Audiophilepure

https://www.hifinews.com/content/icon-audio-st40-mkiv-6l6-integrated-amplifier

As the latter of the two titles proudly proclaims ‘Plus Trumpet’, it was an ideal test for the Stereo 40 MkIV 6L6. Would the strings stay sweet or turn steely? Would the brass have attack, punch and staccato transients?

It was almost a master class in why tape is the superior source, Icon Audio’s ‘austerity amp’ defying the removal of a few (admittedly non-sound-related) functions and a small reduction in power. Still the strings soared, with no edges to set teeth a’grinding, while the vivacious brass bursting from the speakers was enough to impress Al Hirt. This amp may have limitations in power, but used judiciously? It’s only January, but it could be Bargain of the Year.

At the other end of the spectrum, in the realm of microdynamics, I find them to be just a bit more reticent in their degree of nuance and expressiveness by way of comparison to the very best performers I’ve heard in this regard. And while they do sacrifice that final gradation of resolution and articulation as we descend closer to the noise floor, I would be remiss to not point out that those amplifiers that are more adroit here are typically considerably pricier. One interesting exception here comes from the nearly identically priced Parasound Halo JC 1+ monos that offer a slight edge in performance over the Grand Vivace in this specific sonic category.

Along with their remarkable power and control, they also excel at conveying the speed of instrumental attack, especially notable with stringed instruments from violins and cellos to pianos and harps. This uninhibited sense of rise speed carries over, exhibiting an equally impressive ability to render decay and trail. Listening to the attack and decay of ride cymbals from intimate jazz performances, or struck triangles buried deep within classical, or even some classic rock or pop, compositions, is a treat with the Gran Vivace.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/simaudio-moon-250i-integrated-amplifier

I also marvelled at this amp’s ability to serve even the most rough production with a spoonful of honey – for example, the ‘buzzsaw’ guitars of Entombed’s Left Hand Path album [Earache Records MOSH 21] have never sounded so inviting. But the best indication of the MOON 250i’s listenability I can give is that it pushed me to find more tracks to play, to the point I was dipping into artists I’d never heard before.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when Amaia Montero surfaced via my Tidal algorithm… It turns out she’s an unapologetically poppy Spanish singer, and the track ‘Ni Puedo Ni Quiero’ from her self-titled album [Sony Music; Tidal Master] is three minutes of strummed guitar, trombone notes, sweet-sounding vocals pushed far forward, and plenty of Latin flair. Simaudio’s amplifier was right up for it. And I was right up for it too.

An interesting side note. Roksan was founded in 1985 and acquired by British loudspeaker manufacturer Monitor Audio Ltd in 2016. The Attessa Series components are post-acquisition developments, and Roksan has stated that it will be revising and refining current products and developing new products. These developments, along with Monitor Audio’s fine reputation in loudspeakers, should augur well for forthcoming system-wide synergy that audiophiles can truly look forward to. Indeed, the Roksan Attessa turned out to be a real sleeper. Looks, ergonomics, and performance—a lot of pieces must fall into place to successfully bring together digital and analog sections, sophisticated software, plus Wi-Fi and network capability. It’s no small task, but with Attessa Roksan has fully met the challenge and then some. At $3199 all-in, the Attessa is likely the one to beat in a hotly competitive division. Highly recommended.

Tracking through a wide variety of different music is a joy with the VT-150. It is dynamic enough to play classical music or heavy rock as loud as you need yet offers great linearity at lower volumes. Even listening to the CSN debut album on MoFi at very low levels with the Dynaudio Confidence 20s is incredibly engaging. Yet cranking the volume way up for some Public Enemy and Slayer proves it delivers the goods.

in addition to having solid, controlled extension on both ends of the frequency scale, this amplifier can generate a large sound field in all three dimensions. There’s a lot of “vacuum tube magic” going on here, to be sure.

And, putting a $2,500-$3,000 amplifier in the context of the $7,500 to $15k system it is more than likely going to end up in will leave you thrilled with the purchase. If you’ve been dreaming of investigating a tube amplifier, I can think of no better place to start your journey. Perhaps at some point, we will commandeer a second one to investigate how these perform as monoblocks. For now, staffer Jerold O’Brien will be using this one on a daily. His daughter took the VT-70, so how can you argue with that?

Honestly, with the sheer number of features packed into this little amp, it’s hard to not like it! Wi-Fi, AirPlay, or Bluetooth 5.0 are all ways to wirelessly connect to it, not to mention all the wired options. It would be hard to find a setup that this amp wouldn’t work with. The app is ok, not great but ok. Did I mention it also includes a remote? I would be interested to see a more powerful version of this amp in the future, but all-in-all I think for $199 it’s a solid option for most users!

I didn’t have any issues in my testing of the amp, it does include a one-year warranty which is always nice to see. I think this little amp would hold up for a good number of years and then some. I would like to see some updates to the app, it’s rather basic in design but has a lot of room for improvement.

Occasionally, before putting something on that I knew to be a little thin and edgy, I’d mentally ask the 452iQs to be a pal and help a brother out. Nah, that’s not their thing. Yes, they have a wonderful sense of flow.  Yes, they reveal complex harmonic and dynamic textures in a recording without adding any noticeable additional texture or obvious slowing of the dynamic envelope. No, they will not magically be your bro and smooth over the treble or pump up the bass on an edgy and/or bass light recording.

At this level of the audiophile mountaintop, the gear is supposed to be as unerringly faithful as possible to what’s on a recording. But for me, there is good clean and not so good clean. Marginal clean has something in the sound that is missing or is off in some way that is hard to put your finger on. Everything might sound impressive – but somehow, I’m not drawn to the music. I might be having a fun time in a cerebral way by marveling at all the detail, bass slam, or whatever, but I’m not really listening to the music.

The VAC Statement 452iQ is my idea of a good clean. Surely it has something to do with using vacuum tubes and transformers, but I think it has more to do with what designer Kevin Hayes likes to hear. I think he is like me and certain other audiophiles in the sense that, yes, we want to hear everything, but not at the expense of musical involvement. I found the 452iQ to be everything I want to hear in the way of limitless dynamics, 3-dimensional imaging, and wide frequency bandwidth but beyond all that, these amps are musically involving. These days, I don’t want to be steered into listening to the gear; I want to listen to the music. More than a few times, I felt that I was hearing a familiar favorite recording for the first time. Not as in new little details emerging, but a macro sense of simply hearing it.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/audio-note-meishu-tonmeister-phono-integrated-amplifier

 only talked about vinyl, because I had my best experiences with vinyl. But I also used the Meishu with my HoloAudio May DAC. The combination was rich and fluid and brought me many hours of musical satisfaction and surprise.

In 2011, Art Dudley wrote in his review of the Audio Note Jinro integrated of “an abundance of that often-noted-yet-never-explained ‘SET sound’ that allows solo voices and instruments to stand musically and spatially proud of the rest of the mix.” That, certainly, is part of what I heard with this Meishu amplifier. It framed every recording within its unique space with meatiness and viscosity, drive and dynamics, deep tone and texture.

Words fail to express the satisfaction I derived listening to music through this expensive Audio Note integrated amplifier. I’ve got nothing bad to say about it—except for the air thing, if you care about that. I detected no (other) anomalies, artifacts, sonic peculiarities, or outright shortcomings. The Tonmeister, together with the Audio Note SUT I auditioned it with, took what I hear from my vinyl collection and made it better, portraying each performance as a singular, unique event occurring at a particular time and place, its secrets revealed.