Atoll IN100 Integrated Amp $2550
{100 w/ch, With DAC & MM Phono}
Atoll DR100 CD Transport $1200
Most of the customers who visit us these days have read about Atoll, but haven’t heard it. We invite you to visit to be as impressed as we are!
Atoll is a fabulous brand of affordable electronics, made in France with a 3 year warranty. Virtually everything else in this price range comes from China or somewhere in that neighborhood.
The quality of Atoll is markedly better. Atoll is actually made in its own house in France. It is not drawn up in France and vendored out by a job house in China or Viet Nam. The other guys at this price range ARE.
There are some N American and Euro integrateds in this range. They’re all a big step down from Atoll. None use the large DUAL TRANSFORMER design or high level of power supply caps. They’re flimsier in power. In short, we find Atoll to occupy a unique niche in the hi-fi world. It has great sound at affordable price points.
Let’s start the foundation of this system with a fabulous integrated amp and CD transport.
IN100 Integrated Amplifier
Atoll amps are made with dual power supplies. IN100 uses two LARGE, 340VA transformers that are custom made for Atoll in Spain (not China) to high standards. Atoll designed these transformers and has a family owned Spanish company make them to be sure QC is strict.
Almost every other integrated you’ll see at this price point comes from China.
There are a few N American and Euro exceptions. Take a look inside them and they use about half the hardware of Atoll. They can sound clean, but not POWERFUL. Atoll accomplishes both tasks.
Atoll is chock full of great parts because the company builds all its integrateds on the same chassis. It has the same feet, knobs, buttons and jacks. As you go up the line you get more and better hardware INSIDE the amplifier. The result is, you get more performance from Atoll than anyone else similarly priced.
While IN100 is rated at 100×2, it sounds much more beefy due to the pair of big transformers and use of just under 32,000 uF of filter capacitance. If you do the leg work you’ll discover most $2000 power amps alone- don’t have the PAIR of transformers or high value of filter caps. IN100 has BOTH.
Further, IN100 is class AB and runs 15% class A. It sounds warm, dynamic and powerful. IN100 is among the best amplifier values in our business. Let me tell ya, IN100 wields a heavy hammer if you want it to.
You get it with on board DAC and MM for $2550. You can buy it in line stage form for $2100 if you don’t need the DAC or MM phono pre.
DR100 CD Transport
I luv CDs. I’m fine with other sources too, but CDs are the way I MOST like to listen to music. DR100 is a transport. Just connect it digitally into any DAC. In this case, the DAC is installed in the integrated amp. One cable and you’re ready to listen.
The DAC in the IN100 integrated is a Burr Brown run with no negative feedback. Atoll prefers the sound of the BB instead of running the latest greatest chipset from someone else- that has higher processing oversampling. To control all that oversampling you need MORE electronic treatment of the signal which makes the sound- more electronic.
CDs sound better than streaming. You don’t have to rely on your internet or wi-fi. Just drop your disc in and hit play. The music is more tactile. Whether we’re talking about hammers hitting cords in a piano, picks against guitar strings, bows on a violin/cello, or breathy singers- CD can do this with no distortion.
With streaming or vinyl, it’s hit or miss.
With CDs we don’t have to worry about buffering. Many streaming apps cough and sputter in their attempts to deliver music. It can be just like the way we used to watch TV, with snow interfering with the quality of the picture.
I’m OK with vinyl too. But to get vinyl to sound good- it’s a BIG EFFORT.
You have to start with a “perfect” pressing. That’s a real crap shoot, even when you buy a 180g LP for $30-40. It has to be cleaned- every play. You have to clean your stylus meticulously after every side.
The mechanics of your table/arm/cart have to be aligned just just right. If you’re into the minutia of the set up and care, it can be fun. But you have to enjoy the WORK that is necessary to enjoy vinyl.
We recently had a customer buy a big stack of gear with a top level CD player and turntable. He had read copiously about the components before purchasing. He brought the turntable in shortly after the purchase. He said, “This turntable is defective. I can barely listen to it with all the clicks and pops. My CDs are dead quiet.”
Well… the turntable wasn’t at all defective. He was simply hearing the noise from his LP collection. After we proved to him that the table was working fine, he was flustered. “Everyone writing online says records are better. How are you supposed to ignore the clicks & pops?!”
If you luv vinyl and all that goes with it- great. It’s for you. But you should know what you’re getting in to.
If you just want to spend your time enjoying music and not cleaning fastidiously, please go the route of silver discs instead of black ones.