Tonally, the Musician III is as neutral as they come?smooth across the octaves, and with top-notch interconnects and a good warm-up, not a whiff of spotlighting in the upper octaves. Treble is pristine and displays none of the whitish grain or transient blur that plagues many amps, Class D or otherwise. Yet it still sounds slightly muted on top, a bit lacking in the amount of air that liberates a recording?less so than the darker Rowland Model 201, cleaner than the Channel Islands, but not as extended as the Chapter Pr?cis (a Class D integrated design). This issue is only benignly subtractive, however, and it doesn?t dampen my enthusiasm for this amp. I have to admit that regardless of ?Class? the Spectron Musician III punched my time clock like few other amps I?ve heard.

Note: The TAS 166 review is a part of Special Report on Class D amps.