From a recording studio to a desktop audio system – that's a short story of Amphion Ion+ speakers. It might seem that these are two different worlds, right? But lets think about it again – what really is a modern recording studio? – that's a computer based system with advanced editing tools and multi-track recording capability. And music is recorded on a hard drive, not tape anymore! Nowadays there almost none recording studios using other techniques. Ion+, driven with amplifier integrated/DAC NuForce DDA-100, regardless if used in recording/mastering studio, or in a desktop audio system, are always the same things: near-field monitors.
One more thing contributed to the creation of these speakers. Martin Kantola, the owner of Nordic Audio Labs, organizes and runs seminars on microphones he builds. He organizes these in Bruce Swedien's studio who is one of the most famous sound engineers, winner of 5 Grammy Awards for sound, a man who worked on such recordings like a famous Michael Jackson's Thriller. Mr Swedien is also a great fan of Kantola's microphones. Integral part of above mentioned seminars are listening sessions of material picked up by different microphones. To do that Martin had to prepare a dedicated system that could play sound samples via speakers, and the sound was picked up by microphones. In this way participants had their chance to compare different microphones. The key issue in this system were, obviously, speakers. They needed rather small designs but offering perfect phase coherence and minimal distortions – simply some measurement monitors. Ion+ was created to fulfill these requirements and Bruce Swedien himself helped to tune them properly. Now it is his favorite near field monitor. It's a two-way design with bass-reflex, with titanium tweeter and aluminum mid- lowrange driver.
Combining Amphion speakers with NuForce electronics is no coincident. A cooperation between these two companies started in 2011, when, during High End 2011 fair, they combined they efforts and presented a system together. DDA-100 is one of the newest additions to NuForce range – it's an integrated amplifier with build-in D/A converter. The full name is Direct-Digital Integrated Amplifier, and it is in fact a digital amplifier operating in class D with digital inputs, including also USB. It is small, but offers quite plenty of power, and it looks really good. We decided to test a system that includes this amplifier and speakers together.

SOUND

Recordings used during test (a selection)

• Audio Accesory - T-TOC Records High Quality Data Master Comparison, TDVD-0002, DVD-R (2011), ripy 16/44,1, 24/96, 24/192 FLAC.
• MJ Audio Technical Disc vol.6, Seibundo Shinkosha Publishing, MJCD-1005, CD (2013).
• Random Trip, Nowe Nagrania, 005, CD+WAV 24/44,1 (2012); review HERE .
• SATRI Reference Recordings Vol. 1, Bakoon Products, FLAC 24/96.
• SATRI Reference Recordings Vol. 2, Bakoon Products, FLAC 24/192.
• T-TOC Data Collection Vol. 1, T-TOC Records, DATA-0001, 24/96+24/192, WAV, ripy z DVD-R.
• Al Di Meola, Flesh on Flesh, Telarc, 24/96, źródło: HDTracks, FLAC.
• Bottleneck John, All Around Man, Opus3, CD 23001, SACD/CD (2013); review HERE .
• Charlie Haden & Antonio Forcione, Heartplay, Naim Label, 24/96 FLAC.
• Claudio Monteverdi, L’Orfeo, Ensemble La Venexiana, dyr. Claudio Cavina, Glossa, GCD 920913, 2 x CD (2007).
• Depeche Mode, Heaven, Columbia, 47537, SP CD (2013); review HERE .
• Diary of Dreams, The Anatomy of Silence, Accession Records, A 132, CD (2012).
• Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Ella and Louis, Verve/Lasting Impression Music, LIM UHD 045, UltraHD CD (2010).
• Frank Sinatra & Count Basie, Might As Well Be Swing, Universal Music Japan, UICY-94601, "Sinatra Society of Japan, No. 17", SHM-CD (1964/2010).
• Frank Sinatra, Nice’N’Easy, Capitol/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, UDCD 790, gold-CD (1960/2002)
• Jean Michel Jarre, Essentials & Rarities, Disques Dreyfus/Sony Music, 62872, 2 x CD (2011).
• Kamp!, Kamp!, Brennessel, BRN016, CD (2013); review HERE .
• Michael Jackson, Thriller. 25th Anniversary Edition, Epic/Sony Music Japan, EICP-963-4, CD+DVD (1982/2008).
• Michael Rother, Fernwärme, Random Records/Belle, 091546, SHM-CD (1982/2009).
• Miles Davis, Tutu, Warner Brothers Records, FLAC 24/96.
• Pat Metheny Group, Offramp, ECM/Universal Music [Japan], UCCU-9543, gold-CD (1982/2004).
• Sonny Rollins, Tenor Madness, WAV 24/96, HDTracks.
• Tori Amos, Boys For Pele, EastWest, 80696, CD (1996).

