What we don't know can't hurt us? How about tempt us? Ha. Tell that to an adolescent who never had sex. Imagination is a very stiff thing. In hifi as elsewhere, price, specs, brand cachet and all manner of intangibles feed expectations. With my AMP-23R adding close to a zero to Evo's tax, imagination switches to super-hot bias. Can reality maintain it? If you want stronger presence and clarity from the same SPL so not cheat by playing Evo louder, the Enleum demonstrates how. Its ambient recovery too is keener. Appreciation thereof is contingent on how much recorded space there is on a track to begin with. Wall-of-sound compression doesn't apply. Clarity and presence are about MIA background dirt often related to a super-low noise floor. If that applied here, Enleum's self noise was clearly lower. The thing is, we're already talking thresholds below audible noise per se. Sans signal, Evo was just as 'off'. Paying so much more goes even more off so contrast ratio aka suchness up. That's interesting in a direct A/B dissection that looks at sound like pinned dead butterflies. Once we eliminate the juxtaposition and get back at fluttering 'flies, it's astonishing how most won't lust over the far costlier amp. The aune was fundamentally no less satisfying or engaging. Whatever degrees of refinement and backdrop cleanliness it doesn't possess rapidly fade from notice. In fact, inserting some background 'something' versus the AMP-23's nothing is part of Evo's more atmospheric climate. If that deflates your imagination, good. As a thrilled Enleum owner, I'm not taking pot shots. I'm simply applying harsh reality to keep things honest. Whatever Evo can't do sits very low on the totem pole. All the important stuff it gets very right indeed.

An XLR4⇒6.3mm pigtail converter made for instant plug'n'play swaps between aune and Enleum amps, the former seeing XLR signal, the latter RCA off the same Laiv DAC.

Big amps make small speakers sound bigger. It's true also for headphones. Within reason, spending more on the amp when it buys a superior circuit goes farther. This open-backed aune made that point. I'd much rather listen to that combo than the twice-priced SR7000 on a half-priced amp. It's back at Evo's maximizer action. It injects juice and sassiness like a tangible attitude. Of course playing music with its very own joie de vivre like the Django soundtrack where the Rosenberg Trio stands in for the famous Belgian gipsy guitarist compounds the effect. With that certain charisma in place, listening quickly transforms from critical to just. The mental scorekeeper steps out to bother the neighbours instead. How easily that exit happens is probably why people use the weasel word musicality. The aune combo of Evo/AR5000 really did make for such an easy exit of the inner bean counter. If that conforms to your notion of musicality and why you do this hobby, what more is there?

Raw resolution? To get all this plus more res, pay massively more. And, still be mindful to not lose anything in trade!

My last award of 2024 should really say €799 not the vague sub €1K. But exchange rates and inflation could impact the current price over the model's sales life. If so, this by-line still ought to fit then. Having advanced my audiophile schooling this year from zero aune exposure to three different models, I confess to wading in a flummoxed puddle of flabbergast over how much quality and value the brand has managed to cram into each. If we had an award for favourite brand discovery of the year, for me aune would be it. He who comes last will be first? Apparently so; in this year's last week no less…

Postscript: A reader asked how hot Evo gets externally. I don't have means to measure that but with my sample running at ~60°C per its display, the entire chassis including the control knob got very toasty to the touch. Just as it says on the Class A tin, this small component is a hot heavy. If you want frost bite, pick class D.