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For a totally different angle, take the didgeridoo on Øystein Sevåg's Global Planet. It always produces a big growling dynamic sound. In a good system it never sounds boomy but distributes well-controlled pressure waves that get under my skin. The airiness around this tribal drone was not as apparent as I have heard with some other amps but it certainly wasn’t missing. And as the shakers and all manner of other percussion entered and showed the depth of the stage with its vertical layering to be oh so creditable … suddenly all that didn’t matter. As my intellect checked out I involuntarily dropped my pen and sunk into the rest of the album.
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Zu Audio's show setup with Audion integrated [photo credit Todd Krieger]
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My mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely. Numerous visitors also heard the Audion in my system including fellow 6moonster Jay Fisher. Jay was working in Seattle and made the trip over Snoqualmie Pass to join some of my friends for food and tunes. We had a wonderful evening of socializing as we loitered around a meal featuring BBQ roast beast and Alaskan king salmon. There also was a huge variety of red wines. After all if God is watching us, the least we can do is be entertaining.
Having lingered perhaps a bit too long over dinner we finally got around to some serious listening. Here’s the recap on that session. One thing that needs to be said is that Jay will readily admit to frequently liking the top end of a 2A3 better than that of a 300B if you have the speakers that will accept a 2A3. I do. The Altec 604 drivers are 99dB SPL at 1 watt from 500Hz - 3kHz. In the end however his assessment of the comparison was uncomplicated. He preferred the Audion to the Melody. So much for that story line. I heard things a bit differently which really shouldn’t strike anyone as strange given the complexity of systems (and humans). To me the Audion has excellent mid and upper bass momentum. However while it has a seriously smooth boogie factor, the bass starts to get slightly looser in the lower bass regions. Not wooly really, just not as tight/well controlled. Overall I found its weighting to be more natural than the slightly buoyant and turn-on-a-dime bass of the INT-30A and not quite as grounded and earthy as the Melody i2A3.
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It is not a dark-sounding amp. The Melody for example is more shady while the Pass is more sunny. True to the icon of the angelic halo the Audion was too pure in the middle mids to allow for such. Instruments and voices were rendered in full and naturally warm color. Not Technicolor, not sepia. One thing I perceived was that as we pushed the volume upward beyond moderately sane listening levels, there was a slight shift in the fabric of the upper mids and treble. They became of an ever-so-slightly coarser cloth than the inexorably persuasive upper bass and lower mids.
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| Lastly to my ears, the Audion was not as see-through as the Melody (18wpc p/p). That unit exposes a more detailed level of vocal and instrumental resolution, a deeper and taller soundscape and more air shape around instruments and oxygen in the highs. This is not to say that the Audion can’t play in that realm as everything is a matter of scale. To me it’s more important how it plays there. For example on Patricia Barber’s "Mourning Grace" from Café Blue, appropriately macro- and microdynamically adept cymbals came in from way way back of a black black background just as they should have and in scale to the rest of the unit’s performance. No overly hard edges. It is frequently my experience that when I hear components that have seemingly greater upper-frequency extension, it comes at the cost of an upper midrange glare that pretty quickly shuts down my ears. Clearly that’s not an issue here. No pointed sonic corners. |
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Ambience and ambiance. Bruno-Leonardo Gelber's performance of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 conveys a Steinway of both enormous heft and poignant delicacy. The master takes the instrument from subtle whispers to vigorous and nearly violent outbursts. By the time Gelber hits full stride, so much is at play that it’s easy to give up sorting through the clamour. With the Audion things were different. What was formerly raucous or perhaps also bordering on occasionally psychotic now shifted to a more aesthetically credible whole. Although it may not have found the bones in the densest thick of complexity, it allowed me to stay with the music, follow the arc and feel satisfied when all was said and done. So while it may not unravel in ultra-deep detail the most convoluted tangles of sound, that’s not necessarily a bad thing depending on what you’re chasing. For some the lack of sizzle could make it easy to ignore or even write off however. |
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For me the Audion offers up a discerning balance of warmth and resolution. I appreciate that it will not conjure up dynamics and resolution that leave the heart of the performance or the soul of the midband behind. I appreciate that in doing so that it doesn’t sound impressionistic. And I appreciate that it does chase and secure beauty that inspires any number of feelings. Lastly if we can agree that ambience is the aurally perceived impression of an acoustical space in which a recording was made; and that ambiance is the feeling or mood evoked by an environment - then I can tell you that in my system the Audion allowed for both. It could take me to the venue and reveal the moods therein. It was then that the Audion became hard to ignore. Which is why it deserves an audition by those to whom such qualities speak.
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Silver Night Stereo Anniversary Ltd 300B
Power: 2 x 7 watts Class A into 8 ohms at 120V AC
Load: 4 – 8 ohms nominal
Distortion @ 1 watt: < 0.1% no feedback
Frequency response: 10Hz – 35kHz +/-3dB
Sensitivity: Variable >150mV full output
Noise: <(CCIR) –90dB
Consumption: 152 watts
Tubes: 2 x 300B, 2 x 6H1N-EB/E88CC
Size: 42cm deep, 23cm wide and 19cm tall less tubes
Weight: 14kg
Fuses: Power 4A/120V, HT 1000mA/120V
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Quality of packing: Appropriate.
Reusability of packing: No worries.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: Easy.
Condition of component received: Not damaged, performed properly.
Completeness of delivery: Ready to go.
Quality of owner's manual: Simple, direct, concise.
Ease of assembly: None required.
Warranty: Limited 2 years; tubes 6 months
Human interactions: Prompt, professional, fun.
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The US importer replies on behalf of Audion: I want to express my gratitude to Stephæn for all his hard work and as he says, "a really good friend is someone who helps you move yet another unknown amp into their system for evaluation". There are several mentions about resolution and see through and of course bass when compared to mono blocks (Audion is a stereo amp) or more powerful push-pull 18W amps or SS 30W (Audion is 7W). Aside from this being expected, it brings up a very interesting point that is at the heart of Audion as a company.
After many years of self-inflicted pain by way of DIY I came to realize that 'musicality' was what I was ultimately chasing. I thought I was chasing an ultra-high resolution information-retrieval machine - one that sucked every last note from the recording. Except when I got to those levels, I found that I enjoyed the presentation less and listened less. Once during one of these fever-pitched audio crusades I demanded my wife sit down and tell me what she thought. After 20 seconds she turned to me and said, "No soul".
After that I now chase products that have 'soul' over sheer resolving power. Like Stephæn found, soul means that a person gets suddenly transported into the music and leaves their analytical mind behind to just get into the performance. Fortunately Graeme of Audion feels the same. He believes in musicality above all and voices accordingly. It's a fine balance.
While Audion offers what all audiophiles want—upgrades that offer more of everything—I was careful to having sent Stephæn a pure stock unit, tubes and all. And like the soul I chase in a machine, I found his review full of soul and got completely sucked in like I was there. And isn't that what good soulful writing is?
Kind Regards,
Gary Alpern
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