In our LATEST section near the top, I have an entry titled “A New Direction.”
Here… is an example of what I’m referring to in that article. Samsung bought Harman in 2017 and now owns the rights to its plethora of brand names.
There is a new series of integrated amps, a CD player, a network player and turntable just out, branded as JBL. These units have nothing to do with JBL’s (American) lineage. Any advert you read about them brags up ties to JBL’s heritage.
The new JBLs, are predictably, made in China. It says so right on the back. You can tell they’re made in the same house as dozens of other brands. You can recognize the layout, one brand to another, as they’re reviewed in mags.
CD350, $700, is a lightweight mechanism with three tiny boards connected by skinny wire or ribbons. It uses a tiny SWITCHING (not linear!) power supply. You can barely find the transformer or caps. You get a half empty box for your investment. HiFi news opines that it sounds “lazy.”
SA550, $2000, is the matching integrated amp. It also uses a SWITCHING (not linear!) power supply and produces 90×2 of power. It operates in Class G. That means its first rail of power is about 10×2 and beyond that a second rail has to sense the need and THEN KICK IN per your demand. The transformer is modest, as are the caps. There’s not much more to it. HiFi News comments there’s no warmth or smoothness till you crank it up a bit.
As for the combo, HFN says if you don’t take the sound seriously, you can have a ball due to the cosmetics with JBL’s name on the front. Oh boy. That’s today’s standard for fun? The face plate?
Units like these with ample features have become generic in our biz.
But what if you want the best SOUND for about $3k?
Just look to our friends from France- Atoll Electronique.
You can afford an absolute power house of an integrated like IN100 Signature ($2100). With two 340VA transformers and about 32,000 uF of filter caps, you have a linear power supply and a sports car engine! This is a true, fire breathing beast, operating in dual mono design from the get go. It has ferocious power and muscular bass that will make your speakers sound dramatically better than you knew they could. The weight and dynamics Atoll brings to your music is ground breaking.
Round the package out with Atoll’s MD100 CD Player ($900). It has a heavy duty transformer, 3 regulated supplies and a PCB designed with no spaghetti in the path. It’s a wonderfully clean and efficient design, that yields a warmer, fuller sound than the Chinese. It definitely isn’t lazy!
Please don’t settle for mass produced gear from job houses on the other side of the world. Please treat yourself to much better sound and build quality, from France!