With the timbre it's similar. The slight brightening of the upper midrange typical for many contemporary recordings and usually underlined by solid-state amplifiers (a few notable exceptions are the Accuphase P-7100, Accuphase E-550 or Trigon Energy) here is somewhat forgiven. In absolute terms, this is a slight deviation from linearity but one we can only applaud! In an ideal world, I would probably like to not have it but in the here and now of having to decide between the 1% of well-mastered LPs and remaining 99% of lesser quality and digital recordings, I do appreciate what the Diavolo achieves. It creates a very slightly softened attack in the upper midrange but guarantees the transmission of musical communicativeness without boredom or fatigue.

While I already talked about bass, it's not that the amplifier played it badly. When I listened to Galahad's prog-rock Sleepers and then Radiohead's masterpiece Kid A, the bass guitars were big and of proper weight and body. They just didn't reach as low as over the Luxman and lacked tautness in the depths. But that didn't prevent the amplifier from sounding really nice and full. Because the Diavolo evokes this big saturated spacious sound as already described, I would only add that it transports the instruments to our room rather than moving us to a different venue. The relationships between performers are true, the distances in width and depth precise. Yet the recorded acoustics, true or artificial, are secondary to maintaining the connections and tension between the elements on stage. That's an important distinction because some people prefer that another space be opened between their speakers. Others again want the instruments beamed into their listening room. With the Leben RS-28CX preamplifier, the Diavolo offered this second take.

Moving from the Leben to the Art Audio Conductor showed how far more resolving the Japanese machine is. While this was undeniable, so was the fact that the Conductor on the Diavolo had the far more credible timbres. This was another instance where one encounters the synergy of certain devices being designed together, whose combination makes the listening experience complete. The easiest comparison is to the C-1000f Luxman, albeit with better timbres and more natural dynamic shading. The Art Audio system gives an incredibly realistic testimony of what happened in front of the microphones. In absolute terms, the Conductor especially in the midrange and treble softens the attacks a bit but this does not translate into a general softening but rather, a deepening and sculpting of the sound.