Audiophilepure

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

Lots of adjectives, many metaphors there, but it’s impossible to give the measure of the way the Arne portrays midrange and treble instruments using a framework that doesn’t include at least some reaching toward poetry. I believe the ASR folks would accuse me of purple prose, and that’s okay, because I doubt they’ve got this far into the review. And besides, the aural benefit, the nature of an amp like the Arne, requires some suspension of rational discourse. You’ve heard about 300B magic? Well, here it is, and you need to think outside the box to get to the root of it.

Could the Arne be slightly rolled off up top? With maybe a bit of a midrange peak? I guess it could, and most likely there are some frequency-response aberrations, but I know that this is not why the Arne sounds the way it does. That texture, that voluptuous feeling, the rounded, fully fleshed-out images—okay, if you’re near your stereo right now, please fire up “And Dream of Sheep” from Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love (16‑bit/44.1kHz FLAC, Fish People / Qobuz). You hear how juicy and intimate Bush’s voice sounds? Now imagine her reaching out from the front of your room, so palpable that it feels like she’s brushing your skin as she sings into your ear. It’s solidity of image, combined with an increase in the subtle cues that help kick your suspension of disbelief into top gear that makes the Arne so immersive.