Audiophilepure

The further upshot of time with Audio Hungary’s Qualiton A75 was making plain to me, again, that music is about enjoyment not extraction of every iota of sound. More information is more information it is not necessarily more joy. As an audiophile, my musical interests have blossomed and include far more genres of music than when I started. I’m not going into a hermit state. I’ve poked into a lot of corners of music that I was never interested in. Some proved just interesting and some really enjoyable. So it goes. 

The Qualiton A75 is a compelling offer to buy, simplify, and just enjoy. Have great sound without having to give up so much real estate while retaining some visual beauty. It’s an opportunity to bask in the joy of an evolved system. Instead of studying reviews of amplifiers to determine what your next audio purchase should be. Maybe what’s next is to continue exploring new music or it’s immersing yourself more deeply into your record collection or taking friends to your desert island system and basking in the full glory of what you’ve constructed. Audio Hungary’s Qualiton A75 could be that. Highly recommended.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/rogue-audio-dragon-monoblock-power-amplifier

The ESS Transtatic I is a hybrid-electrostatic loudspeaker (footnote 4). The fabric-wrapped 120lb cabinets are three-walled, open on the inside face. Low frequencies are transmission-line loaded and radiate from bass ports above each laminate-veneered loudspeaker pedestal’s cardinal directions.

Each speaker uses a 9″ × 12″ foam, flat-piston KEF B139 oval “racetrack” low-frequency driver and a rear-ported KEF B110 midfrequency driver, coordinated with an array of three RTR electrostatic panels. These drivers were fairly common in the 1970s, used by various manufacturers including Infinity. According to the specifications, the Transtatic I’s lows extend below 15Hz, the highs up to 32kHz, with a ±3dB range of 25Hz–20kHz. Admirably, ESS specified a minimum—not nominal—impedance, of 4 ohms. Sensitivity wasn’t specified, but I estimate it as in the vicinity of 90dB/W/m. The user manual suggests a minimum amplifier power of 60W and says it can take “greater than 650-watt musical peaks without distortion.”

Uncolored and unboxy, these are the best-sounding loudspeakers I’ve ever heard at low volume. For this review, I used them exclusively.

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1220-audionet-humboldt-integrated-amplifie

Audionet’s Humboldt integrated amplifier isn’t just a reference-level integrated amplifier; it’s a statement-level integrated amplifier. At a scarcely believable $58,500, it damn well should be. And after months of listening across a variety of partnering loudspeakers, I can report that it’s not only the highest performance class-AB integrated amplifier I’ve reviewed but also the most enjoyable. I found its combination of deep power reserves, extreme transparency, and cavernous soundstaging beguiling. Allied to a dead-neutral frequency response, I’m not sure you could ask for anything more from a topflight, modern integrated amp. It’s costly, but the best often is.

The ULTIMA INTEGRATED is a 125-watt device designed by Chord Electronics’ founder, owner and chief engineer, John Franks. It features the latest dual-feed-forward error-correction topology, plus the company’s unmistakable industrial aesthetic.
The amplifier takes advantage of the very latest developments in advanced low-distortion power supplies, devices offering exceptionally low noise and outstanding operation.

https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2023/6/11/49fkfmqfnubr67p4v3hwqf1mmlipym

Decware comments “This is a pure Class/A single-ended triode amplifier with 2 high-current watts per channel and the ability to drive speakers between 2 and 16 ohms (my unit had a switch for both 4 and 8 ohm speakers). It features a potentiometer volume control (which I used during the listening period) and two pairs of input jacks making preamps completely optional. Also, it can be bridged into mono for around 6 watts. “Because of our floating output stage design, a pair of these amps can even be run as fully differential balanced monoblocks”

https://www.hifinews.com/content/trafomatic-rhapsody-integrated-amplifier

Trafomatic’s Rhapsody ensured that I wallowed in the room-filling, full-blown orchestral readings of ‘White Christmas’, ‘Sleigh Ride’ and ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’, some wholly (or holy) instrumental, others with multiple voices to the fore. What was not compromised, despite the Rhapsody amplifier eschewing lushness for the sake of it, was that silky sheen which endears SET designs to the faithful. The best way to describe it is an inherent antidote to listener fatigue.

If there is any limit to this amplifier’s sheer command, it might prove to be the wattage, but that only affects your choice of loudspeaker. When paired with high-sensitivity models, the Trafomatic Rhapsody earns the most glowing testimony I can bestow on a product by simply stating one fact: my first listening session ran for seven uninterrupted hours. Yes, seven. The only downside? Looking at the smart meter in my listening room.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/luxman-l-509z-integrated-amplifier

Some amplifiers make you work to understand their meaning and message. Others shout their personalities like “Swifties” about to see their heroine. The Luxman L-509Z never shouts, barks, or begs. Its message is clarity, balance, coherence, seamlessness, quietude, and a certain invisibility—in keeping, I believe, with a Japanese audio aesthetic of delivering music artifact free, above all else.

As Luxman’s evolving noise-suppression technologies make the company’s amplifiers more silent, what is left behind is purity and focus. The L-509Z builds on tradition without losing the plot. It’s an exacting integrated amplifier with a good phono stage, a bevy of control options, and plenty of power. The Japanese company’s flagship integrated merits a “Sai-kōkyu” designation. We call it Class A.

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1220-audionet-humboldt-integrated-amplifier

Audionet’s Humboldt integrated amplifier isn’t just a reference-level integrated amplifier; it’s a statement-level integrated amplifier. At a scarcely believable $58,500, it damn well should be. And after months of listening across a variety of partnering loudspeakers, I can report that it’s not only the highest performance class-AB integrated amplifier I’ve reviewed but also the most enjoyable. I found its combination of deep power reserves, extreme transparency, and cavernous soundstaging beguiling. Allied to a dead-neutral frequency response, I’m not sure you could ask for anything more from a topflight, modern integrated amp. It’s costly, but the best often is.