Japanese CD and SACD editions are available at

The method called „deconstruction” has lost its value recently, even worse – the misuse of it often lead to results that made almost no sense at all. And that is such a shame, as this is one of the most interesting methods of texts analysis. Not the only one, not even the conclusive one, but simply interesting and helpful in many cases. It is not easy to define „deconstruction” - in simple words what one needs to do is to take some text (or concept), take a really close look at it, and than try to lay it out, to study and redefine each of its components. When one arrives at a collection of small definitions of all components, one has to put it all back together. After such a process one arrives at exactly the same text (or concept), but now bearing different meaning, usually a deeper one, and open to other, often equivalent interpretations. This helps one to form more than just one simple, one-dimensional opinion, or understanding of particular text (or concept).
I need this method for one purpose only: to redefine, re-think the sentence written by Srajan Ebaen. It reads: „Phenomenal – show-me-the-money – high-end” and you can find it on Amphion's webpage, or the Ion+ subpage to be exact. This means that this sentence is very important for the manufacturer (you can read the 6moons review of Ion+ HERE).

Claudio Cavina is often called „the new Orpheus”, which is a form of accolade for his achievements in the field of presenting the original creations of Monteverdi. The way of singing „historically conscious”, i.e. without vibrato, period instruments, period ensemble and staging – all these elements were honed by Italian conductor and musician. The third concert of Misteria Paschalia 2013 festival, a concert from Claudio Monteverdi's L’Orfeo, performed by Ensemble La Venexiana conducted by Claudio Cavina was a perfect example, a proof that the above mentioned claim was absolutely true. Beautifully conducted, wonderfully sang and played, not too serious, but with proper drama, and not characterized by empty virtuosity – I'm really glad I could attend this performance and experience it.
The concert took place on Wednesday evening and it ended at around 22.30. It was too late to do what I had been planning the whole week – to compare live music with the recording. But the next day, at 8 A.M. I was already in front of Amphion speakers, driven by DDA-100 NuForce and I was listening to exactly the same piece of music, performed by the same ensemble – Ensemble La Venexiana, conducted by the same man – Claudio Cavina. Glossa Music double album was recorded in 2006 in San Carlo church in Modena. The Cracow performance was slightly different – the set of instruments differed a bit and their set up too. But it was performed under the same „iron-hand” conductor, in exactly the same way, reflecting the same approach, the same spirit of performance.
After a short time I concluded that these were not speakers that could really deliver a true volume of instruments, voices, nor the ambiance of a huge space this performance was recorded in. Bass didn't go too deep – almost nothing was happening below 100 Hz. This could be improved by moving speakers closer against the back wall, but in that case a deeper bass came with the cost – speed and precision of sound degraded, and also the coherence of the soundstage. Long story short - Ion+ driven by DDA-100 (but also by my reference stereo system) had their obvious limitations. They were not capable of recreating a live performance, nor even to interpret it truthfully. It was surely not a „high-end” sound, at least not in a meaning that, as I assumed, a manufacturer described it.

So let's forget this „high-end” tag that appears each time you see Ion+. Let try to create our own definition, description for this system with Amphion speakers and NuForce amplifier being the heart of this setup.
The first word that comes to mind to describe it is: amazing. The sound delivered by it has some attributes, that are hardly found in any other speakers regardless the price! The key feature of this sound is its incredible resolution. It is an often underestimated element of a performance, often mixed up with transparency and high level of details, while in fact it is a capability of presenting as many „harmonious” sounds over as short time as possible. It is about 'how many sounds are there in the sound”. The reviewed system is capable of presenting so many things in each recording that other speakers sound like broken in comparison. And I'm not comparing Ion+ to other speakers from the same price level, as that would be totally unfair, but to those costing 10.000 or even 100.000 PLN.
I was wondering, trying to figure out what was so special about this sound that gave me goosebumps on my back when listening to the golden edition of Pat Metheny Group's Offramp, what mesmerized me so much when I was listening to the Bottleneck John's All Around Man - newest addition to Opus3 portfolio? What made me experience in such a special way Tori Amos from Boys For Pele?
Well, I could use some very nice, 'round' sentence like for example: „music is created by details combined together in a greater harmony and pace, including pauses; Amphion speakers driven by NuForce amplifier, although cheaper (even together) that any of power cords in my own system, delivered all those details in a wonderfully orderly, harmonized way”. And that would be OK. But I'd rather elaborate on that.
I have no idea how Bruce Swedien and Finish engineers did it – you can't achieve such a great phase coherence by accident. Not even many years of experience in designing and building speakers will guaranty such achievement. It takes even more, something special in ones ears and minds to find a golden mean. That is also why I used Harpia Acoustics Marcus speakers for such a long time (see HERE) – the drivers, crossover and they way they were assembled together delivered great time coherence. Surprisingly the tiny Ion+ with surprisingly inexpensive DDP-100 amplifier delivered even better performance.

