NuPrime Evolution STA Power Amplifier

I have been a loyal Summit HiFi customer for years. Recently I have transitioned from a fairly high end Home Theater to a dedicated 2 ch system. Aamir as always was my go-to guy for that. I wanted something very good, but not crazy expensive. Not an easy feat these days. He highly recommended the Nuprime Evolution series to me. I am familiar with Nupime as I had the MCX series some time ago. I purchased the Evolution STA, the new Evolution DAC2, and the Stream9. Unboxing was a treat, packaging is first class, well done!

My current Amplifier is a beastly Class A, 130w, with a max current output of 65a. A 100lb block of power, into Sonus Faber Sonetto VIII speakers. The Evolution STA is absolutely amazing. Not sure how they packed the wizardry in that sleek, beautiful case! The Class A sounded very good, but the STA took it to a new level. ( both amps compared from the EVO DAC2) The detail, absolute noiseless background, holographic soundstage, pin point imaging and depth trumped the Class A. Such a natural presentation, better in my opinion. My Sonus Fabers sound like new speakers, had no idea that they could deliver that sonic. Such a transformation, is very rare, Nuprime has done a masterful job with the STA. To say I am impressed is an understatement. Can listen for hours with out any fatigue, just the music enveloping your mind, seemingly in another world. That is very difficult to achieve. The 100lb beast is off to a new home. Thank you Aamir for your honest advice, expertise, and all that you have done for me over the years!

Before I get into my comments about the amplifier itself, I just want to start out by talking about my experiences with Aamir. Over the years, I have purchased a number of items from him including a streamer and amplifiers. The common denominator throughout all of these transactions is the first class customer service that he offers. You can really tell that he cares about his customers in that he wants them to be completely satisfied their purchases. I cannot overstate this last point. In short, Aamir offers fair pricing, very very quick shipping, and perhaps most important of all I have complete confidence that should I ever have a problem with a purchase down the road that Aamir will do whatever he can to make sure I am satisfied. Thus, I would definitely recommend buying from Aamir if you are looking for something that he carries. You will not get better customer service.

Now to the amplifier itself. Over the years, I have tried amplification from the likes of Bryston, Linear Tube Audio, Finale audio, ATC, Parasound, and Benchmark. Although all of the above amplification was good, I always felt like something was missing with each of the above brands. In general terms, my preference is for an amplifier that is detailed without being clinical or analytical sounding. For instance, the Benchmark AHB2 I had was very detailed, however, I found it too detailed over time and, for lack of a better expression, it lacked a certain emotional engagement that prevented me from having long listening sessions with it. The same was true of the of the Bryston amplification (to be fair I have not heard the newer Bryston amps). On the other hand, generally speaking, I found that with the Parasound, Finale Audio, and Linear Tube amplification, I was looking for a bit more detail. Thus, I was on the hunt for an amplifier that was detailed and yet smooth enough to allow for long listening sessions. Ultimately, I came across a review of the Numprime AMG STA online on a website called Hifi-Advice. That reviewer spoke in very positive terms about Nuprime. This lead me to Aamir and I ultimately acquired a pair of AMG STA's to run as mono blocks. I normally approach a hifi review with a healthy dose of skepticism, however, in this case the reviewer was spot on. The Nuprime house sound was exactly what I was looking for in terms of an amplifier that is highly detailed and yet smooth at the same time. I have had many listening sessions that went into the early hours of the morning. Thus, I began to wonder what Nuprime's higher offerings could bring to the table and got in touch with Aamir about an Evolution STA.

I admit that I was worried that going from the mono block AMG STA's to the Evolution STA might represent a bit of a down grade in terms of the bass control provided by the mono block amplifiers. I was also uncertain as to whether or not there would be enough of a difference to justify the extra cost. As it turns out, I did not have to worry. With the Evolution STA in the system, there was no perceived loss of bass control. Indeed, there was the same control, but with a more detailed bass than the AMG STA's. As cliche as it sounds, across the frequency spectrum, I was hearing things that I swear I had not heard before with the AMG STA's. The Evolution STA was able to do all this while retaining the detailed yet smooth sound signature that I really like about Nuprime amplification. The Evolution STA represents the best class D implementation I have heard. This is a truly end game type amplifier for me.

