"Our housing is the work of French designer Olivier Hess and composed of a CNC'd micro-blasted aluminum fascia and cover with ventilation slots for a progressive aesthetic which communicates the concept of amplification. The dimensions are 450 x 385 x112mm WxDxH and the weight is 20kg.

"Like our converters, the B.amp stands on four of our hyperbolic feet. We build all of our products in our Mutzig workshop near Strasbourg in the east of France. The metal work and PCB are outsourced locally. Everything is tested individually, electronically and acoustically to guarantee compliance with our golden sample at the end of the assembly."

To evaluate the B.amp not in limbo but on the terra firma of actual A/B contrasts, I had two comparators: our usual €8'500/pr LinnenberG Liszt and €6'500 Pass Labs XA-30.8. The German monos champion high-power Exicon lateral Mosfets, not B.audio's bipolars, but agree on being DC-coupled wide-bandwidth class AB. The Pass is a hulking class A circuit with 20 push/pull Mosfets per channel. It's good for 90wpc into 8Ω before hitting 1% THD though it's very conservatively spec'd for 30wpc. On price, the French positions highest. Here it also was the only one that converts to mono even though, since our acquisition, Ivo LinnenberG revisited his design. Now it's a 55wpc stereo amp which can bridge to the same 200 watts as our fixed monos.

The primary speakers for these sessions were our 4-way Audio Physic Codex but the Diesis Audio Ludos and sound|kaos Vox 3 saw action as well