Audio Note UK

Audio Note UK's David Cope always does good dems at shows, and AXPONA was no exception. With the K/SPe two-way, sealed-box speakers ($3700/pair plus $650/pair for stands) placed in the room corners, and driven by the OTO SE Signature parallel singled-ended integrated amplifier ($5500; $6300 with phono stage), Lukas Foss's Time Cycle, a 1960s recording from Leonard Bernstein conducing the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, sounded rich yet detailed, with percussion instruments nicely delineated in space. David then played a familiar CD, Cantus singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," which I had recorded 10 years ago. This revealed the system to sound a little too lush and warm, but who could complain about that!

The OTO SE uses EL84 output tubes was developed from the OTO, using AN tantalum and foil caps in strategic places and replacing the original output transformers with double-C-core types wound in-house. Source at AXPONA was the CDT Three CD transport ($12,000) and the DAC3.1x/II Balanced ($10,000), a non-oversampling design using the AD1865N DAC chip.

Source : stereophile[dot]com