I've been testing one of Belcanto's new e.One,s an S300, with my new Lipinskis. It's from the same series as the REF1000, and they advertise a "new" power supply as the difference between this series and their older models, so I suppose it's an ICE power supply. I've not posted about it here since it's still close to the break in stage...
For whatever reason, the Belcanto seems to REALLY need a break in (they recommended 200 hours). I just left iTunes playing when I left every night for a couple weeks, but the odd thing was that it really did sound better when I returned to work after it had been playing for it's first weekend. By contrast, Haflers and Brystons seem to change less during break in. But who knows? I'm certain my acoustic memory cannot span an overnight, much less a weekend!
This series DOES sound better than their older models however, and the whole experience is a bit spooky. The thing is TINY. It weighs the same or less than my Metric Halo MIO - roughly the same as a Neumann power supply! After running full volume for an entire weekend you'll be shocked to find it's top is ice cold. I've been having a blast freaking out clients by explaining what it is and asking them to pick it up (they expect it to be A) heavy B) hot)! And it looks cool too.
Sound wise, it's special in its neutrality. It's very unimposing, and uncolored. Input=Output. The best way to describe it is "more like headphones"; you know, phones are kind of microscopic, showing you grain and textures, revealing a layer of songs that gets lost on speakers including how crappy/crackly your cables are and image detail. The balance is the same, but the foreground seems a little closer, while background feels more real. By comparison the Hafler sounds like the NS-10-treatment (TP on the tweets) on my Lipinskis.
These aren't flattering amps. There's nothing in the amp to veil or mask or warm the signal. My room has a HUI, which we use for the PT rig and it's monitor control. The unpleasant noise and grainy character of the HUIs crappy analog section is revealed in all it's ugly glory by the S300. On lesser amps (like those in the self-powered speakers it was designed for) it's nastiness is massaged by the amplifier's self-noise, and less defined in character.
Before I checked it out BK told me about his experiences with the predecessor. He liked it but had some reservations. I'm not sure if he broke it in fully, or just didn't care for that series, but my observations concerning THIS series are different. I was prepared not to like it, based on his comments, but it won me over as it broke in. It's technically here on a 30 day returnable trial, but I don't think it's going back.
Good stuff.
-d-