SORAYA CB105 - Retail Only

Soraya CB105 with top cover removed

The Soraya CB105 is the flagship power amplifier from Aspen. This bipolar transistor, Class AB power amplifier is the distillation of more than 12 years of painstaking R&D to produce a man/machine interface of resounding clarity. The Soraya delivers an audiophile experience of profound musical intensity, crossing the threshold of tube 'warmth' to a new territory of sonic intimacy. Every detail of the recording is heard in its complete original environment; the noise performance is vanishingly low, and the presentation so natural that the realism is utterly palpable. The Soraya delivers 105 watts RMS into an 8 ohm load and 195 watts into a 4 ohm load. The amplifier possesses effortless load tolerance, driving electrostatic loudspeakers with consummate ease down to 2.5 ohms. Input sensitivity for 100W output into 8R is 740mVrms into 44K. The Soraya uses a unique voltage amplifier topology and has a closed loop gain of 30.3dB, with 3dB points at 15Hz and 35Khz, limited solely by input filters. Global negative feedback is limited to 16.5dB. Distortion is primarily second and third harmonic, and measures less than 0.007% at 50W into 8R, at all frequencies from 20Hz to 20Khz.

What these specifications do not reveal is the listening experience, which somehow combines extraordinary resolution with a smooth, refined and intense musicality. Any hint of a surgical, sour presentation so common with solid state is completely eliminated with this amplifier. Measured specification is one thing, but it belies the intangible qualities of musicality and engagement, which rank with the finest solid state Class A devices for resolution, whilst rivalling the very best single ended triodes for engagement.

The Soraya, which debuted at RMAF Denver in October 2007, is named after the designer's daughter, a feisty, well educated young woman now living and working in London. The amplifier was developed specifically to overcome the problems of semiconductors operating in voltage gain mode using the problematic common emitter configuration. Common emitter configuration is normally used for the voltage amplification stage (VAS), but suffers from Miller capacitance and Early effect, well known parasitic problems related to this solid state topology. Together with the Bode/Nyquist criteria for stability, these parasitics combine to create distortion artefacts which are extremely difficult to eliminate in conventional designs. Traditionally high feedback factors have been used to ameliorate, but never completely eliminate, these distortions. The Soraya uses a grounded base VAS which is driven at very low impedance with 100% current drive. The VAS operates in constant current into very high, fixed impedance; with current gain incorporated to drive up open loop gain by a further 16.8dB. Phase margin is extended to 100 degrees - a very high measure of stability into difficult loads. The design strategy addresses in particular the poor high frequency performance of the conventional voltage amplifier (VAS) which has limited the sonic presentation of conventional SS amplifiers for many decades.

The Soraya is something very special. All who hear this amplifier are transfixed with the sound quality. This is not something easy to miss; it is vividly apparent on first listening, and still brings a smile to audiophiles after months of listening. Delivering this level of satisfaction is a reward to designer and purchaser alike.

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