Audiophilepure

“And I was beguiled by the MC1.25KW’s reproduction of bass. At low volumes, there was a sense of weight, kick drums were punchy, and notes were articulated, transparent, and tonally accurate enough that I could easily discern the differences among electric, synth, and double basses. I don’t hear this level of resolution from my reference monoblocks, because at lower levels there simply isn’t enough bass volume for me to do so. At moderate volume levels, the weight, punch, and dynamic drive of the MC1.25KW grew in scale and articulation, and this control and body is maintained even at outlandish listening levels, much as I heard from Simaudio’s Moon Evolution 888. Male and female voices were consistently vivid and intricately communicated, which goes a long way toward implying that the requisite level of detail is there, even though it isn’t. I suspect that, without a more resolving pair of amplifiers sitting right next to the MC1.25KWs for instant comparison, some listeners might not notice that anything at all is missing.”

https://audiofi.net/2019/12/hegel-h390-amplifier-and-more-norwegian-good/

“Now that we’ve established what the H390 is not, what it does purely as an integrated amplifier is quite amazing. Planar-magnetic speakers such as Magnepan are notoriously power-hungry, and it takes a special amp to really make them sing – the H390 is one of those.

Music simply flowed through the H390, which handled anything that I could throw at it with poise and ease. Vocals, instruments and percussion, and all genres of music from classical, jazz, rock and even metal – the H390 took everything in its stride.”

https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/pbn-olympia-eb-sa3-amplifiers-lxi-preamplifier/

“Where this neutrality becomes very useful aside from distinguishing the recording’s origins and pure musical enjoyment, is what the changes made upstream yields. Changing from the PBN Lxi preamp to the D’Agostino Momentum was not a difficult shift to grasp. The Momentum is a bit of yin to the Lxi’s yang. It’s a shade darker, a shade warmer, a touch deeper in stage, and just as wide, if not as forwardly detailed. Textures are a bit more organic, but these qualities come at a 30% premium in price. The Lxi was livelier where the Momentum’s depth of stage seemed to shave a hair off dynamics. The bass is an equal in terms of extension, a bit heavier feeling-voiced, more bottom up, though with the tone controls the Momentum possesses, it can be transformed in either direction. I have grown so accustomed to having the tone control feature, especially one as well executed as the D’Agostino, I would find it hard to live without. But the Lxi was in the same league, and despite the quirk of not having the ability to switch sources with the remote, and no balance adjustment, I could live very happily with the Lxi. The one caveat beyond those inconveniences would be the Lxi would best suit a system that needs a kick in the pants, and move the stage and upper frequencies a bit forward in mix. “

https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2019/10/15/ap1ziz1f8xd80iqehzgyz3q6pj9rqx

https://www.hifichoicemag.com/content/rogue-audio-cronus-magnum-iii

“Any niggles with the setup soon evaporate once you start listening. It is a rare pleasure to run my relatively insensitive Neat Momentum 4i floorstanders on the end of a valve amp and the result is extremely satisfying. This is unquestionably a valve amp in the way it performs – I don’t believe that Rogue Audio set out for it to sound any other way – but thanks to the power in reserve, it manages to have a level of drive and authority that gives it traits you might more commonly associate with solid-state designs.

The 24/96 Qobuz stream of The National’s You Had Your Soul With You demonstrates this to wonderful effect. With a SOtM SMS-200 Neo network audio player (HFC 449) and Chord Electronics Hugo 2 DAC (HFC 425) acting as a neutral source for it, the Cronus Magnum III is still a big, lush and wonderfully invigorating performer. Voices leap out of the mix, not because there is any unnatural emphasis to them, but simply as they are startlingly vivid. There is an effortless three-dimensionality to the music with the relationship between the performers feeling utterly self explanatory. As I close my eyes, the music is happening in a meaningful fashion right in front of me.”

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/gold-note-pa-10-power-amplifier/

“The PA-10 features a lot of innovations which have always distinguished Gold Note’s design. Its most unique function is a GN property Adjustable Damping Factor that allows for an ideal matching of the power amplifier with almost any kind of loudspeaker. Use the default setting for large speakers or activate the low damping factor via an easy button on the rear when driving high sensitivity or mini-monitor speakers.

Moreover, the proprietary GN LINK technology allows putting the PA-10 into a Master-Slave-Mode with other sources like the DS-10 or a second PA-10. When connected via the GN Link cable, the unit will go in standby mode and will re-activate itself only when receiving a signal from the master unit. The GN Link-Function guarantees major user-friendliness since you will be switching ON/OFF the entire audio chain from one source only.”

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/hegel-audio-systems-h390-integrated-amplifier/

“It had that effortless dynamic range and grip over the loudspeakers we have come to expect from Hegel, with a comprehensively good performance in all other aspects, and as I said that mild upper-frequency zing of its predecessor has been replaced with ear-opening neutrality and honesty. But most of all, it’s a fun thing; listening is a journey of musical discovery that is never dry or fusty. It’s got passion and energy in its output, and it expresses that on every loudspeaker I paired it with, even ones that normally wouldn’t get out of bed for a £4,900 amp. In fact, that little jaunt through any loudspeakers I had to hand was telling; the amp’s character was like musical smoke in all the right ways – aside from a universal grip over the bass units from its high damping factor and an innate sense of musical space and rhythm, descriptions of performance were loudspeaker-related, not amp-related. I would say that I can’t recall the last time an integrated amplifier did that, but I can… it was the Hegel H590. The H390 doesn’t quite get out of the way as much as the ‘straight wire with gain’ H590, but it gets damn close. “