In a nutshell, the XD version in more transparent to the source. When I first switched out the Duo 300 non-XD, it was immediately clear that I was hearing more information. I used Astral Works, by Van Morrison as well as some other artist. My first impression was wow, the Chorus XD, clearly revealed that while a great recording, the age of the recording in a way the Duo 300 had not. At first, I though Krell had played the trick of reducing the bass output to make the amplifier appear more detailed. I do not believe that to be the case at all. The Chorus is still dynamic. What Krell has done is increase the resolution and leave the dynamics. I connected the Chorus 5200 XD to my home network and then used my Iphone to mute the channels, one by one. Multichannel amps are often not as clean sounding as stereo and monoblocks. This was the case here as well. The Duo 300 is clearly more powerful and dynamic if not as transparent. To try the help level the field, I used the webpage of the Chorus, to mute additional channels as I listen. My preamp was connected to channels 1 and 2. It wasn't until I muted channels 3,4, and 5 that I felt the noise level, if that's what it is, decreased where If felt it was closer to the Duo 300. My purpose here was to see how my Duo 300 might sound when I get it upgraded. It's a remarkable sound. The Chorus XD images like what you would expect from a good monoblocks. I've never heard a multi-channel amp image like this. The imaging and huge sound stage was there regardless of how many channels I ran. Muting some of the channels just had the effect of making the amplifier sound cleaner. The Duo 300 still has more muscle and dynamics than the Chorus 5200 XD. It's just a more powerful sounding amplifier. Before the upgrade, the Krell amplifiers were already dynamic so the improvement is elsewhere. With the Chorus XD, I did notice a bigger sound stage and better imaging than the Duo. I expect the XD upgrade to bring all of the to the Duo 300 when I upgrade it. There is no doubt I will upgrade it after my impressions of the Chorus XD.
I turned to movies to see how it performed here. The thing I had near was, "The Hunt." There is a scene where arrows are being shot at the hunted as they try to escape. The Chorus XD reproduced the sound of the arrows whishing thru the air in the most realistic manner I have ever heard from an amplifier. It was like the arrow actually cut the air beside me. The sound quality and level of information reproduced from the Blu Ray was amazing. I played the Chorus XD loud to see what it would do. While I didn't measure the levels, something I will do, it played very loudly. Ear splitting, have to cover your ears loud? No. So loud it made you very uncomfortable and you had to turn it down? Yes. I am reminded that guys pay 30k for class A amps that only produce 100 watts because they are more concerned with sound quality than sheer volume. I think if you want ear splitting levels, you might have to step up the the more powerful stereo and monoblock Krell amps. Of course loudness, will depend upon your speakers and their efficiency and whether they are 8ohm or 4ohm and room size. I am in a very large open room which opens to another very large room.
After using the amplifier for both movies and music, my strongest impression is that the amplifier is really a "music lovers" amp. I felt that's where it truly excelled, multi-channel music. It's easily the best multi-channel amplifier I have ever heard here. Huge sound stage, holographic imaging, I'll say again holographic imaging, non-fatiguing highs are the true strong points of the amplifier. It's uncanny how well it produces the sound of a Xylophone. It also does the best job of multi-channel amps I've used of producing the entire sound field while firmly maintaining the positions in that field of the various artist. My plan it to add top notch subs so they can produce the ear splitting levels while I enjoy the luxurious non-fatiguing sound, cake and eat it too. I tested the amplifier without a sub. if you are running a powerful sub, you can likely just disregard my loudness comments.
Downsides of the amplifier? Even the 5 channel Chorus is very heavy as you'd expect. Some may like highs that have a bit more zing and are a bit crisper. I prefer more non-fatiguing highs.
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