Atoll Electronique Just in, straight from France, is Atoll Electronique. Yes, Atoll is made in France, not China, and comes with a THREE year warranty. Atoll was founded in 1997 by brothers Stephane and Emmanuel Dubreuil. You’ll see that Atoll is barely more money than the Chinese imports- yet the performance is astonishingly more dynamic, rich and smooth sounding. The line is so good, and so reasonable in price, that you have to ask why nobody else is doing this. Ultimately, Atoll is SMART and efficient. They use a short menu of chassis sizes. Their base units use a generous
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Archives for stereo integrated
05.2023
NAD C389 Integrated Amp $1500: 130×2 (4h, 17 1/8w, 14 1/2d, 130 w/ch, 8 ohms) In the Feb 2023 newsletter I told you the C389 was imminent. Turns out, they made me a liar by about two months. You can refer to the Feb newsletter for the nuts and bolts. Finally, we have C389 in the flesh. It’s HERE and it is even BETTER than I dared hope. I’m happy to report that C389 has a significantly bigger kick than its smaller brothers and IS an integrated that can drive some major league speakers. It is, in fact, the least
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02.2023
Amphion has introduced a like minded, less expensive brother to its highly touted Argon 1 ($1900pr). We now have Amphion definition and musicality for not a lot over a grand. Helium 510: $1400 Per Pair (Black or White) $1500 Per Pair Walnut (12.44h, 6.3w, 10.43d, 13 lbs, 86 dB, 8 ohms) Helium 510 is the same size as Argon 1. It runs less money because it uses a pulp fiber bass mid driver while Argon 1 uses a linear-piston aluminum driver. While Helium 510 can’t achieve the stunning clarity that Argon 1 does, it IS competitive and charts new territory
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08.2022
Marantz CD-60 Single Play CD Player, $1000 Just in is Marantz’s new CD-60. It is the best $1K ish player on the market. Its sound is warm as opposed to cool. While we’re impressed when a big buck product pushes the state of the art, we’re even more impressed when an affordable product sets new standards for its price point. Have a look. GoldenEar Towers There are a lot of “good” speakers on the market. In general your money buys you an array of cones and domes purchased from some vendor and screwed into a box. They come in all
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04.2022
NAD C399 Integrated Amp $2000 (180×2) (4 3/4h, 17 1/8w, 15 3/8d, 25 lbs) NAD’s new, dynamite (!) integrated amp has just landed. It features NAD’s cutting edge PowerDrive nCore amplifier technology. It eschews the world of traditional amplifier design which is replete with mismatched output transistors. C399 is more efficient and refined in performance. C399 is better in that it resolves instrumental character without the ragged edges that come with traditional technology. Mismatched transistors create artifacts that aren’t part of what should be there. We hear them as harsh and unpleasant. C399 is not only smooth, it’s conspicuously MUSCULAR.
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03.2022
Mytek Liberty 2 DAC $1495 Covid 19 has impacted every audio company the last couple of years. Nobody has been disrupted more than Mytek. They have been out of the popular Liberty DAC for well over a year -and Liberty 2 is here- at long last! Liberty 2 steps in as THE best choice as a great cut above DAC- that compares to some of the most expensive on the market. In addition to sounding better on CD and hi-res streaming content, Liberty 2 supports full MQA decoding. If you like Tidal (I do!) you’re gonna love Liberty 2. Liberty
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06.2020
Hegel H-590 Integrated Amp $11,000 (301×2) (6.75h, 17w, 17.6d, 50 lbs) Good gravy, is this integrated a STAR or what?! Rated at 301×2 into 8 ohms, double into 4, and double that into 2, H-590 has a frighteningly fine & powerful amplifier section. 300/600/1200! You also get a state of the art DAC and preamp in the same box. It has Ethernet in for streaming options. H-590 started as a power amp project. Designer Bent Holter went innovative as he dove in and decided he could put these 3 components on one chassis- and save a bundle compared to doing
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02.2020
Hegel H-120 Integrated Amp ($3000, 75×2) (4h, 17.25w, 11.75d, 28 lbs of DYNAMITE!) Hegel’s new integrated will flat out BLOW YOU AWAY for its price point! H-120 is soooo stinkin’ good that I don’t know exactly how to describe it. But try, I will. First of all, I want to make clear that I think the new H-120 achieves a new plateau for its price point. To my ears, H-120 is the least expensive integrated that sends you sailing into the BIG TIME of esoteric audio electronics performance. H-120 will make almost any speaker sound significantly more detailed and refined.
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12.2019
Peachtree Integrated Amplifiers & Power Amp Peachtree is back in Da House! Peachtree has made significant upgrades in its products over the years that float my boat- so I’m back on board. First and foremost is, PT offers tons more power than anybody else for a given buck. There are precious few speakers that won’t benefit from more power! The products are in a small form factor. It’s easy to find a place for them and they don’t run hot. And get this, they’re made in North America now, not the Far East! The warranty is 3 years new, so
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10.2018
Now On Display! Klipschorn AK-6, $15,000 Per Pair Take a look! Marantz Reference Series Marantz Reference Series products have always been among the finest products you can buy. They have been designed by Marantz’s renowned engineer, Ken Ishiwata. Ken has just created a new integrated amp and SACD/CD player dubbed KI RUBY series to mark his 40th anniversary with Marantz. Ken is all about making great sound with a zero noise floor. The Marantz Ref gear sounds great with any speakers, but is a conspicuously strong choice with high efficiency speakers (like Klipsch) that are quite revealing. High efficiency speakers
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