einstein the tune - nextmedia...australian hi-fi 35 einstein the tune integrated amplifier beneath...

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ON TEST 34 www.avhub.com.au Australian Hi-Fi E ntirely designed and built in Bochum, Germany, Einstein is at heart a family company. Volker Bohlmeier, who co-founded it in 1988, is responsible for the management of the company, while his wife, Annette Heiss, a well-respected architect and interior design- er, is responsible for the exterior cosmetic de- sign. Their products are built by hand, rather than on a production line as such, so all Einstein’s products are built in small, bespoke batches. Unlike many smaller manufacturers, who ‘buy in’ sub-assemblies designed and manufactured by third parties, Einstein says that all its circuits are not only unique to it, but also developed in-house. ‘We do not modify, we do not simplify, we do not copy,’ says co-founder and the company’s head electronics designer Rolf Weiler. THE EQUIPMENT The Einstein is certainly unlike any integrat- ed amplifier you’ve likely ever seen before, because it’s totally feature-less: there’s not a knob, button or switch in sight: just a rectangle of curved black acrylic, fixed to a solid aluminium facing, with a single, simple, square display in the centre of the acrylic that’s blacked out when the amplifier is not operating. It appears that Annette Heiss, being an architect herself, might be a fan of famous German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who, along with Corbusier, Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright, was one of the pioneers of modern architecture, and one of whose favourite sayings was ‘less is more.’ As Heiss herself says: ‘The appearance of this new amplifier is classically simple and elegant-look- ing, while functional.’ In so saying, she could be also describing one of Mies’ buildings… perhaps the Farnsworth House. Once the amplifier is switched on, via a rather inconveniently-positioned rocker switch on the rear panel, the front panel display will then light up after a period that’s directly relat- ed to how long it has been since you switched the amplifier off. If this was only recently, the display will light up almost immediately. But whatever you do and however long it takes (don’t worry, it’s never more than a few seconds!), Einstein says that: ‘optimal operation conditions and stabilised sonics will be reached within a half hour of turn-on’. When the display lights, the available inputs (Phono, CD, Tuner and Line) are listed under each other at the left-hand edge of the screen, from top to bottom. The active input (which by default will be whatever input you were using when you switched the amplifier off) is shown in a dark blue colour, while the other inputs are shown in white. If you have optioned-in the digital input board (which, regrettably was not yet in production and therefore unavailable at the time of this review), its three input options (USB, SPDIF, TOS) will be shown in the middle of the screen. At the right-hand edge of the screen the volume level is shown at the top of the screen (displayed as a number between 00 and 63) but it will show 25 whenever the amplifier is switched on, because this is level to which the volume control defaults whenever the amplifier is switched off. EINSTEIN THE TUNE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

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Page 1: einstein the tune - nextmedia...Australian Hi-Fi 35 Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier Beneath it is a + (Plus) symbol and, beneath this, a – (Minus) symbol. Although the active

O N T E S T

34 www.avhub.com.auAustralian Hi-Fi

Entirely designed and built in Bochum, Germany, Einstein is at heart a family company. Volker Bohlmeier, who co-founded it in 1988, is responsible for the management of the company, while his wife, Annette Heiss,

a well-respected architect and interior design-er, is responsible for the exterior cosmetic de-sign. Their products are built by hand, rather than on a production line as such, so all Einstein’s products are built in small, bespoke batches. Unlike many smaller manufacturers, who ‘buy in’ sub-assemblies designed and manufactured by third parties, Einstein says that all its circuits are not only unique to it, but also developed in-house. ‘We do not modify, we do not simplify, we do not copy,’ says co-founder and the company’s head electronics designer Rolf Weiler.

The equipmenTThe Einstein is certainly unlike any integrat-ed amplifier you’ve likely ever seen before, because it’s totally feature-less: there’s not

a knob, button or switch in sight: just a rectangle of curved black acrylic, fixed to a solid aluminium facing, with a single, simple, square display in the centre of the acrylic that’s blacked out when the amplifier is not operating. It appears that Annette Heiss, being an architect herself, might be a fan of famous German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who, along with Corbusier, Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright, was one of the pioneers of modern architecture, and one of whose favourite sayings was ‘less is more.’ As Heiss herself says: ‘The appearance of this new amplifier is classically simple and elegant-look-ing, while functional.’ In so saying, she could be also describing one of Mies’ buildings… perhaps the Farnsworth House.