Phase coherence of both, amplifier, that has been optimized towards that goal, and of speakers, that were designed first of all to achieve that goal, doesn't 'make' a good sound by itself. In this particular case though it helps to better understand music. Everything gets to our ears at the same time, with all the sounds joined by the whole network of connections, interactions that all together create so much more than just a simple set of sounds, as they build up MUSIC. And it is done in a different way that we are used to as the fantastic resolution helps to discover not just details and nuances, but the internal connections and interactions between single sounds, even the tiniest ones. It is why the sound is so rich and harmonics are so natural, so important part of basic sound. They build something „under” the sound, something that creates impression that it is something more than just reproduction, something real, something natural.
So when I listened to the trumpets opening L’Orfeo, for a moment I thought I heard a live sound. No, there was no real bottom end, the spacing wasn't realistic either, there was not true 'drama' I heard a day before in Cracow Philharmonic, but still these instruments sounded... credible. The Cracow staging differed from the recorded, Italian one, among other things, by placing trumpets (at the beginning) on the balcony, on the right side of the stage. They started suddenly, without warning, just ripping everybody out of their comfort zones, attracting everybody's attention to the beginning of the L’Orfeo. While listening to the 2006 recording via Amphion/NuForce system I was similarly startled. No, it wasn't about exact copy of live performance, but rather about the sound that jumped over analysis level right to emotional level. After a moment I realized what was missing, I asked where was the depth of the sound, why the dynamics was limited and so on, but all that came after a while, after the first incredible impression, when in fact I was listening already to the next part, which again stroke me with emotions first and only after the first 'shock' allowed me to analyze sound and find differences comparing to live performance, and so on, and so on, until the end of the listening session.
The question is: what is high end. Isn't it just THAT? The ability to target listener's emotions first of all, to create a spectacle that allows you to forget any limitations that sound/system might have? Partially, yes. But only partially.

Because if that's how we defined high-end it would mean that it is totally depend on the listener, on how experienced and how sensible he is. Probably most of us remember our 'first time' with high quality audio system. That is usually something unforgettable, something we remember as knocking on heavens door or even being in audiophile's heaven. But was this first experience really delivered by some super-high-end system? In most cases – no. Usually it's not really some very expensive, top-high-end system, but rather something relatively inexpensive but really nicely put together. I'd go even further and say that most of those systems had nothing to do with true high-end. High-end must interact with our emotions, that's true, but it has to offer also objectively great performance. Only when these two elements combine together there is a true high-end sound without any 'buts'. When I looked at the reviewed system using that definition I could hardly call it a high-end one. Especially that it showed its limitations from the very beginning.

Wait a moment: the „objectively great performance” is also hard to quantify, there is no particular moment/level when it starts. It depends on so many factors. One of them, maybe even the key one, being intended use of particular product. How could you compare high-end headphones with high-end loudspeakers? Both are supposed to do exactly the same job, right? But nobody would ever try to compare them directly, to make them compete.
The reviewed system also has its 'intended use': it's a desktop systems for near-field listening, and that means really 'near', like listener sitting 50-60 cm from speakers. These are genuine near-field monitors. Period. And you have to sit really close to them to use their full potential. Change that to the distance of, say, 1,5 m and you loose already a lot, especially in terms of richness and crispness of the sound. While auditioning them, if you have a chance, you could do a little experiment – move yourself very close to the speakers, like 20-30 cm. The closer you get the more focused sound will be, the more „all-in-place” presentation you get. And all it happening while driving Ion+ with quite inexpensive NuForce amplifier, or amplifier/DAC to be exact! For just less than 2.000 PLN you're buying an amplifier with very good resolution and selectivity, and with proper tonality. Surely it has its limitations – it performs best if not pushed to its limits, which in this case means in near-field listening, and its bass is neither very powerful nor particularly rich. But in the system like this one it will perform to its best and most likely you will not even notice that there is something it can't actually do.

