WORLD PREMIERE

Some discreetly tapped on the forehead, they made it clear that these were not furniture. Yes, you could "build" something with it, but it was not furniture. Well, it's true: these are not furniture. These are flaps that can be joined turned into whatever you want, not traditional furniture [...]. [It] is like a uniform for an apartment, in which you can sew up buttons differently, or baste as you like.

Jacek Kowalski, Meble Kowalskich, Dębogóra 2014, ss. 181, 183

he beginnings of something that in a short time has become in Poland - and not only – a standard, ie segment furniture, known simply as "segments", was mentioned in this way by Bogusława Kowalska, their, together with her husband Czesław, co-creator. This type of furniture had its glory days in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century, but later it was only worse. Initially, they were seen as a unique opportunity to furnish a typical, small apartment in a block in such a way that gave each of them somewhat individual character, because that's what the “segment” furniture was all about.

It soon turned out, however, that the furniture industry could not cope with technical requirements and simplified their construction, eliminating the possibility of composing furniture sets according to buyers' tastes. The other side was also not without fault, because the recipients turned out to be much more passive than the Kowalskis assumed, and they selected usually typical sets, setting them up in their apartments the same way as the others. In this way, the idea of the - as we would say today - modular system has lost its raison d'être, discredited by low quality, boring, uniform furniture present in most Polish apartments.

But a modular construction is an extremely attractive concept, also from the electronics point of view, where it has been fully developed. It allows setting up systems of any components, which reminds me of the principle of LEGO bricks - though not entirely - so that on the one hand they can be specialized and on the other you can save money. Example? - Perversely, I will point out the furniture - an audio rack - the Modular by the Polish company Franc Audio Accessories, tested by us in March 2017 (No. 155).

However, while in a professional audio is quite common technique, in the home audio is almost absent. Why? It is hard to say, but probably some part plays the audiophiles attachment to ready-made solutions. It may well be that we like to match, choose and change components, and the modular construction binds us with one producer, one idea, and one structure.

Among the companies that have done it and are good at it I should mention above all: Meridian, Ch Precision and Accuphase. In terms of the concept, the device closest to the tested device is the latter. Both offer a basic module - an amplifier – plus interchangeable "cards" that can be installed, only in the Thrax case they are mounted inside, so they require a visit from the manufacturer's or distributor's service man, or the device has to be taken to an authorized dealer.

| Ares

Ares is the god of war in Greek mythology and the father of Thrax, who is the patron of Thrace – thus also of Bulgaria. He had more children, among them - according to some myths - a daughter, Enyo. Both - Ares and Enyo are associated with the war. But that's not the point, because the choice of names was probably due to their relationship with Thrax, the name of the whole company. I recall them, however, not by accident. Presented for the first time during the High End 2017 in Munich they are two sides of one coin. These are integrated amplifiers with the option of adding (also later) modules that expand their functionality - Ares is a solid-state device, and Enyo a tube one. In this way, the user has a choice from the start - he can adjust the basic segment to his system and requirements, and later its functionality can be expanded.

The basic Ares module - because we focus on it - is an integrated amplifier, featuring four line inputs - one symmetrical XLR and three asymmetrical RCAs, capable of delivering up to 120 W at 8 Ω and 200 W at 4 Ω. It is a very heavy device made of milled aluminum blocks. Thrax is really good at it and it is known that in their factory many European, Japanese and American top high-end devices - amplifiers, CD players and audio servers, turntables, DACs, tonearms, and so on, are built.

The internal structure of the tested amplifier seems to be simple, just like the design of tube amplifiers featuring 300B, 211 and 845 triodes seems to be simple (eg The internal structure of the tested amplifier seems to be simple, just like the construction of tube amplifiers based on the triodes 300B, 211 and 845 seems to be simple (e.g. Kondo OnGaku). The preamplifier section is passive, discrete, based on separate resistors switched by relays. This gives a fantastic simplification of the signal path, because there are always only two resistors in the signal's path: serial and parallel. The signal prepared in this way goes to separate output stages integrated with their power supplies. Although it looks simple, such - and not only - solutions make it a unique amplifier.

