Audiophilepure

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1311-engstroem-arne-integrated-amplifier

I’ll happily vote the Arne in as the most elegant component that’s flowed through my listening room. There. I said it. But the Arne isn’t just a pretty face. It’s fully balanced, from input to output, which is perhaps the most interesting design feature, since you don’t see this type of configuration on other triode tube amps. It’s a pure class-A amplifier, using direct-heated triodes, with zero negative feedback. What further distinguishes the Arne is its direct-coupled driver stage, which connects directly to the power tubes.

The Arne employs two 300B power tubes and two D3A driver tubes per channel. You don’t see many D3A tubes these days. The D3A is a nine-pin miniature frame-grid pentode developed in the 1950s for wideband telecommunications applications. The particular ones in this amp are Siemens NOS types, and I envision Timo Engström purposefully descending a ladder into a well-provisioned cellar containing a steamer trunk full of these little guys. The 300Bs are high-quality tubes from Emission Labs. Engström carries a host of other brands, and you can discuss other options for driver and power tubes with them at the time of purchase.

https://pt.audio/2026/04/12/bergmann-modi-turntable-review/

None of that would matter, of course, if the Bergmann Modi and Thor didn’t sound fantastic. It does. It’s one of those turntables that’s difficult to fault, although I suppose there are some shortcomings or else Bergmann wouldn’t have come up with the Magne and the Galder and the Odin. But for a hair over $18K, the Modi and Thor is a wise and prudent choice for those audiophiles who are serious about analog. It also helps that the Bergmann rig is neutral enough to draw out bigger differences between your favorite cartridges. Highly recommended, of course, and I’m glad we were finally introduced after all these years.

The headliner here is the 24-bit R2R Array for analog-like warmth. It shares an ultra-high precision ultra-low jitter unified clock source with its flagship FiiO M27, and that chain is what FiiO calls its Digital Audio Purification System, including a high-capacity FPGA and dual custom crystal oscillators. The pre-amp section features TI Burr-Brown OPA1637 fully differential op-amps for I/V conversion and signal conditioning. There’s also a precision volume control and independent power supplies for the analog and digital amplifier stages, something you don’t see in comparably priced players.

We’re seeing a lot of R2R electronics of late. An R-2R ladder circuit is a specific arrangement of resistors using only two values, R and 2R, designed to convert digital binary signals into analog voltages (Digital-to-Analog Conversion or DAC).

Subbass is subtle and stays behind the rest of the presentation, giving tracks a light sense of depth rather than a deep rumble. It is not bad by any means, but it clearly avoids the kind of pressure and weight that bass-heavy sets deliver.

The punchiness of its mid-bass is what feels most noticeably missing, as kick drums do not land with strong impact. There is still a slight thump to keep rhythm sections from sounding empty, but the EPZ 550 does not push mid-bass energy aggressively.

Despite that weakened energy, the drums and bass guitars earn back attention through excellent timbre and texture. Every small tonal shift, drum hit, and string detail comes through with wonderful accuracy, allowing everything to sound as natural as can be.