(Written by Stan Wyman in the Audioreview Forum, July 15, 2001,
about
the Sony TA N55ES power amp)
"...There
are a LOT of myths that are running rampant in audio land. The first great
myth is that you have to take out a second mortgage in order to buy an amp
that'll be satisfactory to your needs. The next great myth is that large
companies like Sony, who have multi-million dollar R&D budgets and top
engineers, cannot compete with people who make their amps in their garage
and sell them for $30,000. The fact is Sony, and particularly the ES
line, are the "Best" value components in the world!! As I said above, they
devote millions to the development of their products and hire the best and
the brightest. In addition, they've achieved great economies of scale that
allow for them to produce products "Very" reasonably and pass that savings
onto their customers. Consequently, when you buy a Sony ES product, you're
getting a well made and excellent sounding product that is superior to
everything in its price class and better than many costing 2-6X more!
I have bought Sony ES products for years and the TA-55 happens to be the
latest purchase of mine. Anyhow, I'm extremly impressed with this giant
killer. As I said in my strength listing above, it has a taut bass that is
second to none. The bass that this amp creates will satisfy all those who
listen to chamber music or rock music. Next, it has great dynamics. It makes
the music really come to life. In addition, the sound is not fatiguing at
all unlike most power amps. I could listen to this amp for hours without any
ear problems. There are many other things I enjoy about this amp but the one
characteristic that stands out most in my mind is the quickness of this amp.
It seems like so many amps simply aren't quick enough to keep up with piano
and other sounds but this amp has NOOO problem with that as sounds just flow
out effortlessly! This is, in my opinion, the best value power amp on
the market and I've auditioned nearly every one under 1k. As usual, Sony
produces a giant killer!"
-------------- Personally, I think that very few
audio enthusiasts (and journalists) have ever understood the extraordinary
overall quality of the best Sony products as well as mr. Wyman. Stuff like
the PS-X9, the La Voce and SS-GR1 speakers, the 'ES'-series and the Esprit
electronics....! They are 'Halo' equipment, where the Japan Moloch invested
its enormous knowledge and financial power to redeem the profitable but not
pleasant 'low-end' image of its cheaper products. The PS-X9, for example, is
way above the level of any Technics or Denon real or alleged professional
deck and it is even better than the splendid AEG/Telefunken studio
turntables: it is a worthy challenger of the best direct-drive EMT broadcast
machines. Today's snobbish (and always fashion-obsessed, but often
sadly uncultured) 'audiophiles' invariably look down at any equipment
carrying the 'Sony' badge with open disdain. They seem happy to take a
second mortgage to buy some obscure junk, not understanding that many of
these Sony machines, often directly inspired by the better European products
and sometimes even manufactured in the Old World, are objects of great
beauty, superb sound, and, very often, extremely convenient price. Thanks
Stan!
|
From the
excellent
TheVintageKnob site:
"The first ES series became an instant
hit: while Matsushita still had five tubed components, ditto Sansui,
Kenwood a quartet of unrelated units and Pioneer still was an industry
minor, Sony was selling its STR-6060, TA-1120, TA-3120A and TTS-3000 by
the thousands and thousands - worldwide. The second ES series, although
never named as such, followed on that success : TA-1130, ST-5150, TC-755,
SQD-2020, PS-2250, TTS-4000 etc all sold like hotcakes throughout the
world. The third ES series was known in Japan and somewhat in Germany
as "ESII" The name itself mainly pointed to a design difference but
also makes a clear marker of when hi-fi truly became a
market-for-the-masses : 1973/74. This is when Yamaha launched its real
NS series, when Kenwood came with the Supreme and the ATC Series and when
all others augmented lineups to have them as plethoric as Sony had them
since 1970. Sony again sold oooooodles of components from the ESII
lineups (TA-5650, ST-5950, PS-4750 etc) and managed to produce several
all-time bests such as the TC-880-2 or SS-8150. After that, 1976/77,
the hi-fi market is running full-speed and a sort of quality segmentation
appears. The late ESII gives way to its gems (TA-F6B, TA-N7B, ST-A7B
etc), sided by an unbelievably successful push toward "higher-end"
(TA-E88B, TA-N86B etc - the pre-Esprit) and lineups getting really
plethoric and often market-targeted. From this stam the ESPRIT series,
which took some of the mousse off the ES series. ES, as a coherent set
of components, got relegated to bit player while new technologies, smaller
enclosures, new manufacturing technologies and the multiplication of
flashy features made the news. Paradoxically, this is when the second
"official" ES logo appeared : 1979. It was however put on a component, the
TC-K88B, directly descending from the pre-Esprit and accompanied by
another logo, ESPRIT, something which that component wasn't either !
October 1982 is the rebirth of ES and the birth of it for us westerners :
dedicated lineup, dedicated catalogs and the ES logo clearly, plainly,
simply, silkscreened on the front plates. It took seventeen years but "ES"
was at last palpable, visible and materialized ! This ES series, the
fourth, sold extremely well as well, helped by the little sales boom which
followed the introduction of CD (TA-F555ES, PS-X555ES, TC-K777ES,
CDP-501ES etc) even if Sony managed to insert some incoherences in design
and technologies. The fifth ES series came to in 1986 and, again, sold
like french croissants on a sunday morning. Worldwide, again : TA-F800ES,
TC-K700ES, CDP-555ESD etc. The sixth ES series is the one everybody
remembers clearly : it holds the stream of X7 and X5 CD players, the
flurry of F555ES amplifiers, the TA-E1000ESD or the well-remembered DAT
recorders, all outselling all other brands until 1994. With the seventh
ES series, 1994, "series" became a somewhat overstated definition. Lineups
were downsized to half a dozen units in all : high-fidelity sales had
started to dwindle due to the bursting of the financial "bubble", upcoming
home-theater on one side and the "QS" series Sony deemed interesting to
flank ES with on the other. ES again was relegated to bit player." |