The superb Marantz Model 40n amplifier plays music with infectious commitment and immediately became one of my favourites in its price range. It didn’t take long, either. A few minutes with the Keith Jarrett Trio on a pair of Klipsch Heresy IVs (test in progress) was enough. I was hooked. For those who are thinking …
I must admit I was a little surprised. It’s not that I’m prejudiced against valve amplifiers, but I wasn’t expecting this. Let me explain… Many people I talk to have an inherent scepticism about valve amplifiers. That someone uses vacuum valves to get sound into speakers is not only an anachronism, it’s also foolish, they …
Citation is the name of Harman Kardon’s family of speakers and amplifiers with built-in music streaming. But where other multi-room manufacturers like Sonos and Bluesound use their own locked technology, Harman Kardon uses standardized streaming technologies like Google Home and Apple AirPlay 2. This allows you to connect Citation products with other streaming products using …
French Devialet makes amplifiers and speakers like no other. Particularly special are probably the Phantom wireless high-end speakers, which in addition to brutal power from extremely little cabinet also has deeper bass than was thought possible! This is due to a lot of amplifier power and very large woofers (2 x 7 inches) in relation …
In the search for the best music experiences, it is easy to think that you have to choose a huge and heavy beast of an amplifier, that will almost blow the fuses when you turn it on. An amplifier that rattles the speakers and knocks the music out of them. Small, neat amplifiers with streaming …
I15 Prisma is Primare’s most affordable power amplifier. It has a small and practical footprint, but still oozes quality with a metal cabinet and a front in anodised aluminium. Where the big brothers are built around the Swedish manufacturer’s own Class D amplifier technology, called UFDP 2, the choice in I15 has is built over …
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, …
With the Evo 150, English Cambridge Audio will take everything in one to a new level. The look is wonderfully modernist, with a large graphics screen. The box comes with two pairs of magnetic side panels. One wave pattern black in recycled richlite, and one in walnut. The latter draws inspiration from Cambridge Audio’s very …
It’s tempting to call Michi a new, high-end sub-brand of Japanese Rotel, although the name first appeared in some high-end products in 1991. In 2019, the Michi name was revived, with the amplifier set P5 and M8, and also stereo power amplifier S5. And now with a couple of new integrated amplifiers, you can finally …
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 …
I thought I knew what I was going for. First a physical effort, as always with McIntosh amplifiers, followed by a fast-paced and engaging break-in period. So I had learned after years of easing and testing McIntosh products. But this time I was not prepared. That is, with a weight close to 50 kilos, the …
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 …
Few others stock as many amplifiers as McIntosh. Among the power amplifiers alone, we find seven multi-channel amplifiers, four valve amplifiers, eight transistor amplifiers, and a hybrid valve/transistor amplifier. Then it is perhaps not so strange that one of them, MC312, easily disappears in the crowd. The 2 x 300 W powerful transistor amplifier may …
The answers will be different, depending on who you ask. I know, for example, there are many people who claim that the most important component in a system is the speakers. Hi-fi agnostics argue that the room itself is all-important, and then there are those who believe that the sound source – where it all …
The differences are more than subtle, but for many they are not big enough to be worth the extra expense. Because while Yamaha’s integrated A-S2200 is one of the best and most exciting amplifier purchases in its class, the more expensive flagship A-S3200 is in a completely different division. The two amplifiers share the same …