NEODIO TMA amplifier: minimalist but devilishly effective…
The Minimalist Amplifier . That’s all said, let’s start listening.
All joking aside, this integrated is really minimalist. Apart from the bronze strip which highlights the facade, the hardware consists of a selector devoid of typography, a volume knob, both in solid steel, four RCA line inputs and banana plugs flush with the chassis. An on/off button under the front too. More interesting is the way Stéphane Even, the designer, talks about his TMA: a minimalist but not simplistic amp. A very rigid mechanically welded chassis, equipped with a 6 mm PMMA (Polymethyl methacrylate) rear face to insulate the connectors from induced currents. This chassis rests on three massive Delrin legs. The three-stage circuit advocates a high rate of feedback, determined after three years of development. The amp delivers 2×80 W at 8 Ω using special audio MOS transistors. Floor power supply drivers is separated from that of the power stages, based on a 300 VA toroidal transformer and a filtering capacity totaling 44,000 µF. The components are selected: Vishay capacitors, Neodio Fractal 8 wiring…
Several successive listenings with a Soulnote D-2 DAC as source preceded by a Silent Angel Rhein Z1 network player made it possible to place this minimalist but not modest integrated in a category ranging from ultra respectful of the initial message in timbre, phase, extent of the spectrum, dynamics and depth, to a sort of champion of transparency and accuracy. Accuracy is not to be considered here as a brake on emotion, but rather as the shortest path to the structure of the work and the interpretation given to it by the artists. For those who remember, this TMA seems to us to meet the exact definition of the famous “straight line with gain” stated in the 1960s by Peter J. Walker, founder of Quad. Qualifying this sound in words can also be expressed by noting that it seems to fade away in front of the music, seeking to impose neither rhythm nor color of its own; we have a very beautiful illustration of this when listening to the In Paradise concluding the Requiem by Fauré (Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, Sinfonia Varsovia, dir. Michel Corboz. Available on CD and on Qobuz in 16 Bits/44.1 kHz). The choir unfolds as rarely in all its ranges, the Sinfonia Varsovia providing this support in the bass which literally takes the voices to the top. Also compare the bandwidth of this amplifier, indicated as extending from 1 Hz to 400 kHz.
The +: This notion of truth often promised, rarely given, here delivered.
The -: Neither muting no phono, no headphones, no remote control – the essentials in short.
neodio.fr
Belgium
