Integrated Amp Reviews

The InPoL Remix MkII uses what the company calls "double-InPoL circuitry," in which two InPoL circuits are bridged, their inputs driven 180° out of phase, those aforementioned inductors wound in opposite directions around a single core. Double InPoL dramatically increases output-power potential. While this topology is said to be capable of up to 200W in class-A, the Remix is designed to deliver much less: a maximum of 25Wpc into 8 ohms or 38Wpc into 4 ohms.

While the Remix MkII is said to be pure class-A, the bias is variable. "Fixed bias is always at the max power, but this means a lot of heat," Zanini continued. "The InPoL Remix is quite a small amplifier. For this reason, we decided to provide it with a variable bias, so the amplifier gets less hot, it consumes less [energy], and the components last longer."

The 180-step volume dial adjusts the output level in 0.5dB increments with the company's digital bias/gain set technology. "When you set the volume level on the InPoL Remix, the volume knob provides the information to the microprocessor," Zanini explained. "The microprocessor commands two PGA2320 Burr-Brown/Texas Instruments chips (one per channel), which regulate the volume. The microprocessor also controls the Stereo 8-bit MCP4902 DAC by Microchip, which goes to a precision op-amp, which regulates the bias" (footnote 2). (Microchip is an American manufacturer of, um, microchips.)

Although four of the five Remix MkII inputs are unbalanced RCA, "The tube circuit is differential," Zanini wrote. "It always amplifies and balances the input signal, so the output is always balanced."

The optional HiDac Mk2 D/A converter mentioned above is produced by Pathos utilizing the ESS Sabre ES9018K2M 32-bit DAC chip.

Setup
Kevin Deal of US importer Upscale Distribution told me that the InPoL Remix MkII requires at least 100 hours of break-in. I powered up the Italian machine and let it do its thing at a low level while I entertained guests, caught up on late-night reading (Hi-Fi Loudspeakers and Enclosures by Abraham Cohen), and enjoyed the change of seasons from hot and boisterous to cool and calm.

Post–break-in, I used strictly digital sources for this review, allowing lots of butt-in-seat time to listen hard to a wide array of music. Using the excellent HoloAudio May DAC augmented with Sonore opticalRendu, Roon Nucleus+, Small Green Computer power supply, and TREND-net switch, I streamed Roon/Tidal/Qobuz from my Apple iPad Mini. Amplifiers I had on-hand for comparison included the Ayre EX-8 2.0, Parasound Hint 6 Halo, and Schiit Ragnarok 2. None are tubed, but they're priced similarly—or not too dissimilarly—to the Pathos. I listened to the Pathos via the DeVore Fidelity O/96, Spendor BC1, and GoldenEar BRX loudspeakers. Or vice versa.

Listening
The Remix easily drove my DeVore Fidelity O/96s (an easy load at 96dB/W/m as specified, 10 ohms nominal), manifesting all its considerable tone, resolution, and drive. It laid bare Frank Zappa's "Camarillo Brillo" from 1973's Over-Nite Sensation (16/44.1, DiscReet/Tidal), portraying the song's gooey guitar, madly panned drums, and freakishly doubled stereo vocals like an adolescent party fueled by Ding Dongs and Twizzlers. High excitement!

The Remix revealed a different face when relaying the lush female harmonies and jazz fusion of New York trio Sonica, the vocals of Thana Alexa and Nicole Zuraitis firing "Change It" (24/96, Outsideinmusic/Qobuz), from their debut album that's named for the band (footnote 3). Made in Alexa's home studio, the recording isn't over-processed or effected (or affected), and the Remix's transparency laid the production truthfully bare.

I sensed that the Remix was growing excited (or was it me?) with the underground, revolutionary sounds of "Zan Bezan" (24/96, Glitterbeat/Qobuz), from Liraz's album Zan. The acclaimed Israeli-Iranian singer composed most of the album in secret, collaborating covertly with other Iranian writers and producers to evade Tehran's mullahs and secret police. The Remix sent all the buzzing, hyperdriven, glossy textures of Liraz's music surging; the DeVores practically kicked up their legs, an Iranian chorus line. Playing Zan, the Remix presented large, focused, well-defined images with charged, bristling outlines. Saxophonist Archie Shepp once titled an album Fire Music. Liraz's Zan, through the Remix, is fire music and more.

The Remix MkII also had a way with acoustic music. It did justice to Green, the 2022 album from singer-songwriter (and former supermodel) Karen Elson (24/96, Big Yellow Dog Music/Qobuz). The album includes bittersweet pop/folk beauties such as "My Sparrow," "Look Over My Shoulder," and "Green," which Elson's intimate, resonant voice made comforting and moving. Acoustic guitar textures were opulent and warm, conveying rich emotion.

