Transnova '9505

Often, when looking at a product, it's a question of whether it's 95% of the way there, or 5% out.

From the rear, the Haffler 9505 Transnova is a good looking amplifier. It is a bit like the Pass Labs Alpha 0. In a press release today, it was stated that it is "often considered to be one of the most musical and dynamic sounding amplifiers of all time."

(Peter Janis, Radial Engineering).

Let's look at the specifications. We'd like to review it and compare it to the John Curl designed Parasound HCA-2200 II.

On paper [the specifications]:

Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)	<0.2% (20Hz-20kHz)
Signal-to-Noise	100dB “A” Weighted
Full Power Bandwidth	0.15Hz to 300kHz (+0/–3dB)

http://www.hafler.com/products/hafler_products_details.asp?productID=3276&viewId=3

The THD is poor. 0.05% would be better.

For a better THD, check out the iShares MSCI Thailand Index Fund.
0.61 (0.73%) today.

The Signal-to-Noise is poor. 100 dB is 16 bit audio worthy. 40 dB is missing for 24.

The Full-Power Bandwidth is good. 0.15 Hz and 300 kHz are spectacular ranges of full auditory perception.

John

www.hifiart.ca