TNT Audio

ManualsBrandsLehmannaudio ManualsAmplifierPower Amplifier

one would expect. However some amps can sound pushy

with such speakers and it‘s to the Lehmann‘s credit that

they managed to remain smooth through orchestral cli

maxes and the like. Brieﬂy trying my own Transmissi

on-Line speakers, which are borderline in efﬁciency, did

show up a certain restraint here and in a large room

the limit of 20 watts was reached before serious levels,

but then this is being a little cruel - every amp has a

performance envelope and here I was obviously pushing

against it.

More to the point is that the two speaker systems chosen

cost 10 times as much as the Stamp, that it wasn‘t a

mismatch is to the amp‘s credit.

In ultimate terms (i.e. price no object) the soundstage

has a certain ‚T‘ shape - the depth being in the centre

and the width widely stretched. Compared to expensive

SE amps there isn‘t that silky gloss or sweetness, but in

my experience this is one of the very few transistor amps

that gets close and obviously has advantages elsewhere

- initial cost, running costs (both replacement valves and

the electricity bill) and ease of placement.

Cans

I know I‘ve ignored the fact that the Linear is a head-

phone amp as much as a pre-amp. Again I have to ple

ad ignorance of the subject, I‘ve only heard one quality

headphone stage (the Graham Slee Solo) and though

that design impressed me greatly I‘m not going to put

it forward as being the be-all-and-end-all by any means

- I simply don‘t have the comparisons to hand. All I can

say is that the Lehmann made a very strong case for

itself in purely sonic terms. Compared to the Solo the

Linear was more open and incisive, the Slee warmer and

more powerful. Neither was in any way tiring to listen to

and the differences were primarily in presentation rather

than ultimate quality. What is different is the way they

interface with the system. The Slee stage has two inputs

so you could run a system with say a CD player and

a Phono stage direct to the Solo to give a two-source,

headphone only set-up. Or it could take one input from

a preamp and the other from a direct source and so on.

The Linear is of course a pre-amp as well, but with only

one input it has limited appeal - if you have more than

one source you need a dedicated preamp as well so the

one ‚on-board‘ becomes redundant.

Conclusion

The Stamp I can recommend wholeheartedly. As long as

you are realistic with room/speaker matching it offers

true hi-ﬁ sound and because it can be conﬁgured for bi

wiring it allows upgrades and increased power/ﬂexibility

as well. It‘s small, neat, unobtrusive but well made. It‘s

also not expensive for the quality you get. Lastly it‘s one

of those components that I‘d recommend blind to some

one because it‘s not fussy in use and seems to have a

benign rather than difﬁcult character.

The Linear I ﬁnd hugely frustrating. The reason is that

from my point of view it‘s an extremely capable pre-amp

hamstrung with a single input. Yes the headphone input

seems to be well up to driving the very best headphones,

but for most people reading this (and me) the single in

put will just write it off. If you run a single source system,

and I‘m told some people do, then it‘s an excellent choice

all-round, but it will limit you in the future. BUT (having

since talked to him) from Norbert‘s point of view it is pri

marily a headphone amp, that because it was easy to do,

and the space in the box was there he added a single line

level input. So I guess it‘s unfair me winging on about

the single input, but the reason I‘m so frustrated is that

the damn pre-amp section is so good!

But (again) I can see the letters coming now - ‚the futu

re is PC based music‘ and yes you are almost certainly

right. With more and more bandwidth available there‘s

no reason why music downloads shouldn‘t exceed CD

quality and of course the PC will have a CD/DVD drive.

So in a way the Linear has exposed my ignorance of de

velopments in music reproduction - I need a crash course

in USB DACs, decent soundcards, high end laptops, re

cording software and so on. And so, slightly embarrassed

by my ignorance, my next ‚New Adventure in HiFi‘ will be

to explore the capabilities of the latest generation of PC

based stereo reproduction.

Now the really good news - Norbert Lehmann has told

me that his next product will be a multi-input pre-amp,

and about time too!

systems used

* Vinyl: Opera Audio LP5.0 Dynavector 507 MkII /Dy

navector XV-1, XX-2, Music Maker

* Phono stages: GramAmp Era Gold Lehmann Black

Cube Twin. ESE Nibiru

* CD: Audionote Zero CD/DAC

* Preamp/poweramp: Audionote M3/Quest Silver

* Cables: FFRC and Sonic Link speaker cables. DIY sil

ver interconnects. Audionote silver interconnects.

* Speakers:Loth-x Polaris and REL Stentor.