The output stages look “classic” at first glance, it is a AB class design working in push-pull mode. However, the controlling circuit for power transistors is company's own solution. The company has previously practiced this type of connection in large hybrid amplifiers: the control section is a single-ended one and is supposed to simulate A-class operation, but without excessive heat production.

As it reads in the company materials, it is an "exotic" transconductance, ie current, system - Rumen Atarski, Thrax's CEO, confirms this in the text below. It is characterized by the coefficient of transmittance (instead of gain), i.e. the ratio of the output current to the input voltage. And indeed, it is not often found in other devices, although we have seen earlier such systems, for example in the B.M.C. preamplifier. Much more often it is used in power amplifiers - see Tenor Audio, Audia Flight and others.

Let add that each output stage's power supply features a large toroidal transformer. For this review we have receive such a basic version.

RUMEN ARTARSKI
CEO

Rumen Atarski (on the right) talking to Chief Editor of „HIFICRITIC”, Mr Paul Messenger. Behind them you can see both new amplifiers – Enyo on the left and Ares on the right. Photo taken during High End Show 2017 in Munich.

The ARES power amplifier module has been in development for over 5 years. We did multiple solid-state "experiments" and found most to be not worth the effort. Class A operation and no global feedback sounded a lot better but the heat generated was too much, so the challenge was to keep the sound quality and get rid of the heath.

We researched Japanese designs from the 70's and 80's using non switching class AB amplifiers. They were calling them with all kind of trade names like super Class A, Class AA and many others all with the same goal of keeping the output devices constantly on. At the end of the day we found out that non of them deliver what they promise. In this moment we gave up on the complete concept and called it quits for a while until I came across and interesting article about how closely transistors track an exponential function over very wide signal amplitudes. This gave us an idea about a new biasing method that keeps a minimal current trough the output device no matter the voltage and current swing. An engineer dedicated for a year on the project got it stable and scalable, so now this is our own tech. I just have to come up with some weird name for it.

The amplifier topology is a push-pull output buffer with the above mentioned bias arrangement. As buffer means no gain the preceding stage is yet another buffer again with no gain. This one is needed to stop any possible interaction between the output stage and the voltage amplifier, but this one is different, it is a single ended class A job with liquid sound. The voltage gain is done with an Opamp at the input of the circuit. These 3 parts operate totally independent of each other. The whole lot is DC coupled.

Sonically I am happy as we have achieved the grain free texture of good tubes with some solid state specific punch.

Anyway this is only about the amplifier module. The other interesting bit is the Digital board. It was designed from scratch for this project. It is a piece of work on it's own. As any DAC it has SPDIF/AES and TOSLINK inputs but those are of not much interest these days. We added a Bluetooth 4.2 AptxHD, XMOS USB with DSD support and a streaming module from a company in Korea offering support for Roon, Tidal and MQA as well as DLNA and AirPort. The input board takes all those incoming signals and depending on the user choice applies filtering, dithering, re-sampling,  format conversion and re-clocking in order to supply the audio data to a DAC module siting on top.

Ares premiere during High End Show 2017 in Munich.

The DAC module is a differential implementation of an r2r industrial chip. It also accommodates the clocking  for all of the above. This way we have all devices operating from the same clock as slaves (except AES/SPDIF/Toslink) assuring jitter free data transfer and conversion. The core on the input board is configured via software to supply the DAC with correct data rate and format for the specific DAC used. So as an example if you feed DSD signal via the USB input it will be processed and converted to PCM to supply the r2r dac chips. There are a bunch of hidden features for the future as well. We had to draw the line somewhere as this is intended to be affordable :-) The board being too complex proved that software and deadlines are incompatible, so we will start delivery of the digital boards end of this month.

The amplifier can be controlled either by means of buttons on the front panel or by a small, nice Apple Remote. The buttons on the amplifier are integrated in black acrylic plate, which also covers the mentioned display. Actually these are not really buttons, but sensors, because it's enough to touch them to trigger a reaction. The display is excellent and is a response to the needs of music lovers in their forties, because the letters and numbers are really big on it. With no modules installed, we can read the volume level and the selected input on it, and in the menu we will be able to adjust balance and access the "learning" mode of the remote control.

