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Octave's Jubilee Mono SE Amplifier and Jubilee Preamplifier
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.
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