Simaudio MOON i3.3
By Michael Wong
March 2010
Simaudio MOON i3.3 integrated amplifier. $6000-$7600
New arrival to the New Zealand audio scene, Simaudio, is a well established (since 1980) Canadian company whose reputation was built on their stylish, high performance amplifiers. Later their repertoire expanded to include digital playback and home theatre equipment.
From the outside the Moon i3.3 looks like any other high-end integrated amplifier. It’s well built with a solid metal fascia, a large tactile volume control and a very legible, switchable red LED display. Hefty side panels doubling as (finger friendly) heat sinks and the rattle-free damped metal lid show careful attention to detail. Look through the top vents and you can see the large 400VA toroidal power transformer. Another nice touch is the inclusion of a front panel analogue input mini-jack (labelled MP, Media Player) for connecting your portable devices.
Around the back we find various high quality input connectors, some chunky multi-way speaker cable binding posts, the main power switch and a few surprises. A generic but functional plastic RC5 coded remote control completes the presentation.
Under the conservative Clark Kent exterior lurks a real Superman of an amp. Better make that Wolverine, a Canadian comic book character more appropriate for this analogy. The large power supply allows the amp to output 100wpc into 8 ohms or 200wpc into 4 ohms, with the first five watts in Class A. Perhaps even more important is the healthy 22A of output current. Enough to satisfy current hungry speakers like my Magnepans.
Where the Moon trumps most of the competition is in its modular design that allows the basic amplifier to be enhanced with some very useful options.
The first is the “D” DAC board ($800) featuring a 196kHz/24-bit Burr-Brown converter with four digital inputs; Toslink optical, 2x RCA S/PDIFs and USB. Second is the “P” MM/MC phono stage ($600) with adjustments for resistance loading, capacitance loading and gain. Finally there is an “X” balanced input option ($300) that provides a single set of balanced inputs.
When fully spec’d in one hit the price comes down to $7600, a saving of $200 over the individual prices. The review sample was supplied in fully loaded DPX spec.
All but the balanced input option was sampled as I don’t currently have any sources with a balanced output. Vinyl replay was via a Well Tempered Turntable with Shelter 501/MkII cartridge, digital replay primarily by a Marantz CD-23 (supplemented by Pioneer and Panasonic), auxiliary sources from Denon, Nakamichi and Sony rounded out the music providers. Loudspeakers from Magnepan, AR and Energy. Cabling by XLO, MIT, Stax and Audioquest.
Everything just sounded right
Listening to music through the Moon was a most enjoyable experience. Everything just sounded right. Music was presented in a colourful and engaging manner without being over-analysed or obscured.
Tonally the amp was warm (natural musical warmth, not the faux tube warmth many solid state designers are so fond of), smooth and forgiving. Highs were clean and reasonably extended, with good clarity and detail. Mids were smooth and lucid. Bass was not overly extended or particularly potent but was tuneful and filled out the bottom end nicely. Overall the sound was well balanced, without any undue emphasis on any part of the audible spectrum.
Soundstaging wasn’t quite as explicit as my Krell reference amplifier but the Moon more than adequately conveyed the sense of space on a recording and reproduced images with good dimensionality and realistic size. Transparency was also of a high standard, with just a touch of darkness and none of the spotlighting effect of some amplifiers.
Dynamics were slightly softened but the Moon did a good job portraying the power and excitement in music with an excellent sense of control, coupled to plenty of impact and punch.
The phono stage stood out as an excellent performer, with just some roll-off at the frequency extremes, a slight flattening of perspective and softening of dynamics. Overall bettering the cheaper stand-alone phono preamps and getting close to the benchmark sub-$1000 phono preamps.
The optional DAC also put on a fine performance, doing a fine job with my digital disc players. The exception was with my Marantz CD-23 as a transport. The Moon not quite matching the Marantz’s onboard DAC, showing a very slight loss of immediacy, reduced dimensionality and tunefulness.
A real winner
Simply put, this is one of the most enjoyable amplifiers I have heard for under $10,000. The design is so cannily balanced in its abilities that it’s hard to level any real criticism at it. There are just a few minor niggles that won’t bother anyone except persnickety reviewers. The sheer musical satisfaction, coupled to the fine versatility and excellent build quality makes the Moon i3.3 a real winner and great value for money. Power, soul and emotion personified.
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