The volume level is controlled via two buttons - I will stick to that name - with horizontal arrows, which is a different solution than used usually. It will take some time for you to get used to changing the inputs - first, you touch the arrow button, the name of the selected input appears at the bottom of the display, and then you confirm the selection with another button. Therefore, it will be much easier to control it using remote control. This one can "learn" commands, i.e. you can assign them to specific buttons. In the unit we received for the test the standby mode was hidden under the start / pause button.

HOW DID I LISTEN

The Thrax Audio amplifier was tested in the „High Fidelity” reference system and compared to Ayon Audio Spheris III preamplifier and Soulution 710 power amp. Both drove Harbeth 40.1 loudspeakers placed on Acoustic Revive Custom stands made for me by Mr Ken Ishiguro. In both cases I used Acoustic Revive SPC-3.0 Triple-C speaker cables.

For this test I used two digital sources: Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition, powered with Siltech Triple Crown Power, and Lumïn T1 powered with Acoustic Revive Power Reference Triple-C. Signal from Ayon was sent to amplifier using Siltech Triple Crown RCA interconnect, and from Lumin with Acoustic Revive RCA-1.5 Triple-C FM. The Ares was powered using Acoustic Revive Power Reference Triple-C with RAS-14 Triple-C filter.

It was an A/B comparison with A and B known. Since switching speakers cables from one amp to the other took some time I listened to four tracks in a row on one and then switched to the other.

Recordings used for the test (a selec- tion)

Compact Disc

• Ombra Mai Fù, Pachelbel: Canon, wyk. I Solisti Italiani, Denon COCQ-85325, „Denon Classics Best”, Ultimate HQCD (2017)
• Jean-Michel Jarre, Essential Recollection, Sony Music Labels SICP-30789, BSCD2 (2015)
• Jean-Michel Jarre, Oxygene, Dreyfus/Mobile Fidelity UDCD 613, gold-CD (1976/1994)
• Radiohead, OK Computer. OKNOTOK Edition, XL Recordings/Beat Records XLCDJP868, 2 x Ultimate HiQuality CD (1997/2017)
• Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Prestige/Victor VICJ-60158, XRDC (1956/1998)
• Takeshi Inomata, The Dialogue, Audio Lab Record/Octavia Records OVXA-00008, SACD/CD (1977/2001)
• Thelonious Monk, Solo Monk, Columbia/Sony Music Japan SICP-30247, Blu-spec CD2 (1965/2013)

Tidal

• Aretha Franklin, A Brand New Me: Aretha Franklin (with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Rhino/Atlantic/Tidal, MQA Studio 24/44,1 (2017)
• Art Blakey & Jazz Messengers, Three Blind Mice, Blue Note/Tidal, FLAC 44/1/16 (1962/?)
• Steve Wonder, Intervisions, Tamla/Tidal, MQA Studio 24/96 (1973/?)
• Post Malone, Rockstar Republic/Tidal FLAC 44,1/16 (2017)
• Camila Cabello, Havana, Epic - Syco/Tidal FLAC 44,1/16 (2017)
• ZAY, Dusk Till Down, RCA/Tidal FLAC 44,1/16 (2017)
• AronChupa, Llama In My Living Room Tidal FLAC 44,1/16 (2017)

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Japanese issues available at

The Thrax amplifier has, at least from my point of view, a pleasantly set timbre. I could write that it is "perfectly set", because I actually mean it, but I would prefer to avoid exclamation marks and hyperbole, because the amplifier itself avoids this type of behavior. Its sound is very cool, nice and pleasant. And this is due to the great fluidity and - I will repeat - very well set timbre.

This is a kind of dark sound, because it resembles the sound of turntables playing with the stereotype of "analog" sound, but it is also detailed in the top area of the band. It delivers a lot of information about what is happening there. Along with the information on the size of the instruments, usually resulting from the choice of location for microphones and / or mastering.

After all, Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus, released on the XRCD disc, and The Dialogue by drummer Takeshi Inomata from the Japanese label Audio Lab Record on SACD sounded completely differently. Both have been remastered from the original analog master tapes, which is important. Let me remind you that only the first incarnation of XRCD (without '2' and '24' at the end) guarantees that the material has been remastered in JVC studios from the analog master tape. Both XRCD2 and XRCD24 allow the possibility of a digital remaster, from the sent material that someone else transferred from an analogue tape. There will be more such cases, because no reasonable man allows sending original tapes across the ocean anymore!