Charlie Haden's acoustic bass and Pat Metheny's guitar on "Two for the Road" from Beyond the Missouri Sky (16/44.1 Verve/Tidal) were resolved in rich, deep, fat, clear tones with nothing left to the imagination. Music had realistic studio- and room-filling weight, scale, and depth.

The Remix was similarly revealing with Linger Awhile, the debut album of 22-year-old jazz-vocalist Samara Joy (24/96, Verve/Qobuz). The recording's subdued sound was not embellished by the Remix, which was at the ready with plenty of power when Joy's voice crescendoed midsong.

The Remix's treble could sound a little hot with some music—not that you'd notice with most music (so, it must be the recordings, right?). The amp's treble is part of its pleasing, sparkling, high-energy personality, so that was a small tradeoff, perhaps a niggling criticism.

Hey big Spendor
When I connected my 1970s Spendor BC1 loudspeakers (rated at a sensitivity of 84dB/W/m into 8 ohms), I wondered whether the Remix MkII would have enough power—and whether its juiciness would clash with or complement the British loudspeaker's laidback personality. It proved to be a good match. Bass was chunky, ample, and thick. Electric bass lines on Elson's "My Sparrow" were warm and lush but not as well-defined as through the O/96. Tom Fowler's bass on Zappa's "Camarillo Brillo" was nicely outlined and darkly toned, but it wanted for absolute weight and clarity, due, perhaps, to the speakers' low sensitivity and the Pathos's limited power. Liraz's "Zan Bezan" maintained its energy and drive through the BC1, but low bass synth notes were more Jello-like than rock-hard. Paired with the Remix, the Spendors didn't deliver the weight and soundstage of the DeVore, but it sure was fun.

With the older speakers, music lost some of the detail, resolution, and soundstage generosity that it had with the Pathos/DeVore pairing, but the midrange was expansive, lush, and well textured. Overall, the amplifier's presentation and tone worked beautifully with the BC1's unfussy warmth.

I wondered about pairing the Remix with the GoldenEar BRX standmounts—very different from either the Spendors or the DeVores. Would the GoldenEars' remarkable resolution, paired with the Remix's treble energy, be too much, resulting in fatiguing listening?

On the contrary: The pairing worked to each component's strengths. The bass on Metheny and Haden's "Message to a Friend" from Beyond the Missouri Sky (16/44.1 Tidal/Verve) was ample and spacious, the small boxes and their single, smallish woofers (assisted by two passive radiators) creating a beautiful bass illusion, with a touch of overhang and warmish tone. The Remix focused Haden's bass solo on the upper registers but complemented the BRXs in the attempt (shared by pretty much all smaller speakers) to make up for a dearth of low bass with a bumped-up midbass to keep lows and highs in balance. However, Liraz's "Zan Bezan" lost the room-filling party atmosphere it had with the Spendors; it was more like listening to a pair of Stax SR-L500 MK2 electrostatic earspeakers.

Ayre apparent
Having swapped speakers, now I swapped amplifiers. I began with the Ayre EX-8 2.0 D/A integrated, which costs several thousand dollars more than the Remix, at $8850. The Ayre is the 007 of integrated amplifiers: smooth, svelte, and adaptable to any situation. It also has considerably more power (170Wpc into 4 ohms). It produced a bigger soundstage than the Remix, silkier treble, and deeper, tighter bass. The Remix more than held its own against the Ayre in color, midrange clarity, and treble sparkle.

Next up: the $1799 Schiit Ragnarok 2 integrated amplifier, a rakish party animal and audacious performer with impressive dynamics and textures. It, too, has higher maximum output power than the Remix: 100Wpc into 4 ohms. The Schiit played with more force than the Remix but less color, finesse, and sweetness.

Conclusion
Like a slice of Neapolitan cake, the Remix plays music in vivid color, with fleshy textures and realistic tones. It's immersive and detailed. Its strongest trait is its clear, open, communicative midrange. Compared, especially, to most solid state amplifiers, its low end is a touch soft, a characteristic that some people may enjoy.

But the Remix doesn't draw attention to what it lacks; rather, its lighthearted, sparkling mien makes all formats and styles of music satisfying and fun. It is immediate, resolving, and spacious, dependably delivering a big soundstage with an emphasis on that clean, full-bodied midrange, and its treble.

The Remix MkII is accurately named: It's an interesting mix of tube and solid state traits. Its class-A, feedback-free output stage puts out modest power, with a specified impedance that's high for a solid state amplifier (which, strictly speaking, it is not, so it probably works best with speakers of reasonably high sensitivity). Recommended for music lovers.

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Footnote 2: As previously mentioned, Pathos offers an add-on D/A converter, but this is not that: This DAC is used just to control the bias. Microchip, Inc., is a US company based in Arizona, with manufacturing facilities in Thailand and the Philippines.

Footnote 3: I couldn't bring myself to write "eponymous" one more time.