[Review] Bel Canto Evo 2i

Bel Canto Evo 2i

Seeing as I've had this integrated amp in my possession for nearly 2 weeks now, I suppose I had better note down my impressions here.

The marketing spiel from the manufacturer can be found at their website:

http://www.belcantodesign.com/html/p_evo2i.html

The amp was purchased second hand and imported from the US. Voltage changeover from 110V to 240V was easily achieved by removal of the case lid off and changing the position of two connectors on one of the motherboards. The previous owner had only put the amp through 50 hours of usage, and the condition upon delivery was indistinguishable from new. The manual recommends a 40 hour warm up period before optimal performance is achieved everytime the amp has been powered down for any significant amount of time. Additionally, initial burn-in time is reported to be in the region of several hundred hours, something which I personally find very hard to believe, but certainly there were notable improvements and changes in the sound during at least the first 3 days and then more subtle changes over the preceding week where the sound became more open and less dark sounding at the top end and a touch more committed and driven at the bottom end. The amp has been continually active during the past 2 weeks, with music being played through it even whilst I've been out of the house.

There were a number of things which struck me upon initially plugging the Evo2i into my system in place of the resident and more than familiar Pass Labs Aleph P and Gamut D200 pre/power combo that I've been using solid for the past 2 years. Firstly, the midrange was noticeably projected more forward in relation to the rest of the frequency range, this I felt to be a positive attribute as I felt that things might have been a touch recessed before; this mid forwardness was also not in the least bit uncomfortable. Secondly, the subjective pace seemed slower with a lot of familiar music on the Evo2i compared to how I was used to hearing it. Certainly compared to a lot of other amps I've heard, the Gamut gives a very fast and exhilarating ride with plenty of slam and life. The Evo2i in comparison seems more even-handed, leans towards inoffensiveness and is somewhat a control freak - almost reserved or uncommitted at times it seems.

One of the unmistakable characteristics of amps based on the various PWM technologies (i.e. class D or class T) is the absolute vice-like grip that they appear to have over the drivers in your speakers, IME. The Evo2i is no exception to this, and whilst I felt I was getting ultimately less extension and detail retrieval at the very extremes of the upper and especially the lower end of the frequency range, the overall impression of accuracy and stop-start of the frequency ranges it was covering were much more impressive. For certain types of music, especially more laid back or gentle styles, the Evo2i was a revelation. The Gamut is no slouch, it can play the gentle giant and be subtle despite its brute force capabilities, but the Evo2i grows, swells and caresses in a very delicate way that even made the Gamut seem slightly ragged and electronic by comparison. Then again, for more aggressive or upfront styles of music, the Gamut's ability to push harder and it's generally ballsier demur won the day. Actually, the Gamut punches harder, but appears to over shoot, whereas the Evo2i doesn't throw the punch as hard but gets the timing and consistency right everytime. Now, for me, I generally don't mind a bit more upper frequency hardness and/or low end wallop in trade for some over shoot or imprecision of timing/rhythmic delineation (others will prefer the precision of course).

Yes, the Evo2i is a more tuneful player of bass-lines and general overall timing due to the taughtness its speaker driver control and this is of course an area of notable improvement over what I had before, so a point scored for the musicality brigade there.

The soundstage is much more open, airier and generally bigger on the Gamut, by comparison the Evo2i presents a more homogenous but certainly not closed or lacking in ambience. I prefer the Evo2i's presentation because the image is more coherent, focused and fixed in position. Now, whether the Evo2i gives this impression through being ultimately less detailed and analytical especially in the upper HF region than the Pass/Gamut combo I was using before I'm not sure, but the Pass/Gamut I'd say is definitely more discriminating of source material feed into them. I've read some reviews that have said the Evo2i to be very transparent and revealing, well it is, but IME it's actually relatively forgiving too but without sounding obviously coloured or veiled. Certainly if the Evo2i were a power amp I'd certainly not consider the addition of a valve (or any other euphonic sounding) pre amp to drive it, as the harmonic richness in the mids that you usually associate with valve gear seems so apparently there in this solid state design, but without cloy or syrupiness. Perhaps Bel Canto's previous expertise with valve amplifiers have been intentionally rubbed off by its designers onto its Evo series of Class T amps; the Evo2i's immediate blood relative predecessor was the "SETi 40" valve integrated.

Until today I was faced with a bit of conundrum. Should I wait a bit longer to see if the Evo2i wakes up a bit more and gains a smidgen more life due to having a bit more burn in - I really do think it's fully burnt in now. Have some internal surgery performed to tweak out what's missing or go for broke and get a second-hand Evo4 (or Evo 200.4) and partner with a Bel Canto or Audio Synthesis passive pre. Well, the latter possibility would probably be the ultimate off the shelf solution, but it would defeat the object of the original exercise and that was to financially downsize and reduce the box count of my system. A bit of internal surgery may well be on the cards, but first priority is to get the Evo2i running off of a really good mains supply. I've own two different types of mains conditioners which I'm able to try the Evo2i out with. Today, WM brought around a prototype main conditioner unit that he's been developing, and well I would guess this might not put the Evo2i into the same league as a bridged Bel Canto power amp but it gave me a and injected a useful step up in assertiveness and gave even more refinement both at the same time. Oh, and I now know what the meaning of “long throw†viz the woofers in my speakers is all about!
:banana:

 

Nice review Henry, very interesting. I was seriously considering one of these until the Audio Research came up at the right price.

 

I too was considering one of these, but then copped out and got the S300...

And you've had the lid off already... I haven't had the lid off the S300 (partly because I haven't got a torx bit.... actually, now that I think of it, I do have one which might even be the right one....).

