Review on 🔊 Monolith Multi-Channel Power Amplifier - Black with 3x200 Watt Per Channel, XLR Inputs for Home Theater & Studio: Unleash Crystal Clear Audio Power by Nathan Barraclough

I doubt this will be short. Starting with the Yamaha 3050, the first receiver I ever owned, with completely silent hum (no static hiss from the speakers) and seemingly "high end" sound quality, along with my Atlantic Technology 350 speakers. 2200s everywhere). However, the 350s were starting to die, so I looked for other speakers of equal value and settled on the M&K S-150. Since they are voracious, I knew I needed a different, more powerful amp than the one in the receiver, so I went with the Emotiva XPA-5 2nd Gen. The combination of the Emotiva and M&K produced a super punchy, impactful sound. with a much, MUCH tighter midrange than before. However, there was. hiss. My speakers started to hiss again. Emotiva definitely nailed it. The highs were also a lot less crisp, but I had a hard time telling if it was the speakers or the amp since I swapped them all out at once. But some movies that I really enjoyed watching at high volume got annoying to my ears (Fury Road and The Fifth Element). Very disappointing. So I either needed new speakers or a different amp, but which should I upgrade first? - I have no money! The only speakers I'm looking to upgrade are going to cost over $3000 and I was considering going straight to an Outlaw balanced amp but they recently raised the prices so I went with the 5 channel monolith from Monoprice (with XLR inputs). RESULTS: So far I am very impressed. Not only do I have my dead silent background back, but everything sounds clearer and more impactful than before. I've seen movies that drove me crazy and definitely less irritating to my ears. For a minute I thought maybe the momentum wasn't enough, and then they would hit me in the chest. For example, when I watched Isle of Dogs (I didn't expect it to impress on the soundfront) the various drum sequences had amazing power and punch out of the speakers (they didn't seem to be coming from the subwoofers - my subwoofers didn't) . fast.) I have a hard time commenting on high frequencies. It's definitely better than the Emotiva, but I'm not sure it's as good as my Yamaha/350 combo. I hooked up the 350 straight from Yamaha and was blessed with that huge, enveloping, silky bubble of sound that I've been missing for so long. but that was all that was good with the sound. With the Monolith/150 it's more like a sterile laser shot aimed straight at you. Almost like mine with the Emotiva/150, but a little cleaner, smoother and sharper. Also, it seems to me that Emotiva and Monoprice owners sometimes complain about hissing. In fact, the Emotiva I got was straight from the factory (it was refurbished). I have a theory that this hiss has nothing to do with what any company would consider "poor" performance. Another question is whether that slight hiss is something that amplifies the signal and noticeably degrades the sound quality. However, so far the Monoprice definitely seems to be an update from Emotiva, but then again it was a Gen 2 and not a new Gen 3. I'm very satisfied so far.