Established in 1991, Zhongshan Shengya Audio has just reached its 25th anniversary. As far as domestic audio brands are concerned, there are probably only a handful of brands that have experienced the ups and downs of the market. Most of the brands that have been brilliant at the same time as Shengya have disappeared. Shengya started with tube amplifiers, and later switched to the development of amplifiers with front and back stones due to the poor stability of the tube during that period, and has gained a reputation in the market along the way. Later, Shengya vigorously developed pure transistors and fully balanced circuits, and strengthened product quality control. Not only did it become the leading brand of transistor power amplifiers in China, it also successfully opened up overseas markets.

In the past 25 years, Shengya has had many models that have made enthusiasts talk about it and become classics. For example, the predecessor of the protagonist CS-3.5 in this article. The former flagship CS-3 has been on the market for 9 years. Many audio fans still think that this all-transistor is The balanced product is still a rare masterpiece among domestic front-end products. In order to make breakthroughs in technology and sound, Shengya has also experienced years of accumulation of sound tuning experience and used new and higher-performance components to launch the improved CS-3.5. The launch of the PSD-350 rear stage is the same. The factory already has several luxurious basic rear-stage amplifiers, such as the flagship PSM-600, and PSM-300/200 products, all of which use fully balanced mono Class A. The design, although the materials are luxurious, and the mono-channel architecture also brings the best performance, but the market has been eager for Sonic to launch a high-performance high-power stereo amplifier, which made the PSD-350 available. .

Family armored appearance

In the past ten years, the appearance design style of Shengya products has been in the same vein. Both the front and rear stages adopt the silver-white pillars of the first two and the second. The design of the black composite panel is rich in layering, and the logo is illuminated on the panel. And the typeface display, so that the huge case is not boring and monotonous. The design and manufacturing process of a case like Shengya is actually quite costly. Not only does the panel have to be assembled from several pieces of aluminum, but even the top plate is no exception. For example, two raised aluminum pieces are inlaid with stainless steel cooling nets to add a sense of strength and layering. At the same time, the structure of the chassis is also strengthened, which is more beneficial to control resonance.

CS-3.5's panel layout and several big brothers are basically unchanged, and the symmetrical design is simple and easy to use. The middle panel is inlaid with black acrylic. Two knobs are respectively for source input selection and volume control. A circle of small dots is arranged on a decorative ring on the outer edge of the knob.

Looking back at the PSD-350 rear stage, the panel design style certainly inherits the family profile, but due to the entry-level product positioning, the power output level indicator is not used on the panel, which is also understandable. In addition, the design of this stereo is no different from its older brother PSM-300, and 350 can even be regarded as a stereo version of 300. Of course, the 300 uses a pure class A 100W and class AB 300W output design; while the 350 is a pure class A 20W and AB 350W. It can be seen that the power reserve and power amplifier circuit that can be stored in the same case are also roughly the same. Of course, there are different tendencies in line adjustment.

The panel design adopts a multi-layer structure like the previous level. The lowermost horizontal bar control panel is arranged with power switches, working status selection and input terminal selection, which are used to switch between Type A or AB output and RCA or XLR input. Turning to the back panel, the stereo design PSD-350 has exactly twice the number of terminals compared to the PSM-300. The speaker wire terminals used by Shengya have always been sturdy enough and easy to use, and the new machine is equipped with all terminal protective caps. From the details, you can see Shengya's intimate humane considerations. Another detail that Shengya thinks for users is that they insist on giving away American XLO balanced signal cables and power cables for many years, indicating that the manufacturer hopes that users can buy the machine back to get the most convenient effect. You don't have to worry about matching it yourself, and you don't have to affect the performance of the equipment for the user's discretion.

