Swiss amps. Worth the price?


Is there such thing as Swiss sound? Are they good, anyway? Certainly cost a lot of dead Washingtons.
inna

Showing 2 responses by melbguy1

Inna, could you be a bit more specific with manufacturers? As there are a lot of high end swiss brands, and even within those brands individual components can sound quite different.
I’ve heard Soulution, CH Precision, Dartzeel and to a lesser extent Goldmund. Swiss audio gear does tend to have a smooth, clean, resolving, liquid (tube-like) sound. It is like a European version of Japenese high end gear.

That said, the above brands all sound different. I really like Soulution’s latest 5 series sacd player and dacs, and the 7 series is awesome -  though not cheap! Soulution sounds very quiet, smooth, resolving, dynamic and overall neutral in tonal balance. To me Soulution sounds a bit more harmonically rich than CH which is a bit too refined and polite for my liking (though built like a Swiss watch). CH are also mega expensive.

The Dart integrated is a peach. Aside from the gorgeous looks & gold faceplate, build quality is excellent. Sound-wise, the CTH-8550 sounds mellifluous, yet resolving and transparent at the same time. The separates are even more transparent, quiet, resolving and neutral, though retaining the tube-like liquidity they’re known for.

I’ve only really heard Goldmund’s speakers and active pre-pro, though I was quite captivated by the punchy, dynamic sound permeated with a little warmth. Goldmund have some smaller wireless active speakers & pre-pro combo’s which aren’t outrageously priced. 2nd hand CTH-8550’s when they come up for sale can be found at relatively sane prices in high end terms.