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amp2S: To reference the integrated against a familiar machine while running both balanced, I pulled out the FirstWatt J2. As the only fully balanced preamp on the premises to precede the J2 power amp, I reached for the autoformer passive StereoKnight Silverstone. While my active Esoteric C-03 preamp does offer XLR i/o ports, it's a tad more opaque and its XLRs are convenience ports, not truly balanced. Because the cdp3E was the acknowledged best source in the house it seemed sensible to use it right away rather than postpone double-teaming it with the stable mate. The system thus looked as follows, with none of the sidewall gear active.
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What comes next is qualified by a very simple sentence which nonetheless hides some rather extensive and carefully concentrated comparisons: it was real close! Rather than suffer through a lengthy list of comments only to end with that conclusion, you have the gist upfront. Just to make their points, descriptions of sonic differences nearly invariably suffer verbal magnification. They read bigger. So remember how close things were.
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Bratsch is my favorite 'Gypsy' formation, Rien dans les Poches [Network] an oft-visited album. Culling from a broad Rom/Manouche/Sinti/Klezmer repertoire that spans Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, Russia, France and the near Middle East, their playing is top-notch and the recording quality mostly high. Here the difference revolved around focus created by contrast ratio and relatedly, tintinnabulation or crystallization of upper harmonics during transients. The latter was particularly obvious on the violin. The StereoKnight and FirstWatt combo's contrast setting of performers vs. background/space was a bit higher—it's easiest to think of that as focus or image pop—and bow/string actions under higher intensity were a tad keener. Imagine somewhat brighter light refracting off a mirror.
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On Titi Robin's live Anita! [naïve] and particularly the gorgeous "Ton doux visage" Pascal Stalin's e-bass was heavier over the amp2S, Ze Luis Nascimento's roiling frame drums darker. Image focus wasn't as locked and Titi's trademark guitar exploits seemed a touch less plucky and virile.
On Dulce Pontes' more pastoral Lagrimas cut that effect translated as breathier/wispier for the Linnenberg, more robust and crisp for the FirstWatt. The general presentation also felt a tad slower and more distanced with the amp2S.
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On my go-to bass master Mercan Dede with Nefes and 800 [Double Moon] the more powerful amp again had slightly higher down-low amplitude but also a tad more bloom and less grippiness. As long as levels remained matched, the class A power Jfets in the FirstWatt sounded keener, more urgent and sharply defined. The German was mellower and not as focused. In this context neither amp had the same room-filling presence the rather beefier ModWright KWA100SE exhibited with the Esoteric C-03 in 12dB gain mode. That fronted by the cdp3E had been 'the magic combo'.
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Artur Pizarro's Linn reading of Beethoven's Last Three Piano Sonatas epitomized a core quality of both systems. The large 280cm (9'2") Blüthner concert grand could get just a tad glassy of timbre and lacked the burnished redolence and majesty I could inject by replacing the transformer volume control with the 6SN7-based 5AR4-rectified ModWright LS100 preamp. While the Silverstone/J2 combo manifested typical virtues of passives to a slightly higher extent than the Linnenberg stack—extreme lucidity, incisive attacks, stark nudity—both really expressed the same core aesthetic. This included the weaker elements of reduced LF weight in particular and less overall warmth and gravitas in general.
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Triangulating from this and knowing how the J2 performs in far broader contexts, the amp2S behaved as its equal in the same class or school of sound and its preamp stage appeared to exhibit more passive than active traits. This made for a fast pure immediate sound that emphasized energy over mass, transparency over warmth.
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Given that, I was most impressive how even with a true passive on the J2 the sound maintained this astonishing density of presence. This clearly was due to the cdp3E whose character the precious page described. Its grounding trumped (overwrote, infiltrated, dominated) the accelerating and leaning-out aspects which a good passive always inserts. While passive traits did survive in the finals, they never approached getting washed out, whitish or electrostatic. That went well beyond my Weiss DAC2.
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Without wishing in the least to shortchange the €3.200 amp2S which combines FirstWatt F5/J2-type virtues with built-in balanced attenuation and remote control, if I could highlight only one component here it'd have to be the cdp3E. It's unapologetically basic in use. This includes items like no direct reverting to the beginning of a track. 'Back' skips to the previous track. From there you must skip to 'next'. Try that with track 1. There you obviously skip 'next' first, then 'back'. (Cough.) But. But... the player's combination of extreme resolution with excellent fleshiness struck me as truly remarkable. And yes, owning a younger cat had me a bit concerned about the discs spinning unprotected. This will extend to folks with children. But again, I could find nothing to complain about sonically. Anything critical about the player only ever concerned functionality, never the sound. (On functional gripes again I'd point at the location of the amp2S's IEC power inlet which sits right below and very close to the left channel's banana outputs.)
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Conclusion: As presaged in the intro four pages back, Ivo Linnenberg's business success outside audio allows him to walk in audio a most uncompromising path. For certain convenience-minded punters that will go too far. This is clearly reflected in the cdp3E and amp2S. Real men to whom only the sound matters shouldn't at all mind the cut-back feature sets. Lesser citizens will drop 6 letters from idiosyncratic and decline. Either way sonics are mature and sophisticated, build quality and solidity excellent without silly excess to drive up the price. This is very finely honed particular gear that exists outside/beyond fashion concerns. It should appeal to the well-informed extremist customer who appreciates 5mm face plates and related measures for the reduced strain they put on the wallet and fully lives the less-is-more credo. This is true high-fi for what in current high-end currency are lower mid-level stickers. Such return to reason is laudable. It makes up for the nauseating release of the next €100.000 pair of loudspeakers the press flips over. Those incidents make Linnenberg's flavor of take no prisoners positively sane. |
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Quality of packing: Very good.
Reusability of packing: Indefinitely.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: A cinch.
Condition of component received: Flawless.
Completeness of delivery: Perfect.
Human interactions: Good.
Pricing: Good high-end value.
Final comments & suggestions: Extremely minimalist in functionality whereby the CD player is inoperative without the supplied One For All remote and the integrated nearly so. Power mains switches are on the back to be difficult to reach in certain installations. Unprotected top loader requires special consideration in the presence of young kids and animals. Its internal DAC can be accessed automatically via simple connection of a BNC-terminated digital cable but reverting to the Philips transport requires unseating the cable. The amp's low power requires the usual care with speaker matching. Both components are very solidly constructed and minimal markers are engraved, not silk-screened.
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Manufacturer's reply:
Thank you for an excellent review.
The sheer length of the text and the multitude of pictures reflect a lot of work and effort put in. I am pleased to read that you liked the CDP3E—and to a lesser extent the AMP2S—sonically and for their build quality! On the other hand you could not spare me a slap in the face regarding the operation of the units. We are considering your proposal to add some buttons on the front deck of the player. Technically this isn’t a big deal even as an upgrade for existing (sold) units.
If you want to revert to the beginning of a current track, you have to press play. This is different to Marantz/Philips players where you have to press skip backward.
Ivo Linnenberg
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