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 November 1, 2006 Flying Mole CA-S3 Integrated Amplifier
Now I know. I would -- and did -- and so would quite a few other people who want high-quality sound from the niftiest, tiniest, slickest-built little integrated amp that I’ve seen and heard in quite some time. But I had to live with the CA-S3 for a while to realize that while its size, simplicity, and price might at first make it seem an absurd choice, they make perfect sense when you figure out what this product is really about. As for the company’s name, I learned that by it the founders meant to imply a sense of "overcoming an impossible challenge." This indicates that Flying Mole wants to shake up the audio world some. With products like the CA-S3, they just might do it. Description When you look at its output specs -- 20Wpc into 8 ohms, 30Wpc into 4 ohms -- the CA-S3 might be considered "low-powered." But not when you look at its size: 5 3/16"W x 2 1/8"H x 5 9/16"D, and weighing just three pounds. Flying Mole accomplishes the trick of generating decent-enough power from a tiny box by using switching-type amplifier technology. They don’t use some other company’s patent, however; in the CA-S3 and in all of their other amps, Flying Mole claims to use their own proprietary design. Switching amps, whether of Mole’s design or the numerous others that are on the market today, are a highly efficient way of driving speakers. They’re generally small, cool, and deliver quite a bit of power. While some might be tempted to get into the sonic pros and cons of switching-type amplifiers vs. more conventional designs, I’ve learned over time that doing so is usually futile. I’ve heard good- and bad-sounding transistor-based designs, and I’ve heard good- and bad-sounding tube-based designs. And while I haven’t heard as many switching-type amps -- they’re relatively new to the market -- I’ve heard enough to know my judgment should be based on listening to them, not on reading their specs. In my experience, it’s not the choice of technology, but how that technology is implemented, that makes most of the difference. The CA-S3’s preamplifier stage in decidedly simple -- something Flying Mole calls a "One-Pole" design, although they don’t precisely explain what that means. On the front panel are only a volume control and power switch, on the rear a single set of single-ended inputs. There’s no provision for switching inputs, let alone such things as controls for adjusting balance, mute, phase inversion, or other features found on many integrated amplifiers. Heck, there’s not even a remote control.
But despite the CA-S3’s lack of features and its quirky speaker-cable connectors, its styling and fit’n’finish are superb, and won’t generate a single complaint from me. The thick, all-aluminum chassis is shaped and polished to perfection, and even though the CA-S3 is small and weighs hardly anything at all, the solidity of its construction gives the customer the impression that he’s bought something good. In some ways, the CA-S3 is like jewelry -- beautiful, sought after, and somewhat expensive for its size. Setup(s) Because the CA-S3 is minuscule, the first thought someone might have is to use it to power a desktop audio system. Perhaps, but it sounded good enough that I see no reason it can’t be used with a regular system, particularly where styling and small size are assets. And if 20Wpc doesn’t seem like enough power for a normal system, remember than many single-ended-triode tube amplifiers put out much less, and that many audiophiles spend thousands for them and wax poetic about their sound. So I used the Flying Mole in two systems. In my living room, the CA-S3 powered the Role Audio Windjammers loudspeakers, which combine audiophile-type sound with slim styling. In my reference room the CA-S3 drove Von Schweikert VR-1 stand-mounted speakers, a relatively efficient design that mates well with tube or solid-state amps -- or, as it turned out, the CA-S3. In both cases, I used the Gallo Acoustics speaker cables mentioned above, and my source was a new digital music player, the Transporter, from Slim Devices of California. Feeding the Transporter digital music was either my trusty ol’ Theta Data Basic transport hardwired with an i2Digital X-60 digital interconnect, or a WiFi connection (the Transporter supports that) to a computer running Slim Devices’ SlimServer software. Nordost Valkyrja interconnects linked the Transporter to the CA-S3. Sound