My point is that the Rollins disc has a perspective set bit further away from listener, slightly smaller phantom images, and the Japanese recorded the material in such a way that the instruments seem to be close to us, above all the cymbals. It's a warmer sound than with Saxophone ..., but equally dynamic. It seems that there is a light patina between the instruments, which was not present on the recording of the American saxophonist.

The Bulgarian amplifier this type of subtlety presented without hesitation. And yet the last word that came to my mind when I listened to it was "selective." Resolving - yes, but selective - not quite. I think that this is due to the chosen compromise: the amplifier greatly differentiates tone, size, dynamics, but without clear imaging and without the ultimate transparency.

Which was very well showed with the Solo Monk album, on which the piano was very natural, large, rich, but it did not have an unambiguously drawn shape, it wasn't breathing and was not as resonant as with the reference system, nor - if I remember correctly - with separate Thrax Audio systems. It's inevitable, you can not do everything equally well for half the price. What Rumen with his people achieved, however, was a presentation filled with music's subcutaneous nerve and mood.

Ares is not a device to monitor/analyze recordings, because it shows rather larger plans, large constructions and does not focus on the detail. But it is this behavior, along with - as I said - well, with attention and love matched timbre, as well as high dynamics that makes us listen to this amplifier effortlessly, with true pleasure. And yet, the last thing I would say about this presentation is that it is boring - on the contrary, it provides information building sound from the bottom, which is a solid foundation of any good presentation.

Also, with seemingly less sonically attractive material, Ares shows the same features. It will not bring more dynamics than it has been recorded, will not change the tonal balance, etc., but will allow you to listen to any music in a good mood. A good example of this is the compilation of music by Jean-Michel Jarre entitled Essential Recollection released in 2015 by Sony on the BSCD2 disk.

In general, I don't like compilations, but with few exceptions - this material was remastered a little differently than the other releases of the French artist, because it sounds lower, deeper, more emphasis is placed on the midrange. Perhaps this is why, but also thanks to Ares, the sharp edges of treble did not hurt my ears, that are usually particularly annoying on the Zoolook, nor was the nerve lost, thanks to which the Magnetic Fields sound so well still today.

I went on and using the Lumïn T1 file player I listened to the track recommended by the editors of Tidal in the "Top 20", including: Post Malone and Rockstar, Camila Cabello and Havana, ZAYN and Dusk Till Down and also Llama In My Living Room by AronChupa. These are all recordings characteristic for formatted radio stations, e.g. RMF FM, Radio ZET etc., also known from music clubs - in other words, listened to by millions.

Ares played them in a very pleasant way, because it was warm, without a hint of sharpness and brightness, with a strong bass, which was certainly supported by Lumïn's own sonic character. But it was also a presentation that would not please everyone, certainly not those who know these recordings from a car radio. There was no aggressiveness, no sharpness, not even a proper drive. On the other hand, they finally made sense, because music – I'm talking about successful songs - was complemented with words, I listened to this music in comfort. Of course, it was even better with "Masters" recordings, i.e. encoded in MQA, especially 24/192, but even these did not change the basic structure of this sound: encouraging, slightly warm, soft.

I treat all these terms as compliments, these are the advantages. If we are looking for relaxation in music, we do not want to race with anyone, only such type of presentation will fulfill such expectations. The more so because the amplifier does not slow down music. As I showed at the beginning, with recordings in this respect flawless, this device presented a very good dynamics. So if the pop recordings sounded in this way, it was because some distortions that in their car systems created their "identity", their sound, were removed from them.

It is also an amplifier that delivers rhythmic bass. It goes deep, it is rich and dense and more powerful than in the reference system. Tidal sounded very seriously, deep, especially from good MQA 24/192 recordings, like Neal Young and The Eagles. And the CDs and SACDs played from Ayon sounded even better. It was a full-blooded sound, a bit warm, but always intrinsically organized and attentive. There is of course the possibility that something will disturb you, the bass will not resound too quickly etc. I will say it only once: Ares will only show the problem of the system, or room, it will not be its "fault". Yes, the tonal balance is shifted down the band. It's just that kind of sonic character.

