A Winner! No Matter Which Way You Look, Tonewinner AD-1PA Power Amplifier

 

Tonewiiner AD-1PA is a solid power amp, weighting 40kg each! I do however find the front panel styling to be bland, blue LEDs aside

In Chinese business, a prosperous or auspicious name is very important for a good start, and Tonewinner is probably one such brand! When Audio Art started selling Tonewinner products about 2 years back, I remembered asking for a review sample, to which Ah Chee replied, "no need to review, this product sells by it self!, as nothing beats great quality and excellent price".

Fast forward till recently, my very own ATI Reference 6004 power amplifier was starting to act up after being in constant service for the last 6 years or so. The problem is one particular channel would shutdown prematurely constantly. So it was sent back to Audio Art for repairs. Ever accommodating, Ah Chee asked if I needed any courtesy amp in the meantime? I said "yes please!" and a few days later, 2 units of this Tonewinner AD-1PA came to my place. I asked why 2 units, Ah Chee replied, "I can still remember you're bi-amping kaki"   

The back panel is simple as should be, with 2 pairs of speaker terminals per channel

Actually, a few months back, I already got a glimpse of the Tonewinner AD-1PA in a friend's system, where he had the full set Tonewinner, from CD player to pre amp to power amp, driving a pair of Rogers LS-3/5A speakers. The sound from that system was very attractive and confident, which I kinda like. Now with the 2 units AD-1PA in my system as left-right mono block bi-amp set up, I was ready to fire up the system. The AD-1PA is mated to my Aesthethix Janus Signature tube pre-amp, which controls volume and switching between the various sources in my system.

Upon firing up the system, I already heard a very nice warmish tone playing in Class-A mode. I switched between Class-A and Class-AB modes, but found that I like the former sound better. Class-A runs the heatsinks hot, but not as hot as like those of my Pass Aleph 0 back then which will always be one of my reference power amp design. In Class-AB mode, the Tonewinner is just cool in temperature all the way. I let the subject matter run in for a few weeks before any serious listening session starts.

This is where it gets serious, in Class-A mode, the Tonewinner has a slight golden warm tonal quality, as opposed to low noise floor, high resolution & crystal clarity kinda sound that today's common amplifier sound. Not that Tonewinner has much noise floor or suffers in poor resolution either. It just doesn't shout those parameters only. With Tonewinner, the voicing is clearly focused on that slightly golden mid range tone, that refined airy treble, and solid, quick & punchy bass!(This is an area where the Pass Aleph design is clearly weakest) Also again comparing to my Pass Aleph reference, the Tonewinner has near zero white hash in the back ground. The Tonewinner doesn't shout high resolution either, yet, if the source captures it, it will be clearly laid bare to listen, albeit in a much subtle manner. Still in comparison to the Pass Aleph 0 which is a single end Class-A amplifier design, I feel the Tonewinner manages to avoid all the weaker points of the older Pass design, namely the Tonewinner doesn't go in to rose tinted mid range. The Tonewinner manages to balance between the treble refinement versus saccharin sweetness in high frequency response, and best of all the Tonewinner never get weak in knees in the bass area, much unlike the Pass Aleph.

When listening to the Tonewinner, I feel the Chinese had voiced it so finely balanced, not one particular sonic signature is ever more dominant. In the past, if one has to choose between tonal quality & sound stage, there is always a dilemma. With the Tonewinner, you can actually have both, and don't need to choose anymore! The scaling and sound stage to the Tonewinner is big scale & 3D. When playing in my room, my PMC IB-2i speakers disappears most convincingly. In many ways, the Tonewinner is voiced very much like an American muscle amp, the kick ass bass power, the textured presentation of instruments, and the big bold scale, all the very qualities I love in a power amp.

I only played the amp in Class-AB mode just for comparison sake only, but what I found was that music became flat without that slightly golden midrange tone, and the bass while still solid, has lost much it's kick, but does sound more refined, in a less textured way, much like a Lexus refinement, which just needs a bit of soul. When in Class-AB mode, the heatsinks are cool to touch and there's a feeling that the amp is just cruising only. After one session, I very quickly reverted to Class-A mode, heatsink expanding sound and all, if one is familiar with Class-A amplifier designs from the 80's. 

 

The insides of the Tonewinner AD-1PA is seriously designed with audiophile cues all over 

Here is showing off it's amplifier module coupled to the whole heatsink panel at both sides of the power amp

I got too excited and jumped straight to the sound section! The Tonewinner amp is rated 300W x 2 in either Class-A or AB mode, and when both amps operating in Class-A, actually draws close to 7 ampere in current. The AD-1PA is very solidly built too, at 40kgs each. Moving them up the flight of stair case to my man cave is a back breaking process. There are plentiful of audiophile cues in the build quality of the amp. Starting with the full aluminum, 5 compartment design chassis which isolates every aspect of the amplifier components from one another. The power transformer just behind the front panel, the power supply reservoir and regulators in the middle, the input board placed behind the rear panel, and the actual power amp section at both sides bolted to the heatsink as a module. Very nice indeed, but that's not all, even the four feet at the bottom corners are of honeycomb molded!( Looks like they learned a thing or 2 from Pioneer too!) My only gripe is that the front face plate looks a little on the plain Jane, in the silver and black surround design. Three function buttons are on the face plate, the big center button is an ON/OFF switch, the smaller one on the left selects the ClassA or AB mode of operation. A small button on the right functions as speaker terminal set A/B select. Pretty simple so far.

On the back panel, Tonewinner provides a choice between RCA or XLR input, with a selector in between and 2 pairs of speaker terminals on both left & right channels. An IEC power socket rounds things up. While the overall build quality is excellent throughout, the only area I think it cold improve is the heatsinks on both sides, which are still rather sharp and can potentially cut fingers or hands when attempting to move the amplifier.(Ah........ just like my favorite Pass Aleph amplifiers again!)    

With the Tonewinner AD-1PA pair in my room, I barely have space to tip toe around to the racks! 

At this point in time, I am still pondering if I should make the pair of  Tonewinner AD-1PA my permanent amplifiers in place of the ATI Reference 6004. The 2 box configuration really does take up much space, leaving me to tip toe around my system as I load my CDs or LPs at the racks. However sound wise, the ATI, despite being rated as 350W x 4, doesn't quite sounding any bolder or louder either. There's certainly a lack of that slight lusciously golden mid range tone, and that airy refined highs that my ears take comfort in every listening session with the ATI as compared to the Tonewinner. I have probably said this too many times already, but made in China hifi has come a long, long way in the last 30 years or so.

And at almost MYR13k a pop, or double that in my case, means spending some money again. Don't get me wrong here, at the asking price, the Tonewinner AD-1PA is not expensive at all, and given today's hifi inflation rates, it's probably some kind of a bargain even. When you factor in that winning Class-A sound quality, one can even spend double or triple the Tonewinner's price and maybe, just maybe can look forward to slight improvement in sound quality???

And that is the big question mark, that one will probably have go and spend 6 figures on an amp, to get some kind of meaningful sound quality improvement over the Tonewinner's asking price. As I deliberate on my hifi spending............................... Stay tuned!