By J. Peter Moncrieff,
International Audio Review,
Issue #80 , 2002
" The sonics of the 845 dehavilland excel over the sonics of their earlier 572 model in nearly all aspects. It sounds slightly more liquid, and so is more musically beguiling. But this liquidity does not bring with it a dark or excessively syrupy sound as in many other SET power amps. Instead the 845 deHavilland sounds remarkably clear, vibrant, and alive, even more so than the 572.
"The 845 penetrates deeper into the musical texture, and is even better than the 572 at revealing music's subtle inner details, especially throughout the midranges (a typical strong region of the spectrum for SET amps).
"Further helping this amp's musical revelation is the fact that the 845 deHavilland sounds even cleaner and purer than the 572, which in turn sounded cleaner than most other SET power amps of its day when it was introduced. The 845 allows you to enjoy the music without a haze of grundgy or juicy distortion coming along for the ride, as it does with most of the lesser SET power amps. You simply hear more of the music when you are less distracted by hearing distortion.
" The clean, pure sound that this 845 amp achieves, even without any overall feedback to lower distortion, is also a tribute to Kara Chaffee's design work and to the inherent linearity for the whole circuit that Kara has achieved.
" When an amp excels at revealing music's subtle inner details, as the 845 does, then it naturally also excels at stereo imaging, since the subtle imaging cues that make an image truly believable are themselves inner musical details embedded in a good recording. The 845 amp excels at projecting dynamic music in a tactile, coherent way that makes you believe you can reach out and touch the musicians."
"The 845 continues the deHavilland tradition of handling the frequency extremes much better than most other SET power amps. In the trebles most other SET power amps turn fuzzy soft, veiled and defocused, with grundgy distortion making treble definition even worse. The deHavilland 845 has none of these problems, and handles trebles with very good cleanliness and focus.
" In the bass, most other SET power amps turn flabby, loose, boomy, and muddy. The deHavilland 845 has much better bass definition than most other SET power amps, without any loose flab, or ill defined boomy heaviness. The low bass might not have the sheer impact that the best push-pull can achieve, but the 845's tight bass definition is a notable performance for a SET power amp."
"We heard the 845's outstanding clarity and dynamics being brought to the fore by a slight tonal emphasis in the upper midrange, but on your speaker system this might not happen. We can assure you, though, that the 845 is not a shy, polite, retiring amp that's all warm and mellow, dark and syrupy. This amp has moxie, and brings you the music full of life."
Complete Report at http://www.iar-80.com