"The Continuum No. 8 amplifier can deliver 150 amperes on dynamic peaks- this is one of the highest ratings of any amplifier on the market today."
"Every time I've had the opportunity to hear Coda products, they always sounded terrific and are simply gorgeous. The No. 8 is an extremely attractive looking piece with its beautiful looking blue-lit twin meters and very handsome engraved chassis work. It delivers 150 watts into 8 ohms and 300 watts into 4 ohms. The first 18 watts of power is pure Class A."
"The power supply takes a very direct approach to high performance. The current stage is capable of producing currents in excess of 100 peak amperes with a degree of linearity and speed that is not matched by other designs that produce only a fraction of this current. With such linearity and bandwidth, no overall feedback correction is used."
"This is one fast and powerful amplifier, which I attribute to its unbelievable amount of current that it can quickly deliver on any transient to control the speaker and re-create the dynamics/power of live music. Even at dB levels that could be harmful to one's hearing, the No. 8 amplifier never left its pure class A rating based on the output meters' peak ratings."
"The Continuum No. 8's presentation of the spatial dimensions of this recording was remarkable, in that my listening space was replaced with the hall. My assumption is that it was able to deliver this musical experience regarding micro-details and spatial cues because of how quiet its noise floor sounded to my ears compared to many other amplifiers that I have had in my system. The specification cited by Coda is: More than-110 dB referenced to rated output. My ears tell me that this might be the quietest amplifier I have ever had in my system."
"Because of this level of transparency, the smallest micro-details emerge, yet the overall mosaic of the music does not get deconstructed to the point where you lose the overall sense that the music is of one piece. I have had this experience when listening to some of the very costly mega-dollar amps from Swiss and German companies that are extremely transparent and are very hyper-detailed but sound like the music is under a microscope. With the Continuum No. 8, you hear everything, but unlike the aforementioned amplifiers, the Coda sounds more musical and presents no analytical characteristics to interfere with the flow of the music."
"The overall signature of the Continuum No. 8 amplifier is silky smooth, with a total absence of grain that allows a pristine presentation of the different harmonics of instruments and voices."
"Based on price and having listening experience with both of them, the two amplifiers that would be natural competitors with the No. 8 amplifier are the Parasound Halo JC 5 amp, which retails for $5,995, and the Bryston 3B amplifier, which retails for $5,495. Both are high powered single chassis designs. For my tastes, both of these amplifiers are bested by the No. 8 amplifier in three key areas. The Parasound and the Bryston both sound grainy and dry compared to the more smooth and pristine presentation of the Coda amplifier. Both the Parasound and Bryston do not create the life-sized soundstaging and space provided by the Coda No. 8. Finally, even though both the Parasound Halo JC 5 and Bryston 3B have higher wattage ratings than the No. 8 amplifier at 4 ohms, neither have the iron-fist control of the bottom end frequencies or the explosive macro-dynamics of the Coda Continuum No. 8."
"Priced at $4,900, the Pass Labs XA-25 sound is slightly warm while the Coda is smooth and silky in its overall presentation. Both are great. Both amps offer a liquidity and grainlessness that normally is only associated with tube-based amplification. The Coda No. 8 is very musical yet very detailed in ways that make me think that a fairer comparison would be my $13,5000 Pass Labs XA-60.8 monoblocks, which is a significant accolade for the Coda No. 8, as the Pass 60.8s are mean competitors costing far more money."
"The Coda No. 8 provides world class performance in such areas as thunderous macro-dynamics, total control over bass frequencies, and a non-existent noise floor, which combined allow the smallest details in the music to be heard clearly and easily."
"The amp never becomes analytical or mechanical sounding. It provides an overall beautiful and silky-smooth musical sound as well as an effortless presentation no matter how complex or dynamic the music that you are playing. For what the amplifier brings to the table, I believe that the asking price of $6,200 is a pretty fantastic bargain in high-end audio world today. Consider the check written." - Terry London, Home Theater Review
The Coda No. 8 and Coda 16 are both shipping nationwide at Destination HiFi & on display in our California Showroom.
818-732-1448
www.destinationhifi.com