Sony TA-N330ES Power Amplifier & TA-E2000ESD Preamplifier!

A Vintage Vibe review of Sony's audio bargain, the TA-N330ES as well as the matching TA-E2000ESD.

[@Matthew-vr5gz]

I have a ta-n55es and a ta-e1000esd paired with some nice polk audio rta-12 speakers, it sounds amazing I got the whole set for around 600. Great pair of equipment

[@asifmohammad3943]

I have the TA-E80ES +TA-N80ES. With b&w speakers beautiful sound.

[@1JGP1]

Nice!

[@fhaquuu]

I just got a set, N55ES, and 2000ESD. Sounds amazing, my new reference set up actually. But I agree with all you said. The pre runs very hot too, but I’m hoping I’ll get many years of enjoyment yet before a repair is needed . Thx

[@neiljohnyap]

p j😂

[@Poppinwheeeeellllllieeeeez]

Nice to see a vid today. I see these at thrift stores in Alberta fairly regulary. There have been several periods of affluence in Alberta and there is a ton of sweet vintage gear. Personally, I dont get off on power as some do. I prefer clarity. Quality over quantity. My amps usually do not get close to half volume. No need with quality efficent speakers. Be nice to see a few turntable vids. Last few vids have been speaker or amp related.

[@1JGP1]

Completely agree! Low wattage can be sweet wattage. In fact, one of my best amps ever - 9 watts per channel (lol)! I think I have at least one table ;) waiting patiently...Thanks for the comments!

[@TroyForbesvideo]

I have two 330's and a 220 all in great condition that I'm thinking of selling and replacing with a Monoprice Monolith 5x200

[@TroyForbesvideo]

I originally bought mine with a E2000ESD. I had it modified to work with SVHS outputs. I remember testing 2 amps mono @300w vs 1 amp @150w. I thought the mono sounded much better. Granted this was in 1994 using some JBL control 10s.

[@1JGP1]

You know, it's entirely possible that with your setup it was. I found connected to the JBL l200, in mono they took on a little bit a harsher tone. However, it's often about the synergy of components - so these sometimes become personal experiences unless you really live with components for a while.

[@oluhamilton2121]

Just got the preamp. Seems pretty clean but the main display is not working so l need a reputable shop to repair it. Any suggestions??

[@1JGP1]

Where abouts are you?

[@euclidesortiz9399]

I have this model. But When using. Is it very hot. This is normal?? Some can help me??

[@1JGP1]

I never found that my 330 ran especially hot. I would say the bias on the amp has drifted and likely needs to be reset.

[@euclidesortiz7766]

This amplifier is good to music???

[@1JGP1]

It's a pretty decent sounding amplifier, yes!

[@salvadorrodenas3071]

As an ex owner of these amps and preamp, although I bought the pre 20 years after selling it when I did quit sound surround for purists two channel hi-fi I agree with you in the lowering of sound quality when bridged TA-N55ES but under any circumstances I'm going to tolerate 😉😆 that you speak badly about the sound, in source direct at least, of this preamp. It uses one of the most successfully D/A chip converters Sony ever did, the so called advanced pulse converters! They sound extraordinary and if you find the sound lacking best check it out before blaming this wonder. The one thing that I would like this preamp had is the possibility of some sort of upgradeable design in which new and discrete multichannel decoders, you know, Dolby Digital, DTS, etc. could be incorporated. I asked Sony technical staff back them why they didn't think about it ha ha ha... many years later I know the truth 😂 they must keep us coming back for new gadgets and conveniences in order to keep spending our hard earned money. I liked your Luxman L-560 review but I like more the L-570, sorry! Why don't you talk about Sony R1 series sometime? This is it!!! ES series is garbage in comparison with the R1 and R10 series. The latter was never marketed outside Japan.

[@1JGP1]

I do love Sony...hard not too!

