Audiophilepure

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/marantz-model-40n-streaming-integrated-amplifier-review

Alexis Cole’s “Something So Right,” from The World’s Greatest Audiophile Vocal Recordings, Volume 2 (16/44.1 FLAC), sounded sophisticated and gorgeous. Cole’s voice, backed by the warm sound of Marvin Sewell’s guitar strings, came across as relaxed and liquid with beautiful midrange bloom. All of the sonic images were large and solidly planted against a quiet background. At the same time, the high-frequency glissando of Sewell’s fingers sliding between notes was cleanly reproduced without being grating, a common failing of components that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

If pushed to identify a minor quibble I had with the Model 40n’s sound, it would be that it produced a smidgeon less detail than some of its competitors. NAD’s C 399 integrated streaming amp, which I reviewed for the June/July 2022 issue and still have in-house, reproduced Sewell’s guitar strings on “Something So Right” with slightly more vibrational spring, though the difference was subtle and would likely go unnoticed without a contemporaneous comparison. Indeed, absent such a comparison, the long and metallic low-level dynamics of cymbal decays seemed fully resolved on the title track from Billy Cobham’s Total Eclipse album

Comments are closed.