AXPONA 2023

The room was noisy, and the switching between selections a classic case of trackus interruptus. Nonetheless, the ability of Atohm's GT1 bookshelf speakers ($4499/pair) to convey bass far more powerful than one might reasonably expect from speakers of their size left me smiling. I was smiling as well because the first demo track chosen to display this wonder was one I occasionally reference for color, texture, and speed: Yosi Horikawa's "Bubbles" (16/44.1Tidal/First World Records).

Ample credit for this mini wonder goes to the Atoll Electronique IN100 Signature integrated amplifier ($2099) and MS120 streamer/DAC/preamplifier ($1599). Transparent The Wave speaker cables and Dynaudio speaker stands comprised the rest of the simple but impressive system.

Unheard was the new Atoll SDA300 Signature all-in-one streamer/UPnP network player—DAC/power amplifier ($5500). This baby contains a 24/192 Burr-Brown converter, two 440VA toroidal transformers, 6 MOSFET transistors per channel, and a class-AB power amplifier that is specified as outputting 150W/pc into 8 ohms and 280Wpc into 4 ohms. The Atoll SDA300 can handle both PCM and DSD, and includes two coaxial, two optical, two USB-A, and one Bluetooth input. Operation is via the Atoll Signature App for iOS and Android.