Here are some of my first impressions of the Tripoint Troy Signature NG which I received on Thursday 15 July.
First of all it's slightly bigger in person than I expected (or more likely my gear is just that much smaller in comparison to the AE showroom) and it truly is a black box. Actually a rather beautiful and clearly very well made box but a black box nonetheless that visually should be easy to integrate into pretty much any setup I feel but also a black box in the sense that no one seems to know what's inside except for its maker. In my opinion that is a great non-biased start to only look at the impact it has on the sound and that is quite impressive indeed.
First I connected the cable with the power plug only and I might have been hallucinating but it seemed to me like there was already a slight increase in clarity and punch but let's face it: who would have the patience to spend days with just the power cable connected when there are so many toys to ground? So I connected the integrated amp through the standard silver cable included by loosening a screw on the chassis and that's what I've had the chance to listen to (maybe 4 hours only total) until now .
Right after connecting the amp I was startled by the massive increase in energy above all else. I got all the improvements I already highlighted with the JMF PCD 102 power conditioner but on top of that another dimension was added and that is the area of energy/dynamics/speed/impact. It pretty much feels to me like the power of the amplifier has been substantially uprated (while the tonality remains unchanged): when playing certain tracks it just sounds absolutely brutal when before it always had a bit of softness even when it shouldn't have had. To give a little background I'm running extremely hard to drive speakers (Boenicke W8SE) which are very demanding of the amplification and my gut feel is that the Tripoint in my case might have even more impact in this realm than in other setups.
I would like to call this an increase in dynamic bandwidth on both ends of the spectrum (the loud parts now slam way harder and there is a certain sense of impending doom that just wasn't there before - I love it) but the softer and more intricate parts are also much more revealing at the same time. Whereas before for certain tracks I would be tempted to dynamically adjust the volume during playback to retrieve enough information now I can just put in on cruise control and enjoy the show. However I did notice a slight change in overall frequency response with the higher female vocal range and in particular horns moving slightly more forward and the bass moving slightly back.
The next day however this seemed to normalize back again (I assume because the grounding cable needs to of course still substantially run in) and so far if I compare the Troy NG (with only the integrated amp connected) to the full JMF I would say the Troy is to me already at least equivalent in impact. It adds a new dimension of noise reduction in terms of increase of dynamic bandwidth and scale and overall to me this leads to a great increase in 3D experience of the music and overall emotional connection. It undoubtedly brings me significantly closer to music, to the emotional intent and story, to the beauty really and as I pointed out in an earlier post that's what I care about.
As a trader I feel confident to say that this is likely to be one of the crown jewels of the AE portfolio (to be fair I've only sampled a small portion) and if you get the chance to experience it please do so. So far it is the most impressive audio product I've personally interacted with full stop. And I mean impressive in a very literal sense: "evoking admiration through size, quality, or skill; grand, imposing, or awesome" - I don't say this lightly.
Hard to imagine anyone with a serious setup not wanting one of these bad boys, there is no tradeoff, no give and take...just more music.
This is indeed the crown jewel. This is constantly out of stock and everything was preordered. No chance to jam the queue.
I have been a big fan of Tripoint since the inception of AE at the very beginning. I have to say the JMF Audio PCD302 or PCD1002 also belongs to crown jewel status of AE.
Comments
Here is my Troy Signature NG, so new that the wrappings on the footers are not yet removed.
The purchase decision was easy.
I made it in less than 10 mins after hearing its effect on Kahw's home audio system.
The Troy Signature NG is a very rare gem which can make the music both more hifi and more natural & musical at the same time.
It's my best hifi gadget purchased in 2020!
Thanks Chris and Audioexotics!
First of all it's slightly bigger in person than I expected (or more likely my gear is just that much smaller in comparison to the AE showroom) and it truly is a black box. Actually a rather beautiful and clearly very well made box but a black box nonetheless that visually should be easy to integrate into pretty much any setup I feel but also a black box in the sense that no one seems to know what's inside except for its maker. In my opinion that is a great non-biased start to only look at the impact it has on the sound and that is quite impressive indeed.
First I connected the cable with the power plug only and I might have been hallucinating but it seemed to me like there was already a slight increase in clarity and punch but let's face it: who would have the patience to spend days with just the power cable connected when there are so many toys to ground? So I connected the integrated amp through the standard silver cable included by loosening a screw on the chassis and that's what I've had the chance to listen to (maybe 4 hours only total) until now .
Right after connecting the amp I was startled by the massive increase in energy above all else. I got all the improvements I already highlighted with the JMF PCD 102 power conditioner but on top of that another dimension was added and that is the area of energy/dynamics/speed/impact. It pretty much feels to me like the power of the amplifier has been substantially uprated (while the tonality remains unchanged): when playing certain tracks it just sounds absolutely brutal when before it always had a bit of softness even when it shouldn't have had. To give a little background I'm running extremely hard to drive speakers (Boenicke W8SE) which are very demanding of the amplification and my gut feel is that the Tripoint in my case might have even more impact in this realm than in other setups.
I would like to call this an increase in dynamic bandwidth on both ends of the spectrum (the loud parts now slam way harder and there is a certain sense of impending doom that just wasn't there before - I love it) but the softer and more intricate parts are also much more revealing at the same time. Whereas before for certain tracks I would be tempted to dynamically adjust the volume during playback to retrieve enough information now I can just put in on cruise control and enjoy the show. However I did notice a slight change in overall frequency response with the higher female vocal range and in particular horns moving slightly more forward and the bass moving slightly back.
The next day however this seemed to normalize back again (I assume because the grounding cable needs to of course still substantially run in) and so far if I compare the Troy NG (with only the integrated amp connected) to the full JMF I would say the Troy is to me already at least equivalent in impact. It adds a new dimension of noise reduction in terms of increase of dynamic bandwidth and scale and overall to me this leads to a great increase in 3D experience of the music and overall emotional connection. It undoubtedly brings me significantly closer to music, to the emotional intent and story, to the beauty really and as I pointed out in an earlier post that's what I care about.
As a trader I feel confident to say that this is likely to be one of the crown jewels of the AE portfolio (to be fair I've only sampled a small portion) and if you get the chance to experience it please do so. So far it is the most impressive audio product I've personally interacted with full stop. And I mean impressive in a very literal sense: "evoking admiration through size, quality, or skill; grand, imposing, or awesome" - I don't say this lightly.
Hard to imagine anyone with a serious setup not wanting one of these bad boys, there is no tradeoff, no give and take...just more music.
Interview with Miguel