I spent yesterday wandering the halls of the Kaohsiung Hi-End Audio show listening to some very impressive gear (and some really uninteresting gear as well). Prices ranged from very affordable <$1000 USD to ridiculously expensive $250,000 speakers. I was more interested in amplification than anything else because I already have speakers, DACs and preamps that make me quite happy.
One of the rooms had a Leben integrated amp powering some very expensive speakers in a crappy sounding hotel room. When I mentioned the acoustic limitations of the room, the guy on duty told me the hotel's electrical supply is decades old and suffers surges and brown outs. His goal in presenting at the show is to show potential customers what is available and to encourage them to visit his store which lacks the limitations of the hotel.
Another room advertised EAR Yoshino, but their demo amp hadn't even been unboxed by Saturday afternoon(!?!), so I didn't get to hear it. :roll:
The Leben gear sure is pretty looking stuff. I've heard it before in another showroom. I've also heard Shindo and Accuphase amps, but never in the same audio system. I realize it may be near-impossible to audition all four brands in the same system.
I'm all eyes, guys. Any thoughts?
The Audio Hungary C-200 Amp has a wonderful synergy with Fritz speakers. That is what we use to demo Fritz speakers. 100W/ ch. NOS Tungstram 12AX7 tubes stock. My 2 cents.
charles
Quote from: rollo on Today at 08:12:43 AMThe Audio Hungary C-200 Amp has a wonderful synergy with Fritz speakers. That is what we use to demo Fritz speakers. 100W/ ch. NOS Tungstram 12AX7 tubes stock. My 2 cents.
charles
Hello, Charles.
That's considerably more power than I need. The amp won't be powering the Fritz speakers. It's going to power my new Daedalus Audio Muse floorstanders (95.5dB/8 ohms). The A35 might work, but I know next to nothing about Audio Hungary. As I hit my 'mid-60s' midlife crisis, I decided I want a very special amplifier and Ear Yoshino, Leben, and Shindo tube amps or Coda S5.5, Accuphase, and one or two other Class A amps fit the bill quite nicely.
Quote from: mresseguie on April 18, 2026, 10:06:30 PMI spent yesterday wandering the halls of the Kaohsiung Hi-End Audio show listening to some very impressive gear (and some really uninteresting gear as well). Prices ranged from very affordable <$1000 USD to ridiculously expensive $250,000 speakers. I was more interested in amplification than anything else because I already have speakers, DACs and preamps that make me quite happy.
One of the rooms had a Leben integrated amp powering some very expensive speakers in a crappy sounding hotel room. When I mentioned the acoustic limitations of the room, the guy on duty told me the hotel's electrical supply is decades old and suffers surges and brown outs. His goal in presenting at the show is to show potential customers what is available and to encourage them to visit his store which lacks the limitations of the hotel.
Another room advertised EAR Yoshino, but their demo amp hadn't even been unboxed by Saturday afternoon(!?!), so I didn't get to hear it. :roll:
The Leben gear sure is pretty looking stuff. I've heard it before in another showroom. I've also heard Shindo and Accuphase amps, but never in the same audio system. I realize it may be near-impossible to audition all four brands in the same system.
I'm all eyes, guys. Any thoughts?
Hi Michael,
I've heard good things about all those amps. The only one I have ever listened to was eight or nine years ago when I was a member of the now defunct Las Vegas audio club. It was at the president of the clubs home and he had an Accuphase amp which sounded very good. That is a pricey line and I never bothered to look into it further.
That's surprising that the amp wasn't unboxed even by Saturday.
Nick
Quote from: rollo on Today at 08:12:43 AMThe Audio Hungary C-200 Amp has a wonderful synergy with Fritz speakers. That is what we use to demo Fritz speakers. 100W/ ch. NOS Tungstram 12AX7 tubes stock. My 2 cents.
charles
I enjoyed my time with the Audio Hungary preamp. The Fritz Speakers I got from you had the beryllium tweeter and the presentation in my room ended up being a little bit too aggressive at the top end. Don't know if it was an acoustics problem or just lack of synergy with my equipment. I am very pleased with the Hattor Big preamp and JM Reynaud Voce Grande speakers. What a great combo!
Nick
IMHO, the Shindo stuff is rolled off and makes a nice midrange forward amp... If you have a bright sounding system, this may cure it...
The EAR stuff may measure perfectly, but does not sound that way...
Accuphase has been a high end Japanese competitor to McIntosh... can sound pretty good.
Leben makes very nice sounding, fairly low wattage gear (15 watt - 32 watt integrated)...
I noticed you have Don Sach's gear... I'm not sure the above is a sonic upgrade...
My $0.02,
Pete