I enjoy quicksilvery attacks but not hyper-controlled decays which then sound like a truncation of emotion which dries out the sound too much. I like natural bloom on a sustained piano note, on the blare of a trumpet or follow-up of a kickdrum to be clearly audible as it is a fundamental element of the colour of the instrument influenced by the characteristics of the venue and recording technique. Again, Primavera gave room to expressive decay structures of instruments or vocals even choirs to manifest in a satisfying yet composed fashion. Bass especially was deep, strong and tight. "Raven" from Gogo Penguin's A Humdrum Star can sound impaired when the pace keeping of bass lines is imprecise; or underwhelming when the rhythm is fast but the weight of sounds lacking. This wasn't the case with Primavera which kept propulsive progressions with motoric inexorability while delivering substantial bass volume and extension.

Way Down in the Hole by John Campbell is an audiophile classic and another bass showcase where Primavera and Immanis demonstrated scale, fullness, richness, control and solid palpability. Campbell's deep voice emerged with its typical cavernous flavour rightly layered in front of the scene with believable size and spooky physiological immanence; an otolaryngologist's inspection level of detail.

Transparency and toe-tapping transient bounce brought massive fun to Jazz tracks where the spatial arrangement of instruments and their interplay was utterly apparent and involving. Listening to tracks like Ahmed Jamal's "Sunday Afternoon El Cuarto de Tula" from Buena Vista Social Club without responding with some kind of involuntary body reactions was impossible. With classical the genre I enjoy the most, I spent a significant portion of my time listening to preferred pieces. Symphonic music was handled with almost aristocratic poise. There was no scale, dynamic swing or massed passage where Primavera acted challenged. Recording permitting, the airiness, intelligibility of a score, resolution of planktonic micro detail to elephantine wall-of-sound tutti all presented with no signs of distortion or impending collapse.

A track I often use to evaluate presence and dynamics is the "Marche du Soldat" from Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat. The HDTT remastering of the historical Mandell/Ars Nova 1956 performance is a phenomenal test for this purpose. Instruments seem to jump at you with scary physicality, their location, shape and colour so realistic, the space occupied by the relatively small ensemble so enveloping that your privacy feels almost violated by unexpected visitors at first. Here the absentee noise floor of Primavera paid dividends, giving the music that enthralling sense of an event happening out of nowhere.

Vocals are perhaps the most straightforward check for emotional triggers in a hifi. Listening to the Gérard Lesne and Howard Crook 'Et Misericordia' duo on Herreweghe's take on Bach's Magnificat makes sound analysis hard, so strong is the emotion this music arouses. These two magnificent artists manage to personify the respective roles in the tale so profoundly with their singing that I am always carried close to tears. Primavera showed the singers fully embodied in a reverberant venue but most importantly conveyed their voices with discretion, even modesty so all lack of tonal emphasis or coloration that made my emotional reaction even more irresistible than usual.

Primavera's treble was extended and finely chiselled if not entirely liquid. Guitar pieces like the classical Julian Bream Concierto de Aranjuez or di Meola, de Lucía and McLaughlin's A Night in San Francisco concert had sparkle and luminosity together with the necessary substance whose lack marks overly thin or bright electronics. This was no smoothed-over treble, no edulcorated injection. Like with its bass and midrange, Primavera did nothing to augment the charge with bloomy inflation or euphonic densification. It always prioritized integrity. Yet this didn't sterilize the music. Rather, it seemed free to express itself without intervention.

My reference amplifier, the Riviera Labs AIC-10, is a bit of chameleon depending on which driver tube I use. During my time with Primavera I was using mostly an NOS Mullard which provides a touch of euphoria and romance. Here Primavera showed tighter bass control, a slight edge on transients and a more transparent extended top end. The AIC-10 produced more prominent sub bass, a thicker midrange and an overall larger and deeper soundstage. Due to this difference, Valkyria felt slightly better served by Primavera while I preferred Immanis by a sliver over the Italian hybrid amp. When I swapped out the Mullard for a Telefunken G73-R, there were several instances where I nearly could not tell which amp I was listening to since their sonic gestalts had closely aligned. Still, I could detect more transparency with Primavera which had images more separated and sculpted out from the background whereas mid-bass boldness and soundstage depth gave away the AIC-10.

Of other amplifiers I have familiarity with—and with the caveat that here I invoke aural memory with all its limitations—Primavera reminded me of the elegant Simaudio Moon 600i v2 or Nagra Classic INT both with headphones as two very refined solid-state machines over which Primavera had more organic texture. Compared to the Viva Audio Egoista 845, the Italian furnace had the edge on macro dynamics, scale and bass mass but did not provide the same level of nuanced discernment, transparency, resolution and finely administered midrange and treble textures of Primavera. I enjoyed every single minute spent with the Trafomatic. Hours went by easily with a wide variety of musical material, styles and genres but no sign of fatigue. This imposing amplifier demands that I resort to the 'iron fist in a velvet glove' cliché because of its apparently limitless capability to deliver undistorted clean power without being overly aggressive or rough, rather the opposite. A fine brush is what Primavera uses even to paint large spectacles where detail can be appreciated if we zoom in while they harmoniously blend into the big picture if we just look from the right distance. It manages to avoid the contradiction between analytical and holistic.

Similarly its neutral tonal balance won't brush up against boredom or dryness, rather being a form of purist respect for the music which comes out reinforced by non-interventionist treatment. Its transient response makes listening exciting and vivid and combined with its transparency and localization, sets the scene for a lively theatrical experience when listening to complex pieces with many elements such as opera, large orchestral or layered electronica. It competes with the absolutely best amplifiers I have experienced on headphones and sonically speaking had no flaw I could detect. If the practical implications of hosting an expensive, monumental headfi-only amp in your system do not scare you, I can only give Trafomatic's Primavera my warmest recommendations.