Summary

If you just read what Srajan wrote about Ion+, which was: „phenomenal – show-me-the-money – high-end” and that, without proper analysis, without some sort of preparation you'd go for an audition you could start to wonder what the hell was wrong with that guy. As this sentence taken out of context, and not thoroughly processed is simply not true. There is no high-end without proper imaging, without presentation of proper proportions and relations between instruments, and without delivering proper volume of each instrument. There is no high-end without full range sound – if you can't, for example, hear really well a double bass, or a lower notes of a piano. But for me the audition of Amphion Ion+ speakers and a perfect amplification for them, the NuForce DDA-100, was an interesting and informative experience. If you use this system the way it was intended to, sitting close to the speakers and playing them not too loud, you should be able to fully appreciate it and to say afterwords that it is a true high-end system. I've never heard any system, regardless the price, that would be so good for near-field listening. There was one – with the active Ancient Audio Studio Oslo speakers that delivered somehow similar experience, with even better coherence and bit more extension in the bass, but on the other hand it wasn't so transparent as this one, and it introduced bit more of its own signature to the sound. The resolution of an Amphion/NuForce system is simply amazing and unrivaled. And when you sit close to the speakers you stop noticing their limitations like not so good bass extension, for example. A bass itself doesn't really matter that much, it's the midrange that carries most music. Although truth to be said, if you want a proper midrange it has to be 'backed up' by at least some lower end. Amphion speakers can't offer much in lower area but their sound is so rich with upper harmonics that you don't really notice that something is missing at the bottom. For example when I listened to the piece opening Tori Amos Horses I could perfectly hear piano's pedals working – that is something that usually gets lost in the mix even when played with some really big speakers. I could perfectly hear tape hiss and ambiance caught on the recording. Again – these things separately don't really matter. But when they are elements of a bigger whole, they makes this whole, a sound in this case, better, more real. That's how I perceived this system – real sounding. Does that make make it a high-end one? Well, I think it DOES.

TESTING METHODOLOGY

Amphion and NuForce have been joining their efforts and presenting their products together for the last 3 years. Now, I finally know why – it seems that both companies have the same goal. It's about using phase coherence, resolution, and internal harmony to build a true sound. The reviewed system is truly inexpensive. But still it can be called a high-end one, as long as you remember that it needs to be used for near-field listening.
To learn what this system is about I had to first listen to it in a more traditional way, with my reference electronics, with Amphion speakers on stands placed around 1m from the back wall, and 1,5m from listening spot. This distance is something in between near-field and regular listening and it presented limitations of Ion+: poor bass extension, not too high dynamics (absolute), and their bit 'screamy' character when I pushed the volume up. But even in these conditions they also presented extremely fine resolution, selectivity, no smearing and perfect focus. When I placed speakers on my desk and sat close enough problems were gone, but the strengths were still there. So if you just consider the limitations of this system, and use it accordingly to its intended use, you'll get an extremely useful tool.
Although NuForce offers an USB input you should consider using a RCA (S/PDIF) which is clearly better than USB. The latter in not bad but if you use a high quality CD transport and compare its performance against a rip of the same recording played from computer via USB you'll notice that the latter sounds less convincing without clarity and resolution of the former. Surely a high quality CD transport costs a lot so I would recommend to do something else – just buy some nice USB converter and use it between computer and S/PDIF input of NuForce. The result will be a much better sound and you will not be limited to the 96 kHz sampling frequency, as the USB input is. During my test I used two battery powered USB converters: hiFace Evo with hiFace Supply (see HERE) and Human Audio Tabla (see HERE), both asynchronous, accepting signal up to 24 bit / 192 kHz. These are not cheap but offer great quality and the Amphion/NuForce system really deserves as good signal as you can offer to it.
Signal was delivered from three different source: Ancient Audio Lektor AIR V-edition, with Philips CD-Pro2 transport mechanism that played CDs, Marantz NA-11S1 player that played music files, and a signal via USB was delivered by Win8, 8 GB RAM, 128 SSD + 520 HDD, JPLAYv5/foobar2000 laptop. I also used following cables: USB – Acoustic Revive USB-1.0SPS, S/PDIF – Acrolink 7N-D5000. The amplifier was placed on the Acoustic Revive RST-38 platform, and it used a Acoustic Revive Power Reference power cord.

