April 2018
In This Issue...
Similarities Within High-End Audio
Article By Noel Keywood

  Complexity meets simplicity in this issue – and what a stark contrast there is between them. Yet at the same time I heard similarities. Electrocompaniet's ECI 6dx that Jon Myles reviews on p26 has a very well developed amplifier with a surprisingly easy going sound considering its wide bandwidth – and I think we all took to it as a sophisticated modern Streamer that avoids the 'Class D fed by switch-mode power supply' solution. Instead, its use of conventional but well-honed modern circuitry reminded me more of Naim's successful approach to amplifier design, which is perhaps why reviewer Jon Myles – a Naim fan – liked it so much.

In similar fashion I heard a sound familiar to me from PrimaLuna's Premium DiaLogue Preamplifier and Premium DiaLogue HP power amplifier – and loved it. There's nothing quite like a tuned up valve amplifier, sporting audiophile components that transistor amplifiers are denied in real life. Why? My experience is that inserting ultra-high quality special audio components into a transistor amplifier affects the sound less than doing the same in a valve amplifier. Manufacturers of transistor amplifiers would rather not bust their design budget for parts that make little difference.

An amplifier like PrimaLuna is radically different to the Electrocompaniet ECI 6dx, yet at the same time I heard similarity – a drive toward deep insight, free of the unnatural harshness that springs from so much hi-fi these days. So whilst you may think the lovely PrimaLunas on p14 are old-school against Electrocompaniet's new school, I heard in both of them a drive for sound that is truthful yet enjoyable at the same time.

DSD digital seems to be gathering strength and momentum in our collective consciousness. Ever more readers write in asking about it, or proclaiming their love for it (not heard a bad comment yet!). I once thought DSD was a geeky side issue never to go main stream – but happily I am wrong. Good sound beguiles and captures us all. Don't miss our fascinating Letters on p30 where DSD is gaining an ever greater presence.

--- Noel Keywood, editor.

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