I will conclude this review by describing the system within which I listened to the Evolution STA:

Speakers: Paradigm Founder 100F and Dali Epicon 2
DACS: Bricasti M3, Denafrips Pontus 2, and Chord Mojo 2
Preamp: Denafrips Athena
Streamer: Auralic Aries G2

Again, thanks for everything Aamir.

After many years, I recently had a dedicated home theater and listening room built in my home. While I love the spatial effects of an outstanding home theater processor my passion has always been about the music. Any audiophile will tell you, that when great music and a great recording is reproduced as the artist intended it can be a transcendent experience for the listener. You can find scores of audio companies who claim to be the holy grail of music reproduction and some will charge you more than a house for it, but most of us cannot afford to pay stratospheric prices for a marginal benefit in sound quality. For me it is all about value and the quality of the listening experience. Which leads me to NuPrime. Previously I had owned NuForce AVP 18 home theater processor in a mini home theater set up. For the money it was great. It was surpassed by new technology so when I built my home theater I went with an Anthem AVM 60 ( I have since upgraded to the AVM 70 ). I purchased Tekton Double Impact speakers for my fronts with the impacts for the surrounds and Tekton atmos in ceiling speakers. The Tekton speakers are spectacular. They are extremely neutral speakers that will reproduce what ever signal they are given with amazing accuracy. That is a blessing and a curse. They will reproduce every nuance and nails on a chalk board fault a mediocre amp and processor will muster. With a great amp and processor the Tektons are ethereal. So, initially I was using a pair of NuPrime MCH K38 eight channel amps for an 11.2 system. I thought that the MCH K38 with two channels bridged for my fronts and center sounded wonderful. Then I had trouble with my AVM 60 processor. Anthem blamed it on the amps.

That's where Amir comes in. There was nothing wrong with my amps. It was all about a faulty processor although Anthem will never admit it. They kept blaming another piece of equipment or cables. Any way, I decided to buy new amps. Amir convinced me to try the Evolutions. I also went with the MCX-4 for my surrounds. Amir kept saying you will not believe the difference. I was skeptical but I took the plunge and have never looked back since. The Tektons have an incredible soundstage and exquisite detailing without sounding processed(I am talking about you Golden Ear Triton Reference to name one ). When I paired the Tektons with the Evolutions the sound stage became massive. You would think was using the all channel setting . My installer who is an audiophile was blown away. With respect to the detail and midrange the word that best describes it is ethereal. It reminded me of the Magnaplanar 3.6 or Martin Logan Renaissance when we using the Clase processor but better. Vocals, for example, by Diana Krall or Sarah Bareilis were lilting and much more life-like. They sounded great-taking and felt as if they were singing right there in my theater. I could hear the subtle raspiness of Diana Krall in a way I have never heard before. The separation of the instruments was incredible. The bass was much tighter as well. I would stack the Evolutions up against amplifiers costing 10 X more. If you can afford the Evolutions or even if you can afford 10 X more do not think twice about splurging on the Evolutions they are worth every penny with a set up that will match their performance.

With respect to Amir and his customer service in my 30 years of pursing musical excellence I have never met any one that is as knowledgeable, honest and who will stand by their product as Amir. I had an issue with the MCX4 and Amir rectified it promptly without question or issue. In the audiophile world there are companies that will promise you the stars and when their equipment fails, they leave you stranded. No accountability. No respect for the client. Anthem is one of those companies. I wish I had met Amir sooner and I would have bought the NAD MC 17 he recommends instead of the Anthem. I may still do that. I have known Amir long enough now that I trust his ear and opinion implicitly. If he tells you something will sound amazing, it will. All I can say is that I will be buying all my future audiophile equipment from Amir. He is a treasure in a world full of snake oil salemen.