Rogue Audio

This year Rogue Audio has come up with a fascinating and creative new solution to the problem of designing a power amplifier with both the smooth and spacious sound of tubes coupled with the power and drive of solid state. Enter the Hydra and Medusa tube/Class-D solid state hybrid power amplifiers at $2995 and $3995, respectively.

Using breakthrough technology developed by Rogue Audio, these amplifiers provide outstanding performance in a compact and cool running design. They feature a triode tube front end combined with a Class-D MOSFET output section. Both also employ an energy efficient "green" design, requiring no tube biasing or regular maintenance. They have the smooth and organic sound that only tubes can provide combined with the dynamics and slam of a power section with a damping factor of over 1000. (The higher the damping factor, the better the amplifier's ability to control the loudspeaker's woofers.) The Medusa is conservatively rated at 200 watts/channel into 8 ohms while the Hydra is rated at 100 watts/channel, both into 8 ohms. Power doubles into 4 ohms.

These new amplifiers are much more than simply a tube circuit placed in front of a Class-D output section. Rogue's proprietary circuit topology actually integrates the tube section into the amplifier, thus yielding the smooth natural sound that only a tube amplifier can provide. With almost uncanny accuracy, the Hydra and Medusa deliver stunning dynamics and transparency without any of the edgy, etched, or grainy sound that often accompanies solid state designs. A low-power standby mode allows critical amplifier sections to remain continuously powered on (if desired), and a slow start feature allows the tubes to warm up gradually to eliminate turn-on noise and greatly extend tube life. Three massive, linear power supplies are used to power the amplifier circuitry, and ultra-high-quality parts are used exclusively throughout the product. The result of all of this is the kind of amazing performance at affordable prices we have come to expect from Rogue Audio.

These two products have already started to receive excellent reviews in print and online. For example, see the April 2012 issue of Hi-Fi Plus (Issue 88) and Positive Feedback online, Issue 60.