STELLO Ai-500 com DAC 150 watts

Descrição

Estado de conservação: 9/10

Description

April Music began making audio components in 1998. Before that, owner Simon Lee had imported high-end audio gear into Korea. Over time, Lee had grown unhappy with the escalating prices of audio products whose performance was not on a par with their cost, and had decided to introduce a line of audio components that would compete with other high-end brands, but at reasonable prices. Today, April Music makes several product lines; in ascending order of price, these are: the affordable but very chic Aura products (including the Model One speakers), the Stello 100 series, the more upscale Stello line, and the state-of-the-art, cost-no-object Eximus series. Based on the praise Lee’s products have received from SoundStage! Network writers and others, he’s been very successful at meeting his objective.

In his Stello line, Lee has attempted to offer much of the performance of his Eximus products at considerably lower prices, and the Ai500 integrated amplifier is a perfect example. Built as sturdily as any integrated amplifier I’ve ever seen (including some that cost thousands more), it’s the type of component you’ll be happy to display in your equipment rack; its gorgeous, brushed-aluminum finish and soft curves will make it at home in any contemporary setting.

When I first pulled the Stello from its box, I was struck by its weight. At 35 pounds and measuring 18.1″W x 3.4″H x 15.7″D, the Ai500 is a substantial piece of kit, due in large part to the oversized 800VA toroidal transformer and 90,000mF of capacitance it uses to generate the enormous amounts of power it’s claimed to output: 150Wpc into 8 ohms or 300Wpc into 4 ohms. With numbers like these, the Ai500 seems ready to power just about any speaker you’d ever want to partner it with. Its class-A/B output stage uses matched Hitachi MOSFET power transistors in a push-pull configuration that, in conjunction with careful ground-isolation techniques, are said to ensure a high signal/noise ratio.

The Ai500’s rear panel boasts numerous inputs for connecting your entire system. In addition to one set of Neutrik balanced inputs are three single-ended inputs: one each for a CD player, tuner, and an auxiliary component such as a phono stage. A Bypass input sends the signal directly to the amplifier stage, allowing the user to experiment with external two-channel preamplifiers, or to use the Ai500 to power two channels of a home-theater system. There’s also a Record input for connection with a cassette deck. The Ai500 also comes equipped with a preamplifier output for use with an external power amplifier, either separately or in conjunction with the Stello’s own power section. Otherwise, the preamp out can be connected to a subwoofer to augment the low-end output of a stereo pair of speakers.

Another standard feature is an onboard digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that allows you to connect to the Stello the digital output of a CD or DVD player, or a computer. Three digital inputs are provided: coaxial, optical, and USB (16-bit/44.1kHz only). There are also analog and digital inputs for an iPod docking station. Using a USB control cable, it’s possible to scroll through the music on your iPod using the supplied remote control. However, since the iPod is connected with stereo analog inputs, the iPod itself converts its digital datastream to analog, not the Ai500’s onboard DAC. Still, if your music is stored primarily on your iPod or the hard drive of your computer, Stello’s Ai500 offers the most simple, direct means of playing it that I have seen in an integrated amp.

The front panel has a clean, simple appearance. A small display tells you, in red text, which input is selected and the volume at which it is set. The display’s brightness can be set to Low, Medium, High, or Off. Under the display is a row of buttons labeled (from left to right) Balanced, CD, Tuner, Aux, Digital, Bypass, and Mute. Volume is controlled with a large rotary dial at the far right that employs a Cirrus Logic CS3310 digital volume control, adjustable in increments of 0.5dB. The volume can be set and adjusted independently for each input — a handy feature for a reviewer who wants to match gain levels to compare different components. The main Power button is on the far left.

A full-function remote control is included. Made of aluminum, it’s divided into three sections: one for controlling the matching CDA500 CD player (as yet the only other member of Stello’s 500 series), one for navigating the music stored on your iPod, and one for controlling the Ai500 itself.

Every aspect of the Ai500’s build exudes quality. From the quality of the connectors to the speaker binding posts (which accept bare wire, spade lugs, banana plugs, or pin terminals), April Music appears to have thought of everything to put in the Ai500 — except for an onboard phono stage. That won’t affect most listeners, but it will affect some, like me. Still, the Ai500 exemplifies the flexibility possible in an integrated amplifier.

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