The Gold Note HP-10 is a precision tool. You notice this from very first listen. It marks each little detail of the recording from the bass to the super-high frequencies, doesn't embellish or thicken a thing. This too triggered memories of SPL's €2'390 Phonitor X. Let's unpack this in stages. Details, details, details. This is how I perceived the call from the Tuscan hills. The best example of the amp's excellent HF was the drum-heavy "Føroyar mín móðir" by Faroese singer Eivør Pålsdottir. The Deluxe was most sensitive yet present on its cymbal hits. I rarely heard hi-hats rendered this complete. Treble resolution—true transparency from lack of interference and cloudiness—meant that despite linear output, no harshness factored across this rather quiet song as sadly is the case with the significantly cheaper €799 Nuprime HPA-9. This offset was particularly overt with Sennheiser's €1'600 HD800S precision monitor. Cymbals sounded much cleaner and finer over the Gold Note despite conveying the finest nuance in the super high frequencies which the Nuprime swallowed up. Maximum airs? I even indulged most unfair fun by contrasting Chord's €14K super amp Dave then was more than surprised when it almost disappointed with its more reserved top end. The Gold Note actually seemed a little more harmonious. Closer attention determined that the Dave didn't actually obscure detail but slightly reduced its top-octave output where the Deluxe remains linear to the limits of audibility to sound more present.

But the Italian also allowed me to fault poorly recorded albums in a more targeted manner. However, don't mistake that for a cold boring read like the €1'300 Benchmark DAC1 USB can pull whilst admittedly being more than a decade old by now. Rather, the Gold Note moved at a very audiophile, detailed, dynamically lively clip. If you want still more treble energy, the 'super flat' setting has your number to counteract the tendency of many headphones to attenuate the highest  treble. This can be advantageous especially to quiet listeners. Power corrupts? What the HP-10 finds a little more difficult are very efficient 'phones. Even low gain's amplification factor was too high to listen to balanced-armature in-ears at low SPL. However, power brokers like a €1'099 Audeze LCD-2C planar or €2'459 Dan Clark Audio E3 reward with a massive most detailed panorama even at low SPL. The midrange embeds unemphatically into the overall response. The Benchmark and Chord Dave confirmed an honest, calm and very high-resolution vocal range. The Chord exhibits a slight midrange prominence to give vocals some extra body and feel slightly warmer and more forgiving of flawed productions. The Gold Note had a similarly neutral timbre in the upper mids and presence region as the Benchmark but strongly overshadowed it with far higher detail density. The unexpected trick was that the HP-10 still presented a more organic vocal band than the slightly cool Benchmark. Berlin's singer/songwriter Wilhelmine Schneider illustrated this with "Komm wie Du bist". Her acoustic guitar convinced with its sensitive natural tone, its strings had plenty of sustain to fade out lengthily. All of this ensured persuasive realism. Her delicate yet determined voice betrayed no tendency towards excessive sibilance even with the HD800S which can trend that way with the very blunt Nuprime HPA-9.

The HP-10 draws on seemingly limitless power reserves. The fact that it won't distort even at the highest levels is no given even in this price range. Turning up the volume on this fairly compact Italian really put me in a good mood on Rock like Rammelhof's "Susi" where nothing compressed. If our connected headphones allow, there should be enough uncut headroom for all Heavy Metal and Rock bangers. Fortunately the Gold Note lacks the Nuprime's in-yer-face attitude which can tire in the long run so scratchy guitar riffs didn't chafe even after longer sessions. Being the honest precision tool that it is, the Deluxe obviously won't remaster an over-the-top assault like the Chvrches album The Bones of What You Believe into an earful of delight. Meanwhile stage rendition was very interesting. Thanks to xfeed, the perception of width and even more so depth can get psycho-acoustically tweaked. Without xfeed, images present precisely separated across a stage a little wider than the Chord Dave's. However, the Italian creates a little less depth. But from the very first bars with xfeed active, it became clear why Gold Note gave the HP-10 Deluxe more width in default mode which in xfeed tapers slightly and moves forward. During Nirvana's MTV Unplugged version of "Come as you are", Curt Cobain no longer sang in my head. I now sat front row so no longer on stage surrounded by musicians. This effect was more pronounced with wide-open loads like a HD800S rather than a space slacker like its stablemate €300 HD650. If the Gold Note feels too warm due to xfeed's bass boost, we can compensate by switching in a Harman hump in the upper mid and lower treble. Crossfeed also softens image separation and placement focus but secures an even more relaxed read.

The bottom range can at first seem on the slim side without xfeed's bass enhancement; or so one might deduce. Longer exposure clarifies that the lack of emphasis in the kickdrum and upper bass range in particular means that everything in fact balances correctly in terms of energy distribution and that the LF are by no means underrepresented on raw pressure. In fact low bass exhibits no roll-off. The tight, dry and apparently slim impression is mainly due to unexpected speed and agility. For genres like dubstep, hardcore or techno then, I would pair slightly bassier loads like Audeze LCD models or Final D-range specimens like the €3'499 D-8000 to build in some extra emphasis.

If you've read this far, you probably wonder what sound improvements the external linear power supply PSU-10 Evo bolts on. The most striking thing was still greater articulation. With the PSU-10 the sustain and definition of individual tones seem even sharper without feeling more strenuous in trade. On the contrary, the rectified and filtered power brings more calm and long-hour listenability. Image localization defines even more to achieve an almost holographic quality. It should be quite rare for a manufacturer to enter a new category with such a bang but the Deluxe hits the scene with unusual featurization and beyond-reproach sonic neutrality of excellent attention to detail. Our Italian luxury amp will likewise feel at home in a studio whilst its cosmetics welcome it into any living room. Its innate tuning should appeal less to hardcore brutalist bass heads or those favouring a warm soft listen. Leaving aside individual tastes, far more important is that this champ from Tuscany partners perfectly with all types of music because it doesn't editorialize. Unusually comprehensive tuning facilities and very high yet benign resolution make this a multi-talented control centre for headfi aficionados who are intensely committed to their experience. Be sure to sample it. It's definitely worth the effort.