By July 11th 2024: "We have made major improvements over a few different AMP-54R prototypes since its reveal and are finally going into production. We just received the first machined production chassis in raw aluminium to check tolerances and assemblies. Though it may look minimalist, this design is extremely tight and detailed all around. It's easily the most challenging work we've ever undertaken in industrial or circuit design. We are happy that all is going smoothly now and look forward to first production releases in ~2-3 months." Incidentally, it's perfectly kosher to use any Enleum 'integrated' as a fixed-gain amp when all these attenuators do is set their circuit's amplification factor. They don't burn off unwanted gain as heat like conventional volume controls do. There are no S/NR losses. If you own a beloved preamp already, there's no good reason to retire it; unless doing so simply sounds better. Having migrated to DACs with analog attenuators—Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe, Sonnet Pasithea, COS D10, iFi Pro iDSD Signature—preamps and I live apart these days. That's also because I'm a single-source listener who has no real need for switched inputs (which the AMP-54R has in any case). But particularly owners of first-rate valve preamps could fall into the opposite never-apart category. So that box needed checking and now it has.
These above photos document Soo In's manic metal urge in more detail. How many costly machine-shop hours does it take just to excavate a solid block of aluminium to such tolerances and finish? It's one more reminder. Nobody needs such finesse. Many will gladly opt for folded sheet metal to pay a lot less. That's simply not on today's hymn sheet. No matter what product category, true luxury lives by its own rules. As a reviewer, I get to temporarily play games I couldn't afford if they were to become permanent. Whilst some readers react poorly when reading about stuff well beyond their means, others can enjoy a vicarious contact high imagining what it might be like to live with it for a bit. On that score, reviews of luxury goods are sheer what-ifotainment. As long as they don't become a mono diet, learning how the Joneses live in their posh penthouse is part of the bigger top-down view to form proper perspective. How much better can it really get; and how much is mere exclusivity and wishful thinking?
By January 23rd 2025 so half a year later, "we are currently visiting our Korean dealer Haneum Audio to showcase and test the AMP-54R's final pre-production version. We apologize for the wait but it will be well worth it!" Given built-in expectations for their new flagship, Soo-In's team weren't rushing this release to make sure they were unconditionally happy first. About the optional DAC board, it was to be a custom module from Switzerland's Wattson Audio which then became part of CH Precision. As a current-mode circuit, the AMP-54R needs a current not voltage-output digital module hence a custom take on Wattson's popular Madison platform with embedded streamer for the LAN input.
"The enclosure's internal volume reduced to nearly half that of the previous flagship AMP-51R while maintaining the same output power. Transformer power increased by 25%, power supply capacitance doubled and is now dual mono." Soo-In is clearly obsessed with physical miniaturization. But for all its slimline appeal, do you consider this display of volume and chosen input usefully informative from the distance?
At HighEnd Munich 2025, an AMP-54R featured in this sound|kaos exhibit at the Marriot Hotel's Hifi Deluxe event with Martin Gateley's pre-production new Vox5 speakers.
By July 2025, Enleum's FaceBook pages had this snap of their amp's crammed innards. Do we think the assembly team suffers badly to manifest Soo-In's beauty ideal of extreme compactness?
"The AMP-54R now has a new feature that allows you to choose between two different bias levels to suit a wider variety of loudspeakers. The two options are HV for high voltage and HC for high current. HV delivers full power now increased to 115wpc/8Ω. HC halves power but increases bias current by about 50%. This perfectly matches higher-efficiency speakers like these DeVore Fidelity O/baby we used for testing during the amp's R&D."
By August 8th, Soo-In's assault on reddot awards added another to his growing collection. This one is for his AMP-44R positioned as the AMP-54R's smaller brother. It scales power back to 35/70wpc in high current/high voltage modes then adds ¼" headfi ports for current and voltage mode. The press release suggested production commencement for Q4. Remembering how the AMP-54R first teased in 2023 to still need a 2-year gestation period, could this be a tad optimistic? The 44 gets a control knob in Korean lacquer because in headfi use, hands-on rather than remote interaction will prefer an old-school rotary. Without any specs just then, assessment of likely physical dimensions is down to those 6.3mm sockets. My eyes call it roughly 3/4th width off standard 43cm so ~30cm; definitely desktop ready.
