By July 11th: "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 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-if infotainment. 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 perception?

… to be continued…