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Its boundaries were easily apparent and the stage was of average width but great depth. Closing my eyes I could see the concert grand, no more no less. The strings which the Brahms intermezzo alternately tickles and violates had clear attacks and decayed cleanly and lengthily. The Arpège handled the wide midband with detail and color, remained intelligible with standing fading chords and believably tracked the minuscule vibratory friction of the instrument’s tuning.


This begged for more black + whites. Enter Sophie Hunger’s mortally wounded "Walzer für Niemand", a pop song arranged like chamber music. The spotlight is on Sophie’s insistent voice. Added are piano, vibes and restrained winds. Here the Arpège focused on two items – intensity and intimacy. I nearly felt apologies were in order for just how close I moved to the lady (when really the opposite occurred). It seemed as though she whispered straight into my ear. This was noteworthy. While each nuance, each swallowed syllable and tremolo was plain I never thought X-ray but effortless realism. On the side I also noticed how cleanly the amp resolved. "Walzer für Niemand" really isn’t poster child for clean voicing. All the instruments intermingle with the singer to vie for attention. Still, nothing devolved into sonic gruel to show discrete individuals. Very enjoyable.

 

Time to transition to guitar. In 2006 Tom Verlaine, front man of the inspired Television band, authored a strange cornucopia with Songs and Other Things. Exceptional songs rub shoulders with nearly amateur sketches whilst production values maintain outright brilliance throughout. I enjoy the "Peace Piece" instrumental for review. It’s nothing but a pair of guitars with close-miked guitar amps. This was fascinating when warmth paired with high precision as though I could peek into the valves of the guitar amps. There was their steady-state hum, the decay trails of the flageolets, the somewhat shaky echo of the reverb spirals, the minute barely switched-in tremolo of the left guitar. The Arpège transformed sketchy minimalism into high adventure. Every second commanded attention to cause disappointment when it was all over three short minutes later.
 

Artificial constructs were next with a new reference in this genre, Destroyer’s Kaputt. What a stupid misleading name. Anyone expecting dreary Heavy Metal wrote out the bill without waiting for the host. Destroyer develops a new niche by combining 80s' values (I flashed on bands like ABC and Icehouse) with clever lyrics and outrageous arrangements (trombone, traverse flute).  So I cued up "Savage night at the opera" in my CD spinner with its harmonically complex percussion played blunt and simple, New Order-type bass focused on its high registers, broadly panned stereo tricks, Solina synth strings, plenty of space and reverb and in the midst of it all a truly porcine guitar solo followed by a low cryptic deconstruction of the thematic. The Arpège handled it as one expects Destroyer meant for it to sound – as a trip or spell triggered by too many colourful long drinks and rushing light streamers observed through half-open eyes in the taxi – unreal and off kilter.

 

For context I next subbed in my amp combo of Funk LAP2 pre and Myryad MXA2150 power for a clear difference. Nobody will cry wolf that the most pronounced change occurred in the bass. The Myryad parceled out more raw poundage but then is outright known for that. The highs meanwhile seemed somewhat grainy where the Arpège was both more transparent and airy. On soundstaging and layering both amps ran shoulder to shoulder though the Myryad seemed perhaps the ultimately more precise but also edgier. I couldn’t declare one better. It was preference time. Had I only one sentence I’d give the Arpège more flow, the Funk/Myryad combo more angularity.