it employs were apparently unfounded. It also never engaged in hard clipping or shutdown.

So there you have it. Sony has me eating crow, but I like it.

I would also like to mention that you can look for an Inside and Out pictorial in an upcoming edition of Affordable$$Audio.
 
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With Sony as usually one has to be knowledgeable about what units to look for. The AK family here has done a good job in that respect. Excellent post Jarve.
 
Excellent info. :yes: If you like the TA-F444ES, then you would love the TA-F808ES, the last, great integrated amp from Sony. When I rented a condo at the shore several years ago I needed a small system for same. Bought a TA-F444ES on eBay and was pleasantly surprised at its excellent sound (driving a pair of Paradigm Studio 20s). Liked it so much, I upgraded to Studio 30s and then Soliloquy 5.0s (my favorite monitor, to-date). The TA-444ES was superb with all. Then I ran across a TA-F808ES, and, hoping that more is better (100wpc, MOSFET outputs), picked it up. Sublime. You can't go wrong with either. Somewhere in CO my TA-F444ES is driving a set of LAs in a garage system where a gentleman restores Model A Fords. The TA-F444ES is a terrific unit and way underpriced on eBay. :thmbsp: A real sleeper.
 
The Sony really is a great unit. I also forgot to mention that in 1984 (the overlap year for both the PM660 and TA-F444ES) the PM660 retailed for $200 more than the sony: $690 for the h/k vs. $490 for the Sony. That puts the Sony in even higher regard, in my book.

I posted some pics in another thread (along with the obscure AVH-555ES by Sony). But here are a couple.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15953
http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15955

I also discovered why it seems to run so cool. The specified idling current is a mere 7.5mV. Most class A/B receivers and amps run 25-35mV, where a few, such as my PM660 run a higher 50mV. The Sony does not seem to require a higher bias; perhaps they are exceptionally fast transistors in an equally fast circuit? It certainlly does not seem to suffer any of the effects of I.M. distortion.
 
Mike,

I posted yesterday the 444ES' bigger brother: TA-F777ES.
As a rule of thumb: one cannot go wrong with the top three echelons of the ES lineups, and the top two after 1994.

TA-F555ES(II) + F444ES(II),
CDP-X777ES + X555ES,
TA-F808ES + F707ES,
TA-F830ES + 730ES, etc
 
The TAF444ES isn't a bad amp (apart from horrible ergonomics). I have that amp, along with the TAF444esx, the TAF333esr and others of the same ilk. I also have the PM640, 650 and 660, several of each.

The PM650 and PM660 are glorious amplifiers, their waveform integrity, bandwidth and overall performance are superlative. The PM660s suffer from destructive dry joints on the vertical driver board, something the lower powered PM650 doesn't. Also, in 240v countries, the secondary voltage runs the caps too close to rated voltage and many of the PM660s have vented main caps (x4), due to 220v units being sold in 240v markets, plus the deep bias HK ran on those amps, contributes to a lot of expansion/contraction joint cracks. They're are also notorious for touchy switches in the main direct, MM/MC Phono1/2 switches. Indicator globes are a pain too.

The fact that HK used no DC protection whatsoever on the PM660 is bordering on criminal as they are more likely than practically any amp I can think of to go DC.

The TAF444es, and the TAF444esx are nothing like each other in sonic character, design or construction- the 444esx is way better in every regard IMO, on my test bench and in my systems. But the TAF333esr (TAF730es) is in a whole other league. There is simply no comparison- and I have several of each unit. The TAF333esr is IMO the best integrated Sony ever made. Considering the standard of construction and the fact they are only a year or so apart, the differences in performance are astounding.

Personally, I would put the TAF333esr (rated 105w/ch) (1989/90) (tested 124w/196w/312w, 8/4/2ohms) above the PM660 but nobody can deny the attractiveness of those classic years '82-'84 HK.

Interesting subjective review and good old post to dig up, but my comparisons and test results put the PM660 considerably above the TAF444es, but not its later iterations.
 
Even the MOTL HK receivers could pass a near perfect square wave. Wish HK gear from that era was better made.

Anyways, the F444ESII has made it into my living room system. Here it is paired with a CDP-520ESII. On a side note, I am always impressed how fast the BU-1C transport cues.

 
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I can't help but to add a couple of pics from my 444esX. The construction is, to me, impressive. The quality is outstanding.Sony 444ESX 03a.jpg Sony 444ESX 01a.jpg Sony 444ESX 03.jpg
 
Wow G chassis, nice power supply and impressive amount of aluminum on that heat sink. Love upper end Sony!
 
I have a ta-f222esr and sounds great but how anyone likes those prissy little speaker connectors is beyond me . They are the curse if the vintage era. I love how quiet this amp is with nothing playing , passes all my tests female vocals , Dire Straights Ride across the river, Men at Work Johnny .
 
Their latest integrated is even better... And I've been through a ton of Sony gear over the the last 20 years.
The TA-A1ES.
DSC_2228.JPG
 
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