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.
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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