A HiFi Legend Returns QUAD 33 and 303 Pre Power Review
This is a review written by Terry Ellis December 2024.
For my video review please see my YouTube channel link here
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Nostalgia kicking hard
If you are an audiophile of a certain vintage you will likely remember the QUAD 33 pre amp and 303 power amp. If so I am sure you will have your own opinions about them and how they made an impact on the HiFi scene at the time. Reading the press release information it seems this legendary QUAD amp setup was said to fix a lot of the problems with new to the market at the time transistor based amplifiers, in terms of the sound quality and thermal issues. It featured a famous triples of transistors and it was said to be a low distortion warmer sounding transistor amplifier setup, sonic traits that are still very desirable today.
So if you are an audiophile who gets their fancies tickled with that super powerful emotion called nostalgia Quad have likely already got your credit card out of your wallet as the new 33 and 303 very obviously are true to the original design aesthetic. I think they look great so nostalgia must be kicking you harder than a mule right now.
A modern vintage instead
However if you are of a different vintage, a younger vintage such as my good self, I am still young, at heart maybe. I am 19080’s child and I didn’t even know the QUAD 33 and 303 existed until this year so they score zero nostalgia points with me. If QUAD want me to max out my credit card they need to win me over the same as any new HiFi does. That aside, what excites me about this QUAD setup is the return to the Pre Power days. Integrated amplifiers I am sure are the most common modern amplifier audiophiles buy these days. Its understandable why, they offer a fully loaded feature set normally for a better price and I have reviewed loads of them, many that would make me happy. However in my mind the ultimate HiFi amplifier solution is a separate pre amp and two individual mono block amplifiers and that is what the new QUAD 33 and 303 offers us the potential to have.
The QUAD 303 is a stereo power amplifier by design but with the simple push of a button it can be a bridged mono amplifier instead, with more than twice the power. So with this Quad setup I could have a super cool, true to the original looking, very compact pre and dual mono amplifier setup that is not going to break my back for its weight or break my bank account too hard either and that prospect excites me a lot.
Looking at the 33 preamplifier the first thing you notice is how compact it is and how light it is by high end HiFi component standards. However don’t let that comment mislead you, the 33 feels dense in your hands and built really very well, very solid and sturdy thanks to the chunky aluminium casework. On the QUAD website there are some images of the internals so we know there is a sizeable toroidal transformer based power supply, a motorised Alps potentiometer for the volume control and a phono stage with both MM and MC cartridge support. Its very impressive to get all of that given the small size.
I can see the compact size of the 33 having a lot of real world appeal as it makes for very easy HiFi to have in any home as it doesn’t require dedicated furniture. I also know many will love the whole retro styling as its super cool and stand out. The choice of the colour orange is true to the original so like it or not you can appreciate why the new one is orange.
Looking at the rear, yes the 33 its obviously very compact but QUAD haven’t stiffed us for connections. Quite the opposite as we have balanced analogue in and out which is great plus three singled ended analogue inputs with a fourth for the phono stage input. The phono stage adjusts its settings for MM and MC cartridges with the push of a button on the front. There are understandably fixed loading settings but very practical ones with the MM being 46db of gain 47k and 100Pf so perfect for 99% of MM cartridges. The MC stage has 63.5db of gain and 100 ohms Resistance and I think that should work well with a lot of mainstream Moving coil cartridges and the phono stage was the probably the biggest surprise as I found it to be excellent with the Sumiko Starling cartridge I was using.
Lovely to live with
I really liked the tactile feel of all the buttons and the reassuring stiffness of the volume control of the 33. I also really appreciated the tone controls although they are quirky. For starters you can choose to disable the tone controls fully if you are more of a audio purist and this is great because there is a slight trade off for overall clarity when you engage the tone controls even if you leave them at 0. This suggests a separate circuit is either being engaged or disabled to the users choice which is great. However I didn’t care about the slight loss and I had the tone controls on for 99% of the review for the bigger difference they allowed me to control for the sound.
The tone controls are adjusting the sound fully in the analogue domain which is important to mention, they are not digital as the 33 is an all analogue preamp. There are two controls, one is simple as its bass +/- 3db. The other is a little different as its not treble instead its tilt, so with one control you can tilt the bass up treble down for a warmer sound or bass down treble up for a crisper sound. I think the idea of doing this from one control allows for a quick and easy adjustment or tweaking of the system sound for different songs, albums or record pressings maybe so on the fly sound tweaking. I can see this being great for a lot of people especially with the wild west variety of streamed music quality however I didn’t use the tilt beyond testing it, I just used the bass control. You can adjust both and the balance from the circular rotary controls on the front which is cool or from the remote control which is of course a lot easier to do on the fly at your listening seat.