I suspect that, when they hear the CA-S3 for the first time, many will be taken aback at how big and muscular it sounds, despite its small size and lowish power rating. But while the CA-S3 did sound bigger than I’d expected, I wasn’t all that surprised. Big sound from small boxes with low specs is something I got over more than 20 years ago, when NAD launched their 3020 integrated amplifier, which sounded much bigger than its 20Wpc rating let on. The truth is, you don’t need all that much power -- sometimes only a few watts -- to get even moderately sensitive speakers to play plenty loud. It’s only when speakers are very hard to drive, or you want to crank things up really loud, that you need a lot of power. Instead, what surprised me was how refined the CA-S3 sounded, particularly for its price. Small size and exquisite styling can go only so far; to win an audiophile’s heart, a component must sound great, too. The CA-S3 did. The clarity and cleanness of the CA-S3’s sound belied its sub-$1000 price. Furthermore, its fullness and richness, particularly through the midrange, hinted that I was listening to tubes. In short, the quality of the sound the Flying Mole produced was every bit the equal of the high levels of its build quality and styling. I played Johnny Cash’s American V: A Hundred Highways [CD, American B000276902], another superbly recorded Rick Rubin production that paints a large wall of sound as a background to Cash’s deeply textured voice, which is placed up front and in the center. Through the Von Schweikert VR-1s, Cash’s voice had the same detail, richness, and weight that I hear through much bigger, more expensive systems. And the bass, while not plumbing the depths of the earth (the VR-1 is still quite a small speaker), was still weighty, tight, and very much in control. In fact, this small, relatively inexpensive system sounded so good that it could likely sonically lay waste to systems twice its price, if not more. Nor was the CA-S3 a slouch when driving Role Audio’s Windjammers. The Windjammer isn’t quite as rich in the mids as the VR-1, but the CA-S3’s robust sound helped flesh it out in that region a notch. However, the Windjammer goes deeper in the bass than the VR-1, and here the CA-S3 proved that it had the ability to plumb the depths and not give up. In fact, I found the CA-S3 to have surprising heft and control down low for such a small amplifier delivering such a modest amount of power. What I also listened for carefully with this setup was imaging, at which the Windjammers are champs. What I heard was spot-on image specificity with excellent left-to-right soundstage spread and a very credible illusion of depth. Furthermore, that hint of tubey richness that the CA-S3 conveyed in the mids also helped to somewhat bolster the dimensionality, giving voices and instruments volume and weight -- what some like to call "palpable presence." The CA-S3 may weigh hardly anything at all, but there was nothing lightweight about its sound. However, while the CA-S3’s presentation had a rich, refined quality, and the amp played bigger than it looks or what its power rating says, it’s not a miracle worker. Twenty watts is more than enough to get most speakers humming, but the CA-S3 will run out of steam if you push it too hard -- just a fact of life for low-powered amps of all kinds. Watts are watts, and you can’t fake having more; when an amp’s out, it’s out. On the other hand, depending on how efficient your speakers are, how loudly you listen, and/or how big your room is, this might not be a concern; what the CA-S3 delivers might be perfect for you. The only other thing worth mentioning is the CA-S3’s high-frequency performance, which was quite extended and very clean -- but in both systems I played it in, I got the sense that a bit of top-frequency air was missing. The CA-S3 didn’t sound rolled off -- there was sparkle up there -- but subjectively it seemed to only stretch toward the stratosphere without quite reaching it, which was confirmed when I compared it to a far pricier integrated amplifier. Comparison The Moon Evolution i-7, from Canada’s Simaudio, is a no-holds-barred integrated amplifier that’s basically as good as an integrated gets in terms of sound quality, build quality, and features. My review of the i-7 won’t be published until a few months from now, but here’s a sneak peek: The i-7 is so good that there’s little to criticize, and its asking price of $5800, while far more than the CA-S3’s $850, is not outlandish. The i-7 is worth every cent its maker asks for it -- and so is the CA-S3. The CA-S3 isn’t purported to be an i-7 or anything close to it. It’s a tiny amplifier that delivers just a fraction of the i-7’s power and doesn’t have a tenth of the i-7’s features -- hence the difference in price. Instead, in the CA-S3 Flying Mole has striven to provide the same kind of sound quality that you pay the big bucks for, provided you don’t need features or real power.
