On audition
That isn’t to say it doesn’t do the sort of
things that we associate with valves well, because it does. Mark Knopfler’s
Privateering is exceptionally vivid, rich and entirely believable. There is a
sense of effortlessness to how the Audio Note goes about the business of making
music that makes most other system, even ones of equivalent value, sound
audibly constrained – a good facsimile being compared to the real thing, the
performance is never overblown or unnatural, it just isn’t constrained o by
anything so terrestrial as electronics. The handling of piano pieces in
particular is a minor shock to the system – the Audio Note ably reminds you
just how big an instrument it is.
Beautiful
Systems Audio Note
Where the Audio Note firmly ticks
preconceived ideas back in their box is when you ask it to play something that
should simply not work. Laurent Garnier’s Unreasonable Behavior is a hulking
great slab of moody electronica with thundering bass and virtual absence of
anything that might be recognized as instrument. Asking the Audio Note to
deliver with this is like making a fried breakfast with quail’s eggs –
technically possible but unlikely to satisfy. That it delivers a performance
with seemingly unlimited reserves of impact and the sort of timing that can
make most solid-state systems sound flabby and incoherent is testament to just
how effective the company’s approach is.
The Audio Note has every nuance that
defines musicality down to a fine art…
After you give up trying to blindside the
system, it is easier to revel in how it goes about the business of music
making. The long and the short of it is that the Audio Note has every nuance
that defines musicality down to a fine art. It overcomes the various pitfalls
and challenges of every genre I threw at it to achieve something easy to say
and hard to do – it simply sounds right.
Audio
Note loudspeakers
It can also manage this in less than
perfect listening environments. Much of this is down to the AN-Es which are in
a number of ways quite extraordinary. They are some of the largest speakers I
have used in my listening room but I have experienced more problems from diminutive
stand mounts than these gentle giants. Provided that they are arranged in a
position that allows a semblance of stereo, they will create a compelling and
believable soundstage. They are utterly unfazed by proximity to walls (indeed
they can be placed directly into corners to further enhance their already
impressive bass response and they are a fairly emphatic demonstration of how
Audio Note speaker work.
They are also a perfect foil for the
partnering electronics. Their sensitivity is the most obvious asset by beyond
the numbers, they reproduce the speed and startling tonal color that the amp
and CD bring to the performance. The CD 4.1x in particular is an eloquent
demonstration of how good CD can be when the partnering hardware is up to the
task. From the effortlessly sweet top end to the full and detailed bass, the
4.1x is completely free of any negative behavioral trait you might associate
with digital.
The Oto SE Signature is equally fluid and
musical and makes every one of its ten watts count. It has a bass response that
is quite unlike any other EL84 amplifier (and indeed most value amplifiers
anywhere near this price) I’ve ever used. To add to life’s little pleasures,
after thirty minutes or so, the controls warms up to the touch which is
decadent but – at this time of the year at least – rather wonderful.
Audio
Note systems are not small and won’t fade away into your listening room –
lifestyle system seekers should look elsewhere…
In case, I haven’t managed to get this
across, the Audio Note system has me struggling to find the catch. Every
Beautiful System is capable of extraordinary things but this one goes about
making music in a way that is quite unlike anything else I have sat in front of
recently.
Overall then, this is a truly exceptional
implementation of the low output, high sensitivity philosophy, one that
delivers a level of musical fulfillment that very little else can. It is
unfussy about room size and speaker placement and if you don’t use CDs any
more, there is a DAC equivalent. Maybe it’s time to join the one percent?
