At Home and on the Road: Two Dealers, Two ExperiencesAt Home and on the Road Two Dealers, Two Experiences

You can argue about amplifiers with six-figure price tags, turn up your nose, turn green with envy or be glad. You can be glad if they a) are really worth their money and b) are ready for demonstration at a specialist dealer, because they help with a purchase decision in financially moderate territory. In recent weeks I've visited two specialist dealers whose products differ completely. On one side the specialist who argues exclusively with “sensible” components, on the other one who carries affordable equipment but beyond that also humanity's actual best amps.

In my view and experience, Audio Note's reference components achieve a performance that should rightly be used as a benchmark. A week ago I had the pleasure of experiencing a 160,000-euro power amp from this luxury manufacturer and was once again amazed at how multi-layered, precise and detail-loving an Audio Note can play while still preserving the musical whole. The dream amplifiers weren't even driving top-price loudspeakers but “made do” with outstandingly tuned two-way designs (see photo). A lesson with Alexander Müller of MR HiFi in Heiligenhaus.

In view of this outstanding performance, I personally find it very easy to evaluate and configure hi-fi components in lower price ranges. In that sense, I'd simply get on better at MR HiFi than at the dealer who has no such reference calibers to offer. Because when I listen against (or better: with) a reference, I can recognize much more easily which component under review is closer to the optimum and which isn't.