True fully balanced transistor circuit

Friends who are familiar with Shengya products may have noticed that although Shengya started with tube amplifiers, it has ushered in a period of brilliant development from the front and back. However, in recent years, Shengya's high-end product line has gradually appeared in all-transistor designs. This is because Shengya has gradually accumulated mature technology in the two fields of electronic tubes and transistors, and pure Class A circuits, and the sound performance level and stability have reached higher levels. High level, gain wider market recognition. Therefore, Shengya still retains the design of the front and back in the entry-level and advanced-level product lines, while the high-end product line takes into account the design of all transistors and electronic tubes. For example, the CS-6 front stage is a fully balanced tube and transistor hybrid front stage; the CV-1 is a balanced front stage with a full tube design. This is undoubtedly the most stringent requirement for the screening and matching of tube components. .

The CS-3.5 preamp is an upgraded version of the classic model CS-3, which has been greatly improved in terms of materials and sound performance. The circuit uses dual mono full-balanced transistor amplifier circuit design. Starting from the power supply, in order to reduce the dynamic crosstalk interference, each channel is powered by a power transformer, and a special transformer shielding box eliminates power noise interference. The line layout is carefully designed to make the two channels fully independent and symmetrical to ensure the consistency of the left and right channels. 

The small metal box seen from the picture is the high-speed DC amplifier module exclusively developed by Shengya. This is the core of the signal amplifier circuit and the chip module developed and developed by the manufacturer over many years of experience. It has a wide frequency response and extreme Low distortion, slender and thick tone performance, due to the use of higher working voltage, make the dynamic and active sense strong, the sound performance surpasses the sound quality performance of many advanced audio IC operational amplifiers and discrete components. Due to the real fully balanced design, the volume control adopts the Japanese-made ALPS large quadruple high-precision potentiometer. You can see clearly. In the past, many so-called balanced design power amplifiers only used two potentiometers. How can it be a true balanced design? The output stage of CS-3.5 is composed of a field effect tube as a Class A output device, with low output impedance and strong driving force, so it can easily drive any post-amplifier. In the details of another material, I found that the CS-3.5 uses a large number of German WIMA MKP audio special film electrodeless capacitors, 1% high-precision metal film resistors, and components of a parallel-type precision regulated power supply, which also improve the sound quality compared to previous products. Important factor of performance. I deliberately discussed this with Mr. He Shengya. When I expressed that the sound performance of the new generation of products has significantly improved over the past, Mr. He said several reasons, including their recent research and development, to ensure Product consistency When selecting higher-quality components, it was found that German WIMA capacitors not only have excellent consistency and stability, but also significantly help sound enhancement, so a large number of WIMA capacitors have been used in new products.

The small metal box seen from the picture is the high-speed DC amplifier module exclusively developed by Shengya. This is the core of the signal amplifier circuit and the chip module developed and developed by the manufacturer over many years of experience. It has a wide frequency response and extreme Low distortion, slender and thick tone performance, due to the use of higher working voltage, make the dynamic and active sense strong, the sound performance surpasses the sound quality performance of many advanced audio IC operational amplifiers and discrete components. Due to the real fully balanced design, the volume control adopts the Japanese-made ALPS large quadruple high-precision potentiometer. You can see clearly. In the past, many so-called balanced design power amplifiers only used two potentiometers. How can it be a true balanced design? The output stage of CS-3.5 is composed of a field effect tube as a Class A output device, with low output impedance and strong driving force, so it can easily drive any post-amplifier. In the details of another material, I found that the CS-3.5 uses a large number of German WIMA MKP audio special film electrodeless capacitors, 1% high-precision metal film resistors, and components of a parallel-type precision regulated power supply, which also improve the sound quality compared to previous products. Important factor of performance. I deliberately discussed this with Mr. He Shengya. When I expressed that the sound performance of the new generation of products has significantly improved over the past, Mr. He said several reasons, including their recent research and development, to ensure Product consistency When selecting higher-quality components, it was found that German WIMA capacitors not only have excellent consistency and stability, but also significantly help sound enhancement, so a large number of WIMA capacitors have been used in new products.

