Naturalness, sense of "rightness", correct soundstage (width/depth), no warm-up period needed, buildquality of the highest order, looks, not cheap but high value for money (favorable euro/dollar rate here in Europe).

Volume-adjustment is coarse with quite big steps (difference between step 6 and step 7 is simply HUGE) Even combined with the matching poweramp (X 150.5) volume on the lowest possible setting is still LOUD, even with "low gain" ! Therefore it's impossible to use CD for backgroundlistening, unless your player has an internal volume-control. (However, should you have very low-sensitivity speakers or a very big listeningroom this might not be the case or a problem.)
User-friendlyness is a drag: because of only 4 buttons you always have to scroll in order to change a setting, not helped by the pug-ugly remote with very limited functions.

As claimed, this is a true audiophile product. From the moment you take it out of the box and think by the weight you're handling a medium-powered integrated amp. The sheer looks, the feel of the buttons and volume-pot: it all oozes class! Operating in Class A, it consumes 25 Watt continuously (!) and therefore doesn't require -as the power amp does- a warm-up period. It has a "rightness" and naturalness combined with sense of detail that has to be heard to be believed. It outperformes my previous Accuphase C11 by a large margin: wider and deeper soundstage, more fine detail and slam without ever sounding tiring. Not reminiscent of a top-class tube pre-amp, it gives you a "Are you singing just for me?" listening-experience, but with a lower noise-level (inky-black background) and without the excessive warmth (also literally!) and the burden of having to replace the -often costly- tubes every couple of years. Anyone looking for a top-class preamp without frills and who's willing to live with the quirky control-menu needn't look any furher...

Customer Service

Not very helpful: 4 mails sent asking to help me with the high volumelevel, all still remained unanswered! Overseas customers beware...

Similar Products Used:

Musical Fidelity MVX.2, Rotel RC 995, Accuphase C11