The remote control is great to use and yes its a plastic remote so not the best feeling in your hands. The button layout is fantastic though and I found it easy to map my muscle memory to the important buttons so I wasn’t changing the input when I meant to raise the volume, we have all done that before. You can also do everything from the remote which is great even mute the sound which you can’t do on the front controls at least with a single button press. I would have preferred the remote to be made from the same high grade aluminium as the 33 that would have been just that bit more luxury, however once past that I was very happy with the remote and how well it works.
There is also a built in headphone amplifier with a full size 6.35mm jack input on the front which will be great news for some. I didn’t test it for the review as I really dislike headphone outputs on HiFi gear as I have spoken about in videos. While I am being grumpy I have two minor complaints about the 33. The first is the size of the information on the display, I couldn’t read it sat back about 12 or so feet away. Probably a little more apparent was I could not always see the volume line mark on the rotary control if the lights in my listening room was dimmed. Not always knowing the volume I am listening at is not the end of the world but I know many audiophiles do find it very important to them to know this all the time. I know the design of the 33 is true to the original but I think it’s a miss not to have an orange led marker or light of some kind to show the volume level. I think it would have been a great “acceptable” modernisation.
The price of the QUAD 33 is £1199 and I think that is very reasonable for everything we are getting here.
303 times bigger
The Quad 303 power amplifier I was told is designed to be very true to the original and I think it looks great and different being a mini tower type of amplifier with heatsinks on the front, you don’t see that every day. I took a side panel off to see the internals and its interesting to see how full it is in there with a proportionally very large sized transformer and big capacitors and it has a very thick aluminium casework and that all really impressed me.
The rear of the 303 is nice and simple and laid out very well with clear and easy to operate buttons for selecting to use either the balanced or singled ended inputs or to use the 303 in stereo or bridged mono mode. The 303 is a class a/b amplifier that can deliver 50 watts of power per channel into 8 ohms and 70 watts into 4 ohms in stereo mode with 10amps of maximum current delivery. I think this is all very good for the £1199 retail price.
Things do get a little more exciting when we push the button for bridged mono mode as then we get 140 watts into 8 ohms and 170 into 4. I am guessing we also now get 10 amps maximum current per amplifier so per channel and this better of course but those numbers don’t tell the full story of what you hear, but they do give you a clue. But its important to also think that two 303 in mono also means twice the cost so is it worth it?
Two bridged mono 303’s are noticeably better sounding than one its as simple as that. Even at low volume levels the sound is more solid and authoritative, more full and solid in the room. With two 303 you get a greater sense of ease when the music is dynamic and more demanding and if you are a loud volume listener like I am one 303 plays loud enough but there is a lot more composure to the music with two of them, so I think more enjoyable for longer listening sessions. However common sense of course still applies here there is no harm starting with one 303 and see how you get on. If you find your chasing more from the system then maybe add the second 303, if your happy with the sound keep the money in your pocket. I think you will just know if you want two, most people will be happy with one, but I know I would want two now I have listened to both.
There is another reason to have two 303 and that is symmetry on the rack because with only one 303 I didn’t know which side of the 33 to put it. With two of them I could achieve symmetry and keep my OCD in check, however it can get quite cables congested if you have a lot of sources connected to the 33. That is another benefit of the pre power setup being flexible with where it all goes, however it does always mean more cables and complexity. When they say there are “no free lunches in this world” maybe they were talking about HiFi after all.
Sound as good as it looks
I did most of my listening and testing with the new Wharfedale Super Linton speakers because they are very clear and transparent, fairly “neutral” speakers so ideal for the job. But also because I feel they balance fantastic with the QUAD 33 and 303. The is a great synergy or the balance that gives a very easy listen but still that is still dynamic, fast and clear.
I started with just one 303 amplifier and did a whole round of amplifier comparisons with three other similar priced integrated’s the HiFi Rose RA 280, the Galion TS34 Tube amplifier and the Audiolab 9000A. I detailed the differences in my review of the Super Linton speakers if you would like to about this comparison in real detail see that review. For a quick summary what stood out to me about the QUAD setup compared to the others was its smooth and more velvety vocal and treble delivery with a relaxed easy going and set back sound. I found this very easy to listen to hour after hour because it was nice and smooth but not slow or sluggish as can sometimes be the trade off. I enjoyed the more relaxed and less tense musical delivery as it helped me relax too.
I found the QUAD sound stage to be very good, the bass quality was good but a bit play it safe for me in quantity and impact, but in general I found the QUAD setup to be a very good overall listen with both the Super and Linton speakers. I was getting a little of extra emotional kick with female vocals and other types of Folk or more mellow music genres .
However comparing to an amplifier like the HiFi Rose RA280, it showed to me more of what the Super Linton can do in terms of delivering a big scale of sound with a more authoritative driving powerful bass. I preferred this for modern music. The Galion TS34 tube amp showed me a vocal from the Super Linton that was more bloomed yes but I liked its more full bodied delivery, as a result colouration or not I dont care. I found vocals from the Galion and Super Linton to be very pleasing.
