Armageddon

Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (i5, 256GB SSD, 40GB RAM, Sonoma 14), 4TB external SSD with Thunderbolt 3, Audirvana Studio, Qobuz Sublime, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, LHY Audio SW-8 & SW-6 switch, Laiv Audio Harmony; Active filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Power amplifiers: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos & Gold Note monos on subwoofer; Headamp: Enleum AMP-23R; Phones: Raal 1995 Immanis; Loudspeakers: Qualio IQ [on loan] Cables: Kinki Studio Earth, Furutech; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra on all source components, Vibex One 11R on amps, Furutech DPS-4.1 between wall and conditioners; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, LessLoss Firewall for loudspeakers, Furutech NCF Signal Boosters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat; Room treatment: 2 x PSI Audio AVAA C214 active bass traps
2nd system: Source: FiiO R7 into Soundaware D300Ref SD transport to COS Engineering D1; Preamp/filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-M7; Loudspeakers: MonAcoustic SuperMon Mini + Dynaudio S18 sub; Power delivery: Furutech GTO 2D NCF, Akiko Audio Corelli; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Audioquest Fog Lifters; Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
2nd headfi system: DAC: Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe; Headamp: Cen.Grand Silver Fox; Headphones: Raal 1995 Immanis
Desktop system: Source: HP Z230 work station Win10/64; USB bridge: Singxer SU-2; DAC: Sonnet Audio Pasithea; Head amp: Kinki Studio THR-1; Speaker amp: Crayon CFA-1.2; Speakers: Acelec Model One Headphones: Final D-8000, Audio-Technica ATH-A990Z
Upstairs headfi system: FiiO R7; Headphones: Meze 109 Pro, Fiio FT3, Raal 1995 Magna, HifiMan Susvara
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Zu Submission; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: $7'600 ex VAT

Not Wolfgang Astraeus Mo'Gentle! It's how English renders famous Viennese composer W. Amadeus Mozart's family name when 'zart' is gentle in German. That's more than a painfully fabricated word game. SAEQ's forthcoming Astræus runs an ECC88 input stage, 99-step attenuator and "two very innovative functions ideal when comparing headphones". The input glass "will move it towards a new tonal balance whose greatest effect will be at higher SPL for a deeper level of relaxation without loss of resolution." And that's relevant when our resident reviewer of Über HeadFi uses a LampizatOr Horizon 360 valve DAC and hybrid Riviera Labs amp as references. After Simone's reviews of the Trafomatic Primavera and Auris Headonia pure tube headphone amps hit, SAEQ's Dragan Domanovic "understood his tastes. He is a wonderful person with a beautiful sensibility whose sonic expectations weren't formed by loudspeakers and their more explicit spatial rendering. In my view he was initiated by the overly polished sound of expensive amplifiers to be a man who entered hifi through the door of a highly refined albeit interpreted sound. I understand and appreciate this. My Armageddon simply isn't that. Au contraire. Its ambition is to faithfully track recorded production values, not to interpret them for its own idealized facsimile.

"Your own sonic expectations are a far better match because you already described Hyperion Ge exactly as I hear it. By contrast to it, Armageddon will be more concrete, with thicker image outlines and better definition at high SPL, wonderful also on speakers. This is not a masking amplifier. It has an analytical character but not one that becomes unpleasant unless the recording warrants it. I don't want Simone not to hear Armageddon but it certainly won't be an encounter of gushing emotions. I really think that his tastes will call Astræus a far happier match." And so it transpired that today's review reassigned to me whilst Simone covers the new flagship. After all, pairing up a low-power zero NFB SET with a reviewer specialized in high-power transistors and speakers that love them wouldn't be sensible either. So today we move away from deliberately gentler thicker textures and less explicit upper harmonic energies of a forthcoming tube hybrid to a pure transistor amplifier based on a live-sound aesthetic. And with a name like Armageddon—from the Biblical Hewbrew Har Megiddo for the location of a gathering of armies during an End Times battle—we certainly expect escalated qualities. How much those build upon Hyperion Ge and where/how Armageddon diverges I hoped to find out by direct comparison.

With 20/30wpc into 8/4Ω, Armageddon will drive a range of speakers as long as our room isn't too capacious, our volume none too raucous. Once we drive HeadFi loads, we bag 8/4wpc into 32/64Ω. That's beast mode for humdingers like AB-1266, Susvara, Tungsten & Co. Hi/lo gain and various pre-attenuation modes accommodate high-sensitivity headphones though why buy a Humvee if we never venture off-road? Its name suggests Armageddon as a final solution. Given Dragan's comments, it remains SAEQ's statement amplifier for his favoured aural 'truth' aesthetic. Being mindful of other tastes and hoping to enchant them as well, Astræus will bow a different slant. We might label it 'beauty' to set up an intuitive distinction between two sonic ideals. Those mirror playback venue seating of front-row centre versus balcony; and close-mic'd multi-tracked studio productions versus purist stereo-mic location recordings. One celebrates close-proximity direct sound, the other free space where ambient reflections dominate. Both are real. Both have believers. In loudspeakers we hear Living Voice as very different from Magico, Harbeth as clearly distinctive from Magnepan. If I correctly interpret the above, SAEQ will soon offer an alternate flavour to their existing aesthetic. Once Simone takes receipt of his Astræus loaner to contrast it with his resident Riviera Labs AIC-10 class A hybrid, we'll know more.

The only thing marring this impeccable visage is the missing 'm' in 'asymmetrical'. But how many people will even notice that?