What are the characteristics of a good amplifier? First and foremost, it must sound good. As a rule, it means for the manufacturer to pick as expensive parts as the budget allows. Work diligently with circuit design, to thin out every little detail of the music signal. This also applies to Danish Lyngdorf. But here, …
Where hi-fi enthusiasts long ago swore to separate devices for each and every part of the signal chain – and of course could not live with an integrated amplifier, because that job had to be distributed on preamplifiers and power amplifiers – in recent years integrated amplifiers have obtained the respect they deserve. Hi-fi manufacturers …
An amplifier does not have to be huge to sound good. As we saw when we tested networked stereo amplifiers two years ago. Now Bluesound Powernode, which participated at the time, has come in a new and revised edition. Since Bluesound has meanwhile stopped naming each model generation, it has been given the anonymous surname …
Hi-fi is usually an expensive hobby. A fact that we are painfully aware of at LB Tech, where the majority of the editorial staff themselves are hi-fi nerds. But occasionally, products emerge that break with the costly norm. Tangent Ampster BT II comes from Danish Tangent Audio, and as the name suggests, it is an …
Most amplifiers that we encounter are of the integrated type, ie where everything is gathered in one unit. But there are still some who swear by having a pure preamplifier. Either because they have special requirements for the power amplifier, or because it has to be combined with active speakers. The NAD C658 is a …
You almost have to be inside the hi-fi industry to know who Copland is. By that I do not mean the award-winning American composer Aaron Copland, but Danish hi-fi manufacturer Copland. Who is completely unknown to most people, except connoisseurs, who know that Copland makes some of the most well-sounding there is – with vacuum …
They said they should not do it, but then they did it anyway. Maybe it was because we were not the only ones insisting that Hegel make a phono step. That they just gave in for the pressure. Or that Bent Holter realized that all the fuss might have meant that there was a need …
No matter what kind of speakers you have, they deserve a proper amplifier, and that demand naturally increases as the speakers come up in price and quality. When you round 3000 bucks and maybe a little higher, the best amplifiers are so good that you will not miss anything. They can operate most of the speakers, …
Half a minute into Keith Jarrett’s Cologne concert, I realized why I have always been weak for Marantz integrated amplifiers. The brand new Marantz Model 30 has much of the same sound signature, an easy-flowing, well-resolved and effortless sound, which is so easy to like that it quickly becomes addictive. It also looks like a …
Electrocompaniet is first and foremost a high-end manufacturer specializing in large, heavy amplifiers. Although the company has recently shown that they master the art of making multi-room speakers . With the amplifier ECI 6DX MKII, the manufacturer has taken it all out, where the goal has been to pack as much quality from the more powerful preamplifiers and …
Until now, Marantz has not been among the major investors in digital amplifiers with streaming. And this despite the fact that the twin company Denon launched the power system Heos several years ago. It is only in the last couple of years that Marantz has implemented the Heos system in some of its amplifiers. With …
The most iconic Norwegian hi-fi export is still called Electrocompaniet. Now it is admittedly a worn-out hi-fi story that Michael Jackson himself gave the producer a “Special thanks” in the cover of the releases History (1995) and Invincible (2001). Electrocompaniet was also another company at the time, with Per Abrahamsen as founder and chief designer. …
Now that soundbars come with both five, seven and nine channels – many of them with the 3D audio formats Dolby Atmos and DTS: X – who needs a big and ugly amplifier with a dullion channels, like the Denon AVC-X6700H? And a bunch of speakers that belong? I’ll tell you this: It’s the one …
Since its inception in 1982, Musical Fidelity has been behind a large number of successful and well-sounding products in all parts of hi-fi. Gray-bearded audiophiles will remember the enormously successful A1 amplifier of 20 W (almost) pure class A from 1984. But the company has since made a number of far more powerful amplifiers. Musical …
Sometimes it’s just so much fun to test new products, that you blow completely in all the shortcomings they may have. Then it is not important with specifications, it is mostly about just enjoying the moment. That’s the way it is with the McIntosh MA352. Just watch it heat up. Where the LEDs change from …