Munich 2022

Because I'm currently reviewing Octave's Mono SE amplifier ($80,000/pair), I was eager to hear these large tubed monoblocks in a very different context. Nor was I disappointed. Somehow, perhaps because the company's display mitigated slap echo, Octave shone in a room similar to those at Munich High End that consigned many an exhibitor to audiophile hell.

In a system that also included Octave's Jubilee preamp (€30,000), a T+A PDT 3100 HV Transport (€14,900), T+A SD 3100 HV streamer and DAC (€23,400), Thorens TD 124 DD turntable with Ortofon SPU High Output cartridge (€10,500), Audio Physic Cardeas loudspeakers (€38,000/pair), and Inakustic Referenz cabling, timbres sounded extremely natural and inviting on vocal and chamber music by Claude Debussy. I supplied the recordings and found the sound all that I could ask for. Bass could have been better defined on a Chesky track by Priya Dashini, but colors and depiction of space were stellar.