I remarked in the Super Linton review that Ideally I would want the best bits from all of the amplifiers I tested with those speakers, who doesn’t. It was only after I finished the Super Linton review that I got my hands on the second 303 amplifier allowing me to use two in bridged mono mode and with two and a few other tweaks I managed to find a sound that was almost the best of it all. Before we go there I think its important to mention how I was using the QUAD 33’s tone controls as that was pivotal.
Two is better than one
I did find the QUAD’s sound with the tone controls turned off to be a little too vanilla with the Super Linton, but I need to be careful with that phrase as its not meant negatively, some people love vanilla. I mean the sound was very good, nice and clear and smooth, you can play it loud and listen all day. But I did find it too play it safe in the bass. That is why I used the tone controls and always had the bass set to either +2 or +3 db it depended on the music source. For CD’s played from the Cyrus 40CD I generally preferred + 2db, for streaming generally +3db but always +3db for vinyl.
Now regulars will think of course Terry turns the bass up he is always looking for more bass and that would be a fair comment. The reason I did it here was not for more deep bass it was for how the tone control adjustment effected the vocals. Because the slight colouration to the sound from the tone controls engaged plus the additional bass did take away some leading edge clarity in exchange for a more full bodied vocal that sounded more tonally rounded and 3D in my room. I think this is a more realistic vocal presentation and a less HiFi sounding one but that’s a personal choice preference. However had these controls not been there I would not have liked the QUAD setup half as much so don’t overlook them as being a very useful way to get more of the sound you like.
To really stress test this I pushed the QUAD system hard by playing it very loud, much harder than 99.9% of people ever will with the bass set to +3db to see if the setup would destroy itself and of course it did not. I did notice the composure or control of the bass is not perfect when you do this but the bass scale and drive and pressure feeling in the room from the Super Linton was now closer to what I was getting from the HiFi Rose RA280, the bass start of the group. The Rose still had he slight edge for being more tightly controlled of the bass but the difference now between it and the QUAD was marginal, I preferred the Quad for the mids and highs. The QUAD was now delivering just as much fun and impact for modern electronic music so that was great. But also now as a result of the extra amplifier and the tone controls and how that effected the vocals for the female vocal music I was really enjoying with the Galion tube amp’s bloomed loveliness, that gap was now closed too between it and the QUAD. So like I said getting almost the best of everything from the group.
Now I was enjoying a really engaging and balanced and fun and lively and smooth sound with a very good bass across all music styles and most importantly I could listen to it very loud for hours with no listening fatigue at all. I had some great listening sessions with setup.
The vinyl surprise
Listening to records using the built in phono stage massively exceeded my expectations. The QUAD phono is not the last word in small details retrieval or dynamics big and small, its a little play it safe sounding in those regards. I didn’t mind that as records sounded clean and clear, again with a very easy going, easy to listen to nature that is not overly punishing of any of my records pressing quality. Most importantly with just enough of vinyls unique character coming through to keep me engaged and making the effort of listening to records worth it. The left to right balance was great, the music was always very organised and I was a happy man listening to varied records new and old. The QUAD phono stage is not perfect but its one I would happily use, kudos to QUAD for making the phono work in such a compact unit with everything else the 33 offers.
Final thoughts
The QUAD 33 preamplifier is a really very nice HiFi unit to have in your system and in your home. I tested it at low to near maximum volumes and I didn’t notice hardly any difference in its sound which is great. It handled big voltage signals from my DAC no problem and actually sounded better I think which is interesting. I think it’s a really nice preamplifier with a volume control that is really responsive even for small changes which is also great. I really appreciated the good phono stage and in particular the analogue tone controls really set it off for me. I would have liked to have tried it with some other power amps too because why not but I think most people will buy the full QUAD set.
With either one or two 303 amplifiers you get a very easy to live with, hardly any heat generated, not too big or heavy, very easy to listen to, very enjoyable overall sound that is a little play it safe at the extremes but for this price level there is definitely something a little different to the presentation. It’s that bit more relaxing and less fatiguing something that stands out more at the end of a listening session than the beginning. I wouldn’t say the QUAD has a typical warm sound necessarily, instead its easy going and that is quite different.
But do I think we get a huge benefit from the QUAD being a pre and power or dual mono amplifier setup and not an integrated around the same price. Maybe we do a little yes but not game changer huge amount being honest but I don’t think that is point. This QUAD setup is all about the overall package. The look, the feel, the nostalgia for some and the sound of course and how all of that stirs your emotions when you listen to music.
I think the QUAD strikes a really nice balance of that juggling act and will be a golden or orange one for a lot of people. I have a had a cracking time with them and the Super Linton speakers.
A Special Performer Award is Pursuit Perfect Systems highest accolade and is in recognition of exceptional product performance regardless of price
