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Ampino's bass character stayed put with Prepino and extended into the midrange with high control but zero stifling, the latter because despite the vise grip neither macro nor microdynamics fell under the damper. Acoustic instrumental Jazz was a blast and on detail retrieval too the pair was very keen on nuance. It'd been a while that I followed Wollny, Kruse & Schäfer's Live at Jazzbaltica with such attention.


Things got more sober once voices entered. Here the combo applied some restraint. I had the impression that somehow these twins didn't pursue vocals with the same vigor as instruments. Things got softer and a bit more distanced than I'm used to particularly versus the Exposure. Whilst the Brit isn't quite as differentiated, voices are rendered with greater presence. Flames like Eva Cassidy, Stacey Kent, Amy Whinehouse and Lucinda Williams burn brighter over the Exposure than the Abacus boxes.

This wasn't dramatic but diehard fans of how 300B SETs deal with voices clearly won't be completely happy with the Prepino/Ampino take. But which 300B valve amp could compete on any other count at ca. €1.000, never mind that transistor gear with high feedback is bound to sound different than zero NFB direct-heated valves?

With pure instrumentals I'd lean toward the Abacus even though the quick Exposure had the even more dynamic reflexes. But the Abacus combo countered with higher differentiation and greater body. Individual items like piano attacks showed plenty of detail without getting artificial. Musical flow kept flowing to address both head and gut. This also applied to classical music where, I admit, I appreciate headier fare. Prokofiev's Piano Sonata N°.3 under the young French player Lisa de la Salle lives on clear accents and contrasts. Here the Abacus boxes were right at home. But even in the thick of grand orchestral mayhem like the Liszt Préludes under Solti and the London Philharmonic the silvery boxes didn't lose their lunch. Quite the trick. Though any special emphasis on drama or excessive production values was beyond them. For that they were too committed to neutrality.

In the treble they again impressed more with control and articulation than energy. That shouldn't imply muffled, just proper dosage and nuance. There were no hissy fits and even critically sibilant albums like Patricia Barber's Modern Cool never left the green zone. Fitting.


With staging too the Abacus twins were committed to clear contours. Here I noted moderate width though it was not purely limited to between the speakers, simply less opulent than elsewhere. Perhaps that was related to well above average image focus. There was no fuzz, each sound source was clearly outlined and in a very fixed spatial position. To this add astonishing depth. Compared to my Exposure, I thought that the Abacus sacrificed some width to apply that stolen space to the rear instead. The virtual stage thus narrowed a bit but was exceptionally sorted and layered. Only with voices I felt uncertain because they appeared farther back, with Eva Cassidy on Live at Blues Alley's “Cheek to cheek” nearly behind her piano.