Audacious Audio

When we first took an interest in reviewing the T+A elektroakustik A 3100 HV Reference fully balanced dual-mono solid state stereo power amplifier ($29,900), every existing unit had been earmarked for a dealer. Then, just as Jim Austin and I were scratching our heads, T+A founder Siegfried "Siggi" Amft informed Jim Shannon, T+A's longtime US media contact and reassuring presence, that he could expedite an amplifier—just one—from Germany.

My wife and I are both very specific about how we take our coffee, to the amusement of everyone around us. She likes her coffee so black and violently strong that it has its own event horizon, while I swoon over ultralight roasts with fermented, fruity, and flowery notes.

Kudos to Audio Research for a tastefully designed website that wastes no words making its points. Audio Research proclaims its Reference 20 line-stage preamplifier "the culmination of a singular objective: to advance beyond the established limits of preamplifier architecture and redefine what is possible in line-stage performance."

This is a most unusual review: two premium products reviewed as a set. It was intended as a short review, but the Innuos NazaréNET ($32,000) and NazaréFLOW ($32,000 base price + optional custom DAC output module) require lengthy explanations.

At hi-fi shows and across social media, Ampsandsound's Justin Weber projects a sense of upbeat. Positive, placid, disarmingly pleasant, he looks less like a high-end audio manufacturer than a big-hearted camp counselor about to gather berries and butterflies. And honestly? That's not far from the truth.

Founded in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1972, Linn Products Limited is in an elite club whose members have been around for 50 years or more. You're doing some things right if you can prosper in the quirky audiophile marketplace for more than 50 years.

A first for German manufacturer Octave is the Jubilee Class A mono ($85,000/pair), a push-pull class-A monoblock with a self-regulating autobias pentode circuit that can also run in "high power" class-AB mode. The Jubilee Class A monoblock uses KT120, KT150, or KT170 output tubes.