They’ve succeeded admirably. The CA-S3 sounded strikingly close to the i-7, which is high praise -- to me, the i-7 sounds as clean and refined as it gets. The biggest differences came through in the highs and mids. The Flying Mole and Simaudio sounded equally clean, but the i-7 was a touch more transparent overall, and more airy in the highs. This wasn’t all that apparent on the Johnny Cash album, which places the most emphasis in the mids, but was more so on Ennio Morricone’s chorus-based score for The Mission [EMI 811267], which has extraordinary detail and conveys a tremendous sense of space; and on Mariza’s Transparente [Times Square Records TSQ-CD-9047], where female voice dominates and the recording’s environment envelops you. The i-7 seemed to go on endlessly; the CA-S3 was a tad stunted in comparison, both in the highs and in the sense of space it could create. However, the CA-S3 did convey a little more richness in the mids, which made voices and instruments hang in space with more weight and body and presence. This is that aspect of the CA-S3’s performance that reminded me of tubes and truly endeared me to its sound. In fact, if you like an amp with a little warmth, you might prefer the CA-S3’s sound even if you’re missing some air. Obviously, when the pedal hits the metal, the Simaudio Moon Evolution i-7 can drive the Von Schweikert VR-1 or any other speaker to levels that the Flying Mole CA-S3 can only dream of -- it can deliver 150 rock-solid watts, and manhandle difficult speaker loads. As I mentioned, the CA-S3 isn’t made for that, but for those who want something well-priced that’s small, simple, stylish, and sounds superb. Conclusion I recommend the Flying Mole CA-S3 highly -- but not to everyone. The power it can deliver will be enough for some but not all, and its single set of inputs just won’t cut it in many systems. But in the right kind of system the sonic performance of the CA-S3 will be extraordinarily good, and make its $850 asking price all the more reasonable. I bought the review sample -- not for my main system, which I use to review equipment with, even though the CA-S3’s sound is good enough. Instead, the CA-S3 currently takes up very little space in my living room, where its simplicity and small size are considered features, and it’s able to charge up the Role Audio Windjammers to play as loudly as I need them to. And although I could tuck the CA-S3 neatly away where no one would ever see it, I keep it in plain view, where it can wow guests with its styling and sound. In fact, most who see and hear it remark that they’ve never seen anything that looks so sharp or sounds so good. Often, they ask where they can get one. Flying Mole, a company bent on overcoming impossible challenges, has done so as far as I’m concerned, and particularly in overcoming my initial skepticism. In my view, the CA-S3 went from being something I couldn’t take seriously to one of the most interesting and pleasurable components I’ve reviewed all year. I’m now a believer, not to mention an owner. And if you told me that moles can fly, I might believe that now, too. …Doug Schneider Flying Mole CA-S3 Integrated Amplifier Flying Mole Corporation E-mail: info@flyingmole.co.jp
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I admit it -- I snickered when I pulled Flying Mole’s
diminutive CA-S3 integrated amplifier from its box. I didn’t think I could take it
seriously, particularly because it’s rated at only 20Wpc, has just one set of inputs,
and is priced at $850 USD. Who would buy such a thing? I thought. And from a
company with such a funny name?
Furthermore, the CA-S3’s
speaker-cable connectors are unlike anything I’ve ever seen: a round barrel
surrounding a pointy, threaded shaft. The barrel unscrews, and when you do that you
realize there’s no room for spades or bananas or any other type of connector. You
have to use bare wire, which Flying Mole contends makes the best connection of all. This
inconvenient "feature" also indicates that the company takes the performance of
this little amp seriously. The problem is that most audiophiles don’t have bare-wire
cables kicking around. I don’t. I had to find a way to make do with some
solid-core cables Gallo Acoustics had sent along with their Nucleus Micro system some
years back. I just didn’t want to de-terminate any of my other cables -- at
least not right off the bat.
