Review - Atoll IN200se Integrated Amplifier – Bigger is not always better. Ok - so I have finally reached audio nirvana in a small box. A little over a year ago I had a chance to listen to a compact sized integrated amplifier. The Atoll IN200SE. Background: Over the years I have made several good friends in the audio business. It is through one of those friends that I had a chance to listen to some Atoll gear. From time to time he asks me to live with, break-in and give him my feedback on different products. (Who would turn down this request?) I think sometimes he wants a second set of ears or maybe he's just got audio overload. This time it was a product from Atoll. Who? I new nothing about them. Specifically, the IN200SE integrated amplifier. The ONLY downside to having gear to audition no strings attached is that you have to actually pull apart your existing audio rack to change out equipment, cables, etc. I must admit, in my living room, my homemade audio rack was a giant mess. My wife loves to share her opinion; “why do you need all this stuff just to listen to music...” Living room system: Speakers: Dynaudio Confidence C1 II Preamps: Eastern Electric Avant (Tubes), sometimes Odyssey Audio Tempest Extreme (SS) Amps: 2 giant mono block amps (not going to mention manufacturer cause I love the product, know some people that work there, but they are really large... ~ 200w each, freaky huge power reserves, now sold – cost ~ 35% more than the IN200SE and a great value) Turntable: Rega Planar 25 w/Van Den Hul “Frog” cartridge Phono Pre: Eastern Electric Mini-max DAC: Schiit Audio Modi Multibit (amazing DAC for the price – not just for the head phone crowd) Dish Box and an old CD player that never gets used. The IN200 is only 4 inches high, but I had no room for it in my audio rack. So I pulled out a preamp and in went the IN200. Then I decided, what the heck, pull everything out for a good cleaning. Anyway, I fired up the IN200 and sat down for a quick listen. Nice. I really wasn't expecting too much, I have been happy with my system for some time. My Dynaudio C1s need high quality, clean power to really shine. My amps drive them effortlessly. Though my rack now looked nice and had a lot of room, the IN200 was just so puny compared to the stack of stuff it had replaced. So connections are all good, I left to do some other things. A few hours later, armed with a cocktail, I sat down for a l

Ok, what don't I like about the IN200SE? Some of my gripes are probably why Atoll can sell the IN200SE for $2500: Crappy feet, crappy power cord. Remote is fairly cheap feeling. Only RCA connections. Not an issue for me but worth a mention.