Summary

Ares is an amplifier for people who know what is important in life and who do not have to chase anything anymore, struggle with anything - or at least that is how they would like to live like. It delivers a mature, smooth sound, as the MOS-FET based amplifiers used to. It is resolving and dynamic, and being warm it is not closed from the top. It "remasters" poorly made recordings, which will lose "nerve". In return, they will make sense. The device is well-built, features great mechanical as well as the electrical design. Also, it is a modular construction. This is an expensive amplifier, but it's difficult to stay indifferent to it. Well deserved RED Fingerprint należy się i już.

Ares is a heavy device and it's as heavy as hell. And this is primarily due to the “armored” aluminum housing, as well as two solid power transformers. The housing is actually made of two blocks of aluminum, milled from the inside, working also as heat sink. The amplifier produces a lot of heat and you have to ensure a lot of free space around it. It stands on four small aluminum feet.

Front and back

The main attraction at the front panel is the large TFT display. It displays the volume level and selected input, and in the streamer mode, the album cover and information about it. On both sides there are three buttons, which change the volume, input and allow entering menu. They are marked with icons known from computer devices, sych as streamers. On the back you will find see very nice, gold-plated, comfortable to use loudspeaker terminals and two sections of inputs. Above there is a digital section - in the tested version, unoccupied - and below an analogue one.

If you choose to add DAC and streamer cards, the slots will show the sockets for the digital inputs: coaxial, BNC, AES / EBU and USB, and next to them also LAN (RJ-45). Analog input sockets are permanently present - three unbalanced RCAs and one symmetrical XLR pair. The RCA line 1 input can be converted to a phono input, so there is a grounding terminal next to it.

The IEC power socket is connected to the fuse socket and the mechanical mains switch.

Inside

The device is truly minimalistic, but at the same time well thought out. High quality input sockets have been soldered to a PCB with an attenuator. This is a discrete attenuator with surface soldered resistors that are switched in relays; at each level of the volume there are only two resistors in signals path - serial and parallel. Switching the relays is executed by two ULN2803 integrated circuits from Texas Instruments. The preamplifier is powered by a separate power supply, which it shares with the display and logic circuits. This whole section carries a signal in a symmetrical form.

After the signal is attenuated, it is sent to the power amplifiers with short balanced cables. The one for the left channel runs along with the power cables. The power amplifiers have separate power supplies, which are placed on the same boards - this is a dual mono circuit, because each output stage has its own (toroidal) transformer supplying symmetrical voltage. The bridge uses discreet "Shottky silicon carbide" diodes.

Ares is a three-stage amplifier, with a voltage amplifier in the input section - integrated circuits - unity gain buffer (single-ended gain = 1) working in class A and a push-pull current buffer working in AB class, unity gain (gain = 1) in the output. The power amplifiers work with two pairs of bipolar ON transistors per channel -MJW1302 + MJW3281, and they are controlled by 2SA1837 + 2SC4793 transistors, also bipolar ones. All transistors were bolted to a large L-shaped element, and this one to the chassis. The signal to the output sockets is carried out with nice Furutech μ-OFC FS-303 cables. This is quite old, but still popular design - copper OFC cable with cryogenic treatment and demagnetization, called α (Alpha) -Conductor.

The system input is balanced, as is the current section. Between them, however, there is a single-ended voltage buffer, which - as the company materials say - "bring flow and smoothness of class A, along with its textures, without generating a heat accompanying this class". Therefore, it is not a fully balanced system. These drivers are powered by a stabilized voltage. The amplifier features no global feedback and there are no DC coupled capacitors in the signal path

Remote

The remote control comes from Apple and wears the appropriate Apple Remote name. It came to market in 2005 and was initially intended only for the Apple products. Due to its great design and reliability, it quickly found recipients from the entire industry, including specialist audio ones. It is made of aluminum, it is small, has two fixed buttons and a circle with four buttons and a button inside. It is really handy.

It is a very solidly built, classic device with many solutions known from the most expensive, separate devices.

Technical specifications (according to manufacturer)

Nominal output:
2 x 120 W/8 Ω | 2 x 200 W/4 Ω
Inputs: 1 x XLR | 3 x RCA
Dimensions (W x H x D): 432 x 400 x 120 mm
Weight:12 kg