The output power of PSD-350 is Class A output within 20W, and the sound is delicate and thick. When it exceeds 20W, it will automatically switch to Class AB output and the maximum output is up to 350W. It is still calm to drive large speakers to replay big dynamics. If a player is equipped with a high-sensitivity speaker that does not require high-power drive, switch to the pure type A output state through the selection button on the panel. This low-power pure type A guarantees the best sound quality, and the high-power AB ensures the driving force The design not only facilitates the fine tuning of the tone, but also saves power consumption, which greatly reduces the heat of the chassis. In the case, the circuit parts are also separated by thick steel plates according to their functions, which can effectively suppress various interferences and ensure that the signal amplifier circuit works in a clean and untainted condition.

Delicacy and strength

I listened to this set of domestically produced heavyweight Sonic CS-3.5/PSD-350 before and after. I paired them with 4 pairs of speakers of different brands to better understand the sound level of the new 25th anniversary. These include: Taiwan Divini Tianle Classic 11 floor box, Lithuania AudioSolutions Music Guard Overture O203F floor box, German Quadral Debao Platinum M50 floor box, Denmark DALI Dani Rubicon 6 floor box, and Canada Byston Model A3. These speakers from different origins have different sound styles, but there is no sense of contradiction when paired with the CS-3.5/PSD-350 before and after.

What is the specific reason, so many speakers can produce good sound under the front and rear drivers of CS-3.5/PSD-350? I think it is because the sound style of the new generation of Shengya is more neutral than before. The sound has no special personality bias, the sound range is balanced and the sound quality is full, and the gloss and fineness of the tone have a fairly good performance, but the sound link is All have a very high standard. This set of front and rear sound style reminds me of German products. It always reveals a precise and rigorous style without restraint. Although it is more neutral than before, it is not as indifferent as the monitor style, but reveals a seductive sense of warmth, transparency and plump and supple mid-frequency texture. So with different speakers, I can hear vocals and strings with sufficient density and clear texture. When replaying chamber music or jazz, pop and other vocal recordings with low dynamics and uncomplicated orchestration, I believe that the output power of PSD-350 will not exceed 20W at normal volume. Therefore, in fact, PSD-350 is mostly pure Under the working state of A type output.

Facing the sensitivity of most speakers on the market, the setting of Shengya is undoubtedly very reasonable. The sound quality of the pure Class A power amplifier is warm and thick, sweet and delicate, and rich in low frequency range, and the design of PSD-350 also eliminates the worries that the speed is not fast enough, the dynamics are not big enough, and so on. Replay Mute’s "Tango Song and Dance" and "Mother Taught Me" with high power before and after. These two CD records are both a violin and piano ensemble. The recording is very good. The sound and texture of the violin and piano are equal. The excellent ones also test the sound quality of the power amplifier the most. Poor equipment will make the sound of the piano hard or sharp, or dim and lacking vitality. The sound of the piano reproduced by CS-3.5/PSD-350 has proper luster and softness, and the transparency is quite high. The vivid texture presented by the violin and piano seems to have produced a force, which deeply attracted the ears of the listeners. I can't feel the roughness at all.

Not picky about matching

When paired with the above-mentioned floor-standing boxes, I can feel the CS-3.5/PSD-350 front and rear combination, which can maintain the mellow and warm tone characteristics of the traditional pure class A amplifier at the right volume, and at the same time at high volume and dynamic The time can also present the characteristics of vivid, lively, solid and vigorous, fast transient response, and super control. Compared with the traditional pure class A power amplifier, the advantages are quite obvious. In comparison, the sound quality of the CS-3.5/PSD-350 front and rear stage with DALI Rubicon 6 floor-standing box is the softest. It is a soft charm. This soft charm makes the wood taste of the violin stronger and the piano More overtones and wider bass keys make the voice softer. I don't know whether this (charm) has deviated from the requirements of (neutral), but I can be sure that this charm does sound very comfortable. And with the Quadral Debao Platinum M50 floor box, it is the widest and widest, showing the domineering momentum, especially in the huge dynamic range performance, the M50 is obviously as stable as Mount Tai. In fact, the CS-3.5/PSD-350 front and rear push Byston Model A3 is also very nice, with sweetness in the clarity, and the rapid transient response has reached the point of sparking fire.