Tony Tune-age wrote: ↑2022-01-29 16:49
That certainly is a nice review, especially since the Ongaku integrated amplifier is priced at $79,350.00 and the Boazu integrated amplifier is priced at $4,195.00. However there didn't seem to be much difference in the way Boazu system sounded, compared to the Ongaku system...and for a lot less money too!
I was rather surprised to have this review pointed out to me by Marco as I lent Miguel the Boazu some time back to review but he thought he might review for Stereophile, and then it shows up in Positive Feedback. Apparently Stereophile passed on it and after he sent it to Positive Feedback for consideration they went ahead and published it without telling him.
Overall I quite like the review which is certainly very positive. I would like to have heard a bit more about how the two amps compared directly, with either or both loudspeakers, but at least we did get some comments on the Boazu vs. Ongaku on the horns. The thing I really would have liked to see is the pricing on the Audio Note Kondo Ongaku and the Avantgarde Duo Mezzo speakers (and the Tekton Impact speakers too, for that matter). While Miguel mentions that the Avantgardes are about 20x the price of the Boazu but didn't mention that the amp is more than 20x the Boazu price! It is actually very hard to find accurate prices for this equipment on the web (I suppose if you have to ask...) but his Ongaku is the older, and apparently more desirable, version and I have seen prices from $95,000 to $103,000 for it! The Avantgardes appear to go for about $84,000. The Tekton monitors, on the other hand, sell for $2100 a pair. So what was being compared is a roughly $180,000 amplifier/speaker pair with a $6300 amplifier/speaker pair! That's almost a 30 to 1 cost ratio and the less expensive system wasn't only not embarrassed by the expensive one, he actually found the Boazu did some things better than the Ongaku (although he is keeping his Ongaku having liked it better overall). Certainly an interesting and welcome review.