Home Review Atoll ST300 streamer and Atoll AM300 power amplifier

Review Atoll ST300 streamer and Atoll AM300 power amplifier

10

Pros

  • Fine playback
  • Beautifully made
  • Complete
  • Versatile
  • Works flawlessly
  • Roon

Cons

  • None

Price: € 5600

Build quality
Usability
App
Sound
Price

Intro

Atoll Electronique from Brecey, France, has gained a foothold in Holland and Belgium in recent years. Not least because of importer Viertron who, without exception, makes available every device in their catalog. This time we even received two devices. But we mainly focused on the Atoll ST300 streamer – 3000 Euro – because in addition to being a streamer, the ST300 is also a dac, preamplifier and so much more. A lot of things that had to be covered and at Alpha Audio we prefer to do our work thoroughly or not at all. Of course we briefly placed the Atoll AM300 – 2600 Euro – in the test system but we lacked the time to listen to it critically. Unfortenately, the gear had to be returned to our colleagues. That’s how it is with popular stuff.

By now, everyone knows what Atoll devices look like. Sober, sleek and without frills. Timeless as well without being too conspicuous or distracting in the rack. This time they came in black which makes them a perfect fit for the excellent Rega Saturn MKIII CD player we still have here. All our own units are in silver but a black set has its charms too. On the front we see the same oled color screen as on the ST200 Signature we tested a few years ago. When you stream via Roon or the Atoll app you get to see the album cover and time lapse. You can dim the screen or even turn it off but we think that’s only necessary if you don’t get to see the cover art. To the left of the screen we see five cross-shaped buttons to control the menu and to the right of the screen another three buttons (previous, next and power button). Only the latter will be used once in a while because all the other buttons seem superfluous to us. Everyone will use either the Atoll app or Roon to play music. You can also use third-party apps or work through a Nas. This time we only used Roon.

Multifunctional

At the back, it’s pretty crowded. There are both single-ended and balanced outputs, two analog rca inputs, five digital inputs (2x optical, 2x coax, 1x usb), two digital outputs (1x optical, 1x coax) and the Ethernet connection. It is also possible to stream via wifi, a nice extra, but we usually prefer cable. Other than that, the device is very solidly built. Inside we see a  nice Burr Brown dac (PCM1792) which, unlike the ST200 Signature, is in dual mono now. And yes, that makes a difference. PCM files go up to 192 kHz and you can play DSD 64 and DSD128. The ST300 also has dual analog volume controls and a fully symmetrical output stage. One for the analog and one for the digital part. Actually, Atoll has doubled everything in the ST200 Signature, except the price. 

What else can you do with this unit? You can bypass the analog preamp (Class A) so that the streamer is used purely as a source. You can connect the built-in dac to a CD player or CD transport. You can connect a phono stage to it to bring a record player into play. You can play music through a Nas, through a computer or through a Usb stick. There is also a headphone jack (6.35mm) and Bluetooth. The headphone amp sounds excellent on the Hifiman Sundara. Sufficiently potent, to drive most normal headphones smoothly. Perhaps we are forgetting a few more features but we leave those for you to discover. Oh well, just a few more then. There’s Tidal Connect, Spotify connect, UPNP, DLNA, Audirvana, MQA,…. And before we forget. The remote is big, full of buttons and made of plastic but controlling the volume works just fine. We mostly used the volume bar in Roon but it’s nice to have a choice.

Type test
Single Test
Inputs
  • Analog RCA
  • Digital Coaxial
  • Digital Optical
  • Digital USB
  • Streamer ethernet
  • Streamer wifi
  • Bluetooth
Outputs
  • Analog RCA
  • Analog XLR
  • Digital Coaxial
  • Digital Optical
Product type
Streamer
Max samplingrate
192 kHz
Max bit depth
24 bit
Weight
7 Kg
Dimensions
  • Width: 44 cm
  • Depth: 26 cm
  • Height: 9 cm
Production country
France
Amplifier type
Power Amplifier
Amplifier technology
Class AB
Bridgemode
Yes
Amplifier inputs
  • Analog RCA
  • Analog XLR
Power
Specification #1
  • Resistance: 8 ohm
  • Value specified: 150 watt
  • Value measured: 0 watt
Specification #2
  • Resistance: 4 ohm
  • Value specified: 280 watt
  • Value measured: 0 watt
Dimensions
  • Width: 44 cm
  • Depth: 36 cm
  • Height: 10 cm
Weight amplifier
19 Kg
Production country
France

Winkels met Atoll

Cort van der Lindelaan 11
9722 LP Groningen, NL
Schoenmakersstraat 19
6041EX Roermond, NL
Stationsweg 87
9471 GM Zuidlaren, NL
St. Ceciliastraat 28
5038 HA Tilburg, NL
Spoorstraat 18
7491 CK Delden, Overijssel, NL
Steenstraat 54
6828 CM Arnhem, Gelderland, NL
St.-Katelijnevest 53
2000 Antwerpen, BE
Beethovenstraat 9-b
1077 HL Amsterdam, Noord Holland, NL

10 COMMENTS

  1. Can someone please clarify Geoffrey’s comment “ You can dim the screen or even turn it off but we think that’s only necessary if you’re streaming via Nas and don’t get cover art”

    What exactly does he mean?

    With my ST200 you get full cover art support but the cover art must be present on the attached NAS drive.

    Brian

      • Thank you Geoffrey, please report back or maybe update your review if possible. I have zero issues with my ST200 Signature with our attached Buffalo NAS drive and cover art.

        The only issue or complaint I would have with Atoll streamers and I reported this to Atoll already is the limited support for attached USB or NAS drives when it comes to searching for artist (extremely slow).

        It is highly recommend to use some type of server software like: MinimServer or Jriver to help speed things up.

        Thanks again,
        Brian

  2. Can someone please clarify Geoffrey’s comment “ You can dim the screen or even turn it off but we think that’s only necessary if you’re streaming via Nas and don’t get cover art”

    What exactly does he mean?

    With my ST200 you get full cover art support but the cover art must be present on the attached NAS drive.

    Brian

      • Thank you Geoffrey, please report back or maybe update your review if possible. I have zero issues with my ST200 Signature with our attached Buffalo NAS drive and cover art.

        The only issue or complaint I would have with Atoll streamers and I reported this to Atoll already is the limited support for attached USB or NAS drives when it comes to searching for artist (extremely slow).

        It is highly recommend to use some type of server software like: MinimServer or Jriver to help speed things up.

        Thanks again,
        Brian