My sound comments matches ArthurGatos'es but I will stress that the amplifier is critical around cables ... this also means you can adapt it to many combinations.

Don't use this amp with the Meridian 501, please don't. The 501 is not very good, so go for the 556 or 557 with the 502 balanced amp instead (the 502 is a great pre.amp). That is still a great combo, while the 501 just blur the picture.

Any review is no substitute for your own ears but it's always nice to hear a user's opinion on any audio product. On to the 556: Build quality: excellent. Nothing to add. Sonics: being more a purist's amplifier than the result of marketing hype the 556...

A great sounding amp. the 556 is low in distortion, very neutral in its presentation of Music and extremely capable in driving difficult speaker loads.

Great amplifier. I have a Meridian CD player and pre-amplifier. Good combination. I use to have an Linn amplifier (intek) but this Meridian sounds a lot clearer. There is no sound colour and the power is enough to feed my Dynaudio's (Contour 1.1). Very...