HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

SteveTheShadow wrote: ↑Sat Mar 10, 2018 10:52 pm Review

The word that keeps coming up, with everything I'm playing, is "Authority"
This amp is effortless on my omnis. It takes whatever I throw at it and just plays without fuss or favour.
The presentation is very detailed, but never hard nor nasty, no matter how complex the mix gets, which means that it digs right into the core of the music and brings it out into the room.

Because I use omni speakers, it means I am into the "they are here" aspect of hi-fi rather than "you are there" and this amp certainly brings the music into the living room with aplomb. The top end is clear as a bell, utterly devoid of any hardness, fizz or grain and deals with all the subtle and complex percussion details of Latin jazz with a deft assuredness that is captivating.

Cymbals shimmer, rivets rattle, hi-hats tsssk, like live ones do. Shakers shik-a-shik and bongos start and stop on a dime....lovely.

The bass performance is detailed, fast and goes as deep and powerful as my speakers will go. The amp would certainly shift some air if it were connected to a set of 12" drivers.

Through my own speakers, electric bass plays tunes way down, whilst maintaining the attack of finger or plectrum on strings. This is particularly good on Bert Kaempfert, where he often uses an acoustic bass and plectrum played electric bass at the same time. The amp makes it easy to tell which is which, without the acoustic bass becoming lost in the proceedings...again lovely.

In the midrange, vocals are correct, with no nasality on females or hardness on black male singers of the Levi Stubbs and Dennis Edwards variety. Electric guitars, bark and growl and are beautifully textured, with the creamy distortion generated by Marshalls and Fenders, coming over unsullied. Big band brass blares convincingly, again with a subtlety and lack of distortion, that makes it very easy to turn the wick up to high levels without the music becoming conjested or muddy.

Nothing stands out and everything hangs together like few amps I've heard. I'm loving what it does.

Dr Bunsen Honeydew wrote: ↑Sun Mar 11, 2018 7:41 pm Just had the first 3 back from Dave yesterday, so it is available. Dave said he didn't expect the difference but the 20x is clearly better. I haven't switched one on yet.

Dr Bunsen Honeydew wrote: ↑Tue Mar 13, 2018 1:00 pm Soooo, comparisons with A20 and with the valve jobby.

You need to move on from LS2. I will have a search in my can't use or sell odds and sods box, what do you need in terms of length.