Audiophilepure

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“Just when I’ve been moaning to myself about how expensive everything has gotten in high-end sound, the Akitika GT-102 comes along and blows that complaint out of the water. It ain’t perfect, but it is a satisfying amplifier if you match it properly. Dan Joffe’s design and implementation proves you don’t have to be a one percenter to play in the high-end audio game. The assembled, tested, GT-102 amp goes for $488 plus $26 shipping in the lower 48 states. The kit version is $314 (really?) plus $26 shipping in the lower 48 states.”

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“Let’s start with the latest version of the well-established TL-6.5. Wedging the full feature set and functionality of the company’s two-box flagship line-stage into a single chassis was no easy feat, requiring a vertical extension to the established casework used for the TL-7.5’s PSU and control section. The resulting box can be supplied in silver, black or two-tone mix, the latter making the most of the original’s elegant design and front-panel proportions. On the inside it houses a fully balanced and differential circuit built around a single pair of ECC82 tubes, used for the critical voltage gain. Paired with a sophisticated FET-buffered, high-current output stage, you could argue that this should be more properly described as a hybrid design, but frankly, I’m more interested in the performance than the labels. With its large and highly regulated power supply, what the 6.5 does is deliver the coherent dynamics and presence that make tube pre-amps so musically appealing, combined with an incredibly low noise floor and the ability to drive almost any load – both extremely unusual in a tube design. Even more unusual is the functional versatility, with a full suit of balanced and single-ended in and outputs, processor and tape loops, adjustable overall and individual input gain. Look inside and you find a mirror-imaged circuit, precision resistor ladders and more by-pass capacitors than you can shake a stick at. The package is topped off with a sensibly sized, full function remote and a display that you can actually see from across the room.”

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“Triode: I’m a big fan of SETs. With the right speakers and a great vinyl setup, there’s nothing I enjoy more in high end audio. The sweetness, the light, the layering of subtleties, the inner workings of musicians’ minds laid bare. All are heard under a quality SET setup. I found that less so under the push pull variety. So, although the folks at Allnic quite rightly suggest ‘SET like’ sound for its triode mode, it was more of an aspiration than a full SET experience. Beetles suggestion regarding the 200 hours break in may well add some delicacy to the triode sound. I wish I had the unit longer. ”

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“Dan has been threatening to produce a true, no-limits amplifier for as long as I have known him. This is it. What I heard the Relentless amps do was – without any notion of hyperbole – demonstrate what sound without power limitations can be. This is not to suggest for a moment that one cannot live with less; neither is it to insinuate that there are no other systems so blissfully free of constraint. That said, they are few in number, and must be built around the most sensitive of speakers. The Relentless needs no such accommodation.”

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“Where it didn’t quite match the pricier amplifiers that I’ve recently had in my system like the D’Agostino Relentless, which comes in at a cool $250,000 a pair, or the Ypsilon Hyperions, is in the ultimate degree of relaxation and grip and control. It may sound wacky, but the fact is that there is even more performance to be had than this amplifier delivers. That’s something CH knows—and why you can go up the line in its offerings to bigger and better amps. But make no mistake: What the A1.5 offers you is more than an introduction to the high end. It constitutes an invitation to a high level of performance that is unlikely to leaving you feeling neutral about its sonic prowess.”

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“The Rega io is so good, one is tempted to summon up a cauldron full of well-worn audiophile clichés. While it is excellent at first listen, the toughest part of reviewing a component offering such a high level of performance is that it begs being connected to much more expensive ancillaries to experience the depth of its true capabilities. You could grab a pair of budget speakers and a thrift shop turntable and live happily ever after with the io, but like that other legend from the UK, don’t be surprised to see this one in the company of much more expensive components. Watch for the audio forums of 2050 to speak of this amplifier in hushed reverence.

Of course, the io is worthy of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2020, but that doesn’t truly explain a product that gets the essence of the music so right. Audiophiles beginning their journey here may be spoiled for a very long time.”

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“The question on people’s lips will always be ‘which one is best?’ but in fact it’s a false dichotomy at best. The ART300 and ART27A play to different strengths, work with different systems (especially in terms of loudspeakers and room, even if there is a lot of wiggle room on the part of the ART27A). The simple answer to the question is ‘yes’ or ‘they are both better than each other’. There is no set answer here. Both are outstanding in their own different ways and while there is a lot of crossover in terms of tonality and frequency extension. It’s much more than one has authority, the other has a sense of musical grace, just as it’s wrong to think one is for rock listeners and the other is for jazz fans. The truth is, you should listen to both, and then decide.”

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“The Rega io is so good, one is tempted to summon up a cauldron full of well-worn audiophile clichés. While it is excellent at first listen, the toughest part of reviewing a component offering such a high level of performance is that it begs being connected to much more expensive ancillaries to experience the depth of its true capabilities. You could grab a pair of budget speakers and a thrift shop turntable and live happily ever after with the io, but like that other legend from the UK, don’t be surprised to see this one in the company of much more expensive components. Watch for the audio forums of 2050 to speak of this amplifier in hushed reverence.

Of course, the io is worthy of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2020, but that doesn’t truly explain a product that gets the essence of the music so right. Audiophiles beginning their journey here may be spoiled for a very long time.”