We talk to people every day about building out a new hi-fi system. It’s a treat to share the enthusiasm of our great hobby with people who haven’t been following it for years- but they’re ready to dive back in.
The good news is, our hobby is better than ever. It’s better than the “golden age” of the 1970s or whenever you thought that was. When I look at the gear we can offer today, compared to what we had even a decade or two ago, much less four or five decades ago… we’ve come a long way baby!
Since “nobody” has endless money, where’s a great place to start?
You can’t miss by starting with Atoll from France, with their 3 year warranty.
Atoll’s integrated amps and CD Player/DACs offer the best value in our business! Let’s take a look at a couple of phenomenal choices within the Atoll family, The One Hundreds.
IN100 Signature Integrated Amp, $2100 (100×2)
IN100 Sig is one of the best value products in our business. It is a clean, smooth, quiet, THUNDER producing integrated amplifier at a fair price.
It’s $2100 in line stage configuration. That’s probably the version you’ll buy. You can add a DAC board for $300. You can add an MM phono board for $130, or $190 for MM/MC. But if you follow my logic here, I think you’ll be fine with the line stage version.
All Atoll products are made in France with a 3 year warranty- NOT CHINA!
What’s unique about IN100 Sig is that it’s built like a tank. It’s a dual mono design using two massive 340VA TOROIDAL transformers. Correct. It uses two, not a single. It has very large filter caps of just under 32,000uF. The combination of these big transformers and substantial filter caps is that IN100 Sig has BIG BASS delivery and dynamics.
This 100×2 integrated from France will absolutely KO any similarly priced amp from China, regardless of its wattage rating. There’s nothin’ from over there… built like an Atoll.
You simply CANNOT get the weight and dynamics out of your speakers that this middle linebacker gives you, with a lesser built amp. Literally anything coming from China at remotely near $2k is a Yugo compared to this Corvette.
When you study what’s in any of the Chinese amps, it’s not close. They don’t have the infrastructure to bring fireworks to the party. IN100 Sig hits like a heavyweight boxer instead of a flyweight.
Take one look at the guts here and you can appreciate the exquisite, muscular construction of Atoll. The circuit boards use nickel & gold and are symmetrical for minimal signal length runs. You’ll see no spaghetti mess of running wires to promulgate RFI. Atoll even hand matches its MOSFET output transistors to insure a smooth timbrel balance. The other guys…don’t, so they have a proclivity to sound grainy and fatiguing.
IN100 Sig has enough BEEF to drive virtually any speakers on the market. With IN100 Sig you can buy any speakers you like. You don’t have to worry about having enough power to drive large towers or panels. You don’t have to worry about noise floor if you choose horns. IN100 Sig is a great, cost effective choice for ANY speakers. You’d do well to start with it.
CD100 Signature CD Player/DAC $2200
CD100 Sig is among the best CD players you can buy. Due to its large 10VA transformer and big cap supply of over 13,000uF, its sound is robust and powerful. The Chinese alternatives will sound flimsy and lean. Big power supplies in CD players and DACs pay off similarly as they do in amplifiers.
And yes, I have to have a great CD player! I hope you do too. First of all, a great CD player like an Atoll will sound better than the same music streamed.
When you stream your music, it comes from a cloud, heaven only knows where, with a zillion miles of wire/switches and wi-fi, it’s a miracle it sounds as good as it does. When you run a CD, you’re not chaching or monkeying with wiring/switches, the internet and wi-fi. You’ll hear that pianos and human voices in particular, sound more true and solid with CD than streaming. For the music you really love and play over and over, buy the CDs.
CD100 Sig has a marvelous DAC on board that you can access with other digital products. Yep, this DAC is a secret weapon! You can run your (Bluesound I hope) streamer right into CD100 Sig and then you’ll be hearing the DAC of CD100 Sig, instead of what’s in your streamer. The DAC in CD100 Sig will sound smoother and less stereotypically “digital” than what’s in your streamer. Atoll designs its DACs with no correctional feedback, and discrete componentry in its differential analog stages. The other guys… just employ a highly processing chip to do all the work which yields a more brittle bite to your music.
THIS… is sage planning because, it makes no sense to buy an expensive streamer. The streaming module in virtually every streamer out there is a modest BOARD made by Stream Unlimited. This module is virtually the same whether you’re using a Bluesound or some fancy dancy pretentious streamer with a gold plated insignia on the front. Nobody supports the streaming handshake better than Bluesound. Please just allot $600 for your streamer. Run the Bluesound into CD100 Sig and you’ve upped your sonic game to edge of the art quality. It’s so good that you could spend many THOUSANDS and not hear an improvement.
Hence CD100 Sig kills two birds with one stone. It gives you a wonderful CD player for your most serious listening. It gives you the same great DAC to improve the sound of whatever streamer you’re using
The Combo
By spending $4300 you now have the foundation of a great hi-fi. You have a fantastic source for playing CDs or streaming. You have a fabulous integrated amp to drive whatever speakers you choose.
Speakers
We have those too, by the way.
Bryston
As a family, nobody beats Bryston. They’re made in Canada (not China) with a 20 year warranty. They sound muscular and smooth. What a fabulous combination of musical traits.
Magnepan
We also offer Magnepans from Minnesota (not China). These low mass diaphragms deliver incredible resolution and a huge image. Running them with Atoll will assure that they have nice bass as well. If you run them with cheapy Chinese amps, they sound wimpy. It’s not their fault.
Klipsch Heritage
When you wanna move air, your floor boards or intestines, Klipsch kicks arse with the best of ’em. They’re made in Arkansas with a decade warranty.