[@roldandos55]

can you do a video on the n77es plz

[@1JGP1]

Hi, I don't currently have a n77; hoping to find one soon!

[@Zockopa]

Its a F550ES - without the pre but bridgeable.

[@1JGP1]

Your darn right, they look absolutely similar inside. Personally, I love integrated amplifiers - I bet this is a great sounding piece!

[@Zockopa]

@@1JGP1 Well,the top end of this specific development path is the F670ES imho. By then Sony reverted back to discretly build driverstages for the poweramps (better fine-tuning potential). That said,regarding the power-amps. Those were always very good in the ES series. Even for the baseline integrated models. Soundwise sensibly tunend between "warm" and "analytic" but still with a slight tendency to prettify. Nevertheless the Sony engineers never stopped fiddling around with the power-amps. While on the other sider the phonopre is a standart consumerclass module - which is basicly a cheapified version of the TA-F55 phonopre from 1980.....

[@deekay2]

Chass-iss

[@brucetungsten5714]

Sony amps seem to be pretty cheap on the used market - in parts even less expensive than used Denons.

[@1JGP1]

Yes, I think your correct. Minus, perhaps, the mighty TA-N77 (muhahahaha!)

[@brucetungsten5714]

@@1JGP1 Yep, the "premium models" spike in price(s). In Germany sellers want around 2000€ for it.

[@Zockopa]

@@brucetungsten5714 Well,in Germany used Sony amps arent cheap at all. A basic ES integrated will cost you between 150 - 300€ - and personaly i came across of many badly aged pieces,despite looking cosmetical very good. So regardless how it looks a complete overhaul is mostly a obligation. If you can do it yourself,that will cost your around 100-150€ in parts. If you cant DIY it can be easily over 300€ . So buying a used ES integrated - even a basic model (F5xxx) can be rather expensive if you want soundquality as new. Personaly i also would avoid those amps with a hybrid chip as driverstage for the poweramps which includes the poweramp in this video. If that chips dies you can bin the amp,because meanwhile its very hard to get a replacement. That includes F530,F630,F550,F650,N55,N330. This chip gets hot and will age faster than the rest of those amps. The models with discret build driverstages have far better longevity. Which mean the F500 and F570 and above models. The F500,the original model ,is also the best sounding one. But it lacks in build quality compared to the later models. The F570/F670 are the best compromise models. They have low impedance stabil BJT output stages,discret driver stages,share the same set of PCB`s and the maintainability is easy. The only letdown is the phonostage. While it is decent on MM and ok`ish on MC,its hardly what you expect from a "ES" amp. It is possible to better the sub power supply for the phonostage a notch fiddle in a active constant current source for the input differential,change the used low budget opamp against a modern high quality one and adapt the surrounding passive compensation network to it. That effort will lower the hiss and hum of the phonostage in MC-mode noticable and overall make it a more precise and clear in tonality that comes very close to the phonostages of the upper ES amp models. Although that goes way beyond the usual "recapping" and while not expensive regarding parts, it is some work to do it.

[@aegisofhonor]

Sony dropped the ball with the whole x000esd series pre-amps. They made the incredibly stupid decision on making all three pre-amps 100% digital, giving you no choice but to listen to music through their (now very primitive) DSP and DAC. It would have been very simple and strait forward to add an "analog direct" button on any and all of these pre-amps but Sony intentionally decided to omit this option and these pre-amps suffered because of this stupid blunder. There's a reason you can find the 1000, 2000, or even 9000esd pre-amps far bargain prices (sometimes for as little as $100, though often up to $300, still far cheaper then similar pre-amps of such quality) on ebay and other sites because no serious audio person wants them and the people that do get them thinking they are getting a good product are quickly disappointed by the harsh digital sound that comes out of these pre-amps. Also, they are ticking time bombs as some day the DSP chip(s) will fail and send a nasty signal through the output and possibly ruin your speakers.

[@1JGP1]

Thanks for the input!