Interesting to see that the Evo2i is quite different to the 200.2/200.4 internally. The latter two use the older Tripath TDA0104 chipset, whilst the 2i uses the newer TA3020 driver. Ok, so that's just me being electronics geeky....

I think I might need to hear this omiga power conditioner on the S300...

 

TBH, I was quite surprised you were considering/ended-up with a tube based amp. Was it always on the cards, or just one of those things where someone else suggested you should take a listen? Did you actually get to hear an Evo 2i during your amp hunt?

Well, it's not normally my style to remove the lid on a piece of kit seeing as I'm not really a DIYer by nature, but seeing as I had to do so to do the voltage changeover seeing as it was originally configured for US voltages.

I should imagine that the Evo 2/4/6 power amps also use the newer chipset. Any idea what the main differences are between the driver two chipsets?

It did have a rather significant impact, IMO. My system does sound rather broken now without it by comparison! :cry:

 

Strangely not... The Evo 4 is the 200.4 with a new fascia. The Evo 2 is a 200.2 with the 1500VA transformer out of the 200.4 in place of the original 538VA transformer. I don't know about the 6.

 

eVo 6:

 

TBH I wasnt on an amp hunt at all until I heard the AR driving my Proacs. A wonderful combination. A further week on home dem convinced me that I couldnt go back.

As for tubes v solid state, I'll go with whatever amp sounds the best, I am not bothered what technology it uses!

 

From that pic, the 6 also uses the older 0104 chipset. Not that it's a bad thing (WM's 200.4 sounds stunning), just interesting the change...

 

The Evo6 runs the same Transformer as the 4, just utilises the other tap & has another module.
There is a MKIII tripath module now, although they did forget to mention they'd changed 32 of of the pin configurations and swopped some +/- 50V rails, made for an interesting pryotechic display anway

 

Interesting, so it looks like the 2i is almost like the black sheep of the family!

Know what you mean. I wasn't looking for new speakers either at the time, until I heard some lower end Magnepanar (aka Maggies) that happened to be being used in one of the rooms I went into at last year's Bristol show which then got me onto the idea of stats/panels. Not sure the Verity's will be up for sale now, I'm wavering, but that's not to say I wouldn't snap up a pair of s/h ESL-989's at the right price and have two sets of speakers I can swap between depending upon mood!

 

Antonio,

Did you buy your Evo 6 from within the EU or from the US?

Just wondering how you did the voltage change if purchased from the US? I'm guessing you flick a switch which appears to be both on yours and WM's power input board, whereas on the 2i I have you have to change position of connectors.

 

So, clearly now the 2, 4 and 6 are exactly the same box and txfmr and so on, just with 1, 2 or 3 boards in. The 200.2 was not quite the same due to the lower spec txfmr.

However, there was much that said that the 2i was simply a 200.2 in a box with the innards of the Pre1 minus a single stage and $1600 cheaper. The change from TDA0104 to TA3020 means, however, that is clearly not the case. They will probably sound very similar indeed, but the 3020 brought about a few changes, which could be significant...

However, glad to see that you're happy henry!

 

Thats my understanding too...

Henry,

I haven't bought anything yet, still negotiating the price with Bel Canto, as I will order direct from them... :MILD:

 

I've read the review that talked about this interesting point too.

It wouldn't be easy to do a meaningful A/B test of an Evo 200.2/Pre 1 combo against the Evo 2i seeing as there is no way of by-passing the pre amp in the 2i and so drive the power amp section direct. I would still hazard a guess that the 2i in stock form is a bit softer and mellower in sound than the rest of its Evo relatives - not that the other Evo's are hard or harsh sounding by nature IMO. Aside from the two different versions of the Tripath driver chipsets being used, I wonder if upgrading the transformer in the 2i to a bigger one would make it sound more like the bigger Evo amps..? Or whether the benefits of running in bridged/dual-diff mode (something the 2i can't do) would be the more significant issue than the transformer..?

Ah, I see. I take it you're able to do that because Bel Canto don't actually have a distributor in Portugal?

 

Right, if there are no problems with the unit and I like the sound, I will save some euros... :MILD:

 

Wait until you see what the customs are going to charge you :JOEL:

Actually, let me know what that costs you because I'm wondering whether to get my new pre sent to the UK instead to avoid the excessive Portuguese customs charges.

Michael.

 

Tut, Tut Micheal, a good clean living and fine upstanding memeber of the community contemplating such a manouve' what is world coming too

 

Nothing illegal about it Tone If anything's illegal (well, criminal at any rate) it's the charges you have to pay on top of the standard VAT and import duty. Customs agent handling fees and stamp duty for example :inferno: . Also, VAT here is 19% and not 17.5% as in the UK. It all depends how large and heavy the box is going to be because if I have to send it to myself from London (instead of taking it with me on the plane) that's bound to cost as much as the extra Portuguese charges.

Michael.

 

By the way, Tone,

I wonder what, in your experience, suits best the Bel Canto, a well screened PC like the VDH or another with higher gauge wire, but apparently less isolation...

 

Antonio, what cables are you referring to sir ? Interconnects or speaker?
I do have a question for you though?, how are you planning to use the B/c if you buy it?
Are you going to use it as 6 channel? or bridged to power fronts + centre ?
I would certainly agree with merlin, using the dual differencial method is bar far the best. in standard stereo mode, they are a very fine amp, in dual diff they really are some thing else
I' would like an Evo 6 for the centre & rear channels (bridged) would make for entertaining film watching & neigbough grief