DESIGN

NuForce DDA-100

The integrated amplifier/DAC made by American company NuForce belongs to the category of products called „Power DACs”. It is a digital amplifier, that can receive a digital signals from sources – the D/A conversion is done at the very end of signal's path, in an output filter. Many people consider all D-class amplifiers to be 'digital' ones, which is often wrong, but in this case it is true.
Signal can be delivered via one of four inputs: a coaxial S/PDIF (RCA), two optical TOSLINKs and USB. The first three of them accept signal up to 24/192, and USB up to 24/96. The latter works in a synchronous mode. There are two ways to chose an input – you can use a small remote control and push a proper button, or you could use the only knob there is on the front of the device - by pressing it you can toggle between inputs. When you use same knob and turn it, it will operate as a volume control. There is a very nice alphanumeric display next to the knob – in fact there are very small holes in the front of the device, creating kind of a grid, and all the information is presented behind this grid. It looks great, although you can see it very well only when looking straight ahead on it, and when looking from some angle you might sometimes have trouble reading what display says. And what is says is a name of used input (C1, O1, O2, U1) and a momentary volume level. Next to all digital inputs there is also an optical output, speaker binding posts and an IEC power inlet with mechanical on/off switch. A whole electronic circuit is placed on a single PCB. There is a separate advanced switch-mode power supply, with several voltage regulators and filters. Two separate voltages are delivered to the PCB. A signal from a RCA inputs goes via matching transformer. Three inputs (except for USB) use the same digital receiver - AKM AK4113. USB uses another one – NFUSB96S 12W25, a DSP chip with NuForce logo. This chip limits sampling frequency to 96 kHz. When an input is selected signal goes directly to PWM Infineon SAB2403 modulators. These are digital integrated amplifiers upsampling signal to 3Gbps to do PWM conversion. The main concern of designers was phase coherence which they ensured implementing a digital FIR filter. At the output there is an analogue filter, combining a core coil and WIMA polypropylene capacitors. This device sports a solid, rigid casing with four small, plastic feet. It is made in Taiwan.

Amphion Ion+

Ion+ is a new version of older model called Ion, but in fact there are only two common elements: enclosure and tweeter's diaphragm material. It is a two-way, back vented bookshelf speaker that measures 268 x 134 x 220 mm. It sports a 25mm titanium tweeter with neodymium magnet, that is manufactured in France and was designed in fact for the professional series of Amphion speakers, intended for usage in recording studios, that is introduced to the market right about now. The 120mm, aluminum mid- lowrange driver is made by SEAS company, according to a specification delivered by Amphion's engineer, Mr Corrado Faccione. This driver sports a solid, rigid, casted basket and a permanent phase plug. The writing on it says: L12RCY/KP-AMP. Both drives are phase coherent. In front of the tweeter there is something like a horn, or waveguide which is a part of Amphion's proprietary solution called Uniformly Directive Diffusion. UDD helps to control sound wave dispersion and thus to minimize distortions. The acoustic centers of both drivers lay in the same distance from a listener. Both drivers sport colorful grids that protect them from damage The crossover point is placed at 1600 Hz. Crossover in mounted on a PCB that is bolted directly to speaker posts. It is also very simple – there is a large low resistance air coil, a polypropylene capacitor with Amphion logo on it, an electrolytic capacitor and two grounding resistors. Drivers are connected with quite thin multistrand wires. The inside of the cabinet is slightly damped with some foam on side walls and on the bottom.
Single speaker posts are placed in a plastic cap. Bass-reflex port is located on the back of the speaker more or less at the same height as a tweeter. Manufacturer delivers foam plugs you can use to close b-r, but you should use them only if the speakers are placed very close to the back wall. These speakers can be put up on the wall.
The cabinet, made of thick MDF plates seems very rigid and acoustically deaf. All the edges are rounded which makes it look really nice. These are available in black or white with almost unlimited combination of exchangeable color grids