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Gramophone Dreams #46: Decware Zen Triode Amplifier
I am not a fan of that amp designer who promoted his products by pointing a condescending finger while scolding audiophiles, like errant children, for preferring their records to sound "pleasant"...
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Gramophone Dreams #47: Hana Umami Red, Musical Surroundings Nova III,...
At the end of Gramophone Dreams #46, I was lost in the pristine beauty of Decware's 25th Anniversary Zen Triode amplifier driving the DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 speakers. That was an extremely...
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Doshi Audio Evolution Monoblock power amplifier
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help your filaments?" asked the audiophile judge of the tube. "Since I am the truth," respondeth the tube, "I have...
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Gramophone Dreams #51: Feliks Audio Arioso amplifier & the Western Electric...
From my writing chair, I can see about a dozen moderately priced tube and solid state audio amplifiers. The five stacked next to my desk are First Watt or Pass Labs models designed by Nelson Pass....
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Audio Research VT100 power amplifier
The only thing that excites me as much as finding an excitable new affordable component (which I define as below $1000, and the lower the better) is a new "trickle-down" design from a cutting-edge...
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Berning EA-2100 power amplifier
Although one of the most innovative firms in the audio electronics field, the David Berning Company seems determined to keep as low a profile as possible. The company advertises little, does not...
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Quicksilver MS190 power amplifier
It would appear that there are still people out there who are unaware that this is the age of the transistor. Not only are tubed amplifiers not vanishing from the face of the earth, they are...
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Octave Jubilee Mono SE monoblock power amplifier
When I was a young man, blind dates were always laced with anxiety. (Proms were even worse. Once, when I arrived in a rented tux and my father's prized dress gloves, my date's father ordered me to take...
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Jadis Defy 7, Quicksilver KT88, VAC PA90 tubed power amplifiers
"It's the difference between a stuffed dog and the real thing," said Gunter (George) Bischoff, of Melos Audio, on the difference between solid-state gear and tubes. "The real dog may piss on the rug,...
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Gramophone Dreams #68: Lab12 Mighty power amplifier & Pre1 preamplifier
In my realm, the most sophisticated, intelligent, difficult thing anyone can do is create something mysterious. It could be a poem, a photo, a movie, a song, a symphony, or a piece of painted wood....
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Zesto Bia 200 Select power amplifier
Like many other industries, audio has its power couples: behind-the-scenes movers-and-shakers who shape the trajectory of the industry and who also happen to be, well, together. Angela Cardas and Josh...
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Brilliant Corners #7: Dual-Mono Manley Mahi Amplifiers
Writing a regular column can be a funny thing; the repetition it requires brings up questions that grow increasingly urgent. Chief among them: What are we doing here, and what is this for? For all the...
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Octave Audio MRE 220 SE monoblock power amplifier
Tubes, tubes, tubeshow we love to bask in their glow, roll them, and take their second-harmonic distortion into our hearts as if it were a child or a pet. Some may put out so much heat that we have no...
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Brilliant Corners #20: The Hunt for Red October
No one I know enjoys dating. Some friends detest it so much they won't go near it. Maybe they believe the love of their life is waiting to be discovered at a Zumba class or in line at the King Kullen....
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Air Tight ATM-1 2024 Edition power amplifier
Closing his review of the AirTight ATM-1S amplifier in the November 2014 Stereophile, Art Dudley wrote, "The AirTight ATM-1S is right up there with the best I've heard: the artisanal, the small, the...
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