Once the amplifier is switched on, via a rather inconveniently-positioned rocker switch on the rear panel, the front panel display will then light up after a period that’s directly relat-ed to how long it has been since you switched the amplifier off. If this was only recently, the display will light up almost immediately. But whatever you do and however long it

takes (don’t worry, it’s never more than a few seconds!), Einstein says that: ‘optimal operation conditions and stabilised sonics will be reached within a half hour of turn-on’.

When the display lights, the available inputs (Phono, CD, Tuner and Line) are listed under each other at the left-hand edge of the screen, from top to bottom. The active input (which by default will be whatever input you were using when you switched the amplifier off) is shown in a dark blue colour, while the other inputs are shown in white. If you have optioned-in the digital input board (which, regrettably was not yet in production and therefore unavailable at the time of this review), its three input options (USB, SPDIF, TOS) will be shown in the middle of the screen.

At the right-hand edge of the screen the volume level is shown at the top of the screen (displayed as a number between 00 and 63) but it will show 25 whenever the amplifier is switched on, because this is level to which the volume control defaults whenever the amplifier is switched off.

einstein the tuneintegrated amplifier

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35Australian Hi-Fi

Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier

Beneath it is a + (Plus) symbol and, beneath this, a – (Minus) symbol. Although the active input is coloured dark blue, the screen back-ground colour reminded me of an old black-and-white cathode ray television, as did the white lettering and numerals. The manual advises that ‘due to production process a certain amount of pixel errors is normal.’ On my sam-ple, these pixel errors appeared to manifest themselves mostly in the capital ‘N’s in the words PHONO, TUNER etc, because the Ns in these words were very slightly malformed where the angled stroke met the verticals. Unless you’re a pedantic typographer, this is unlikely to bother you. (Indeed if you’re not a typographer, you might not even notice the malformations!)

If you do not touch the display within eight seconds, the start-up display will dis-appear and be replaced with a much-simpler graphic where the selected input is shown in large white letters in the centre of the display with the volume level shown in smaller white numerals beneath it. Touching the screen again reinstates the start-up display, allowing you to adjust volume level by touching the plus/minus symbols, or alter input source by touching the source you want to listen to. Volume control is via a relay-controlled switched resistor network.

Some users may be concerned that The Tune has only three line-level inputs and may have been prepared to sacrifice the phono input in order to get one. Einstein should cer-tainly consider this as an option. Others may be disappointed that there is no headphone socket, though if this is a particularly egre-gious omission for you, you could organise to get one via the line output on the rear panel. Also missing is any way of adjusting channel balance, something that’s often required in order to compensate for poor recordings and/ or speaker level imbalances.

The remote control is just as elegant as the amplifier itself, in fact in design terms, it’s nearly a miniature version of the front panel, because it’s CNC’ed from a solid block of alu-

minium onto which has been attached (front and back) rectangular sections of the same black acrylic that’s used on the front panel of The Tune, though the method of attach-ment (three stainless hex-headed bolts) isn’t as elegant as the method used for the front panel, where the fixing method is invisible. The volume control has two buttons identi-fied as ‘channel’ (I think that using the word ‘source’ would have been more appropriate, but perhaps channel is the more accurate translation from the German original) which control input source, two buttons for adjust-ing volume and a single button to provide a muting function.

The remote is powered by a pair of AAA batteries. The manual advises owners that

when they’re replac-ing these batteries they should use only high-quality ones. When I checked the quality of the facto-ry-supplied batteries I discovered a pair of very high-quality profession-al-grade Duracell bat-teries inside, so Einstein is certainly practising what it preaches, which is admirable: You’d be surprised at just how

many high-end manufacturers fit cheap, no-name carbon batteries (that are prone to leaking) to their remotes!

The phono stage on the Einstein The Tune comes pre-configured for moving-coil cartridges (optimally models with an output of 1.2mV and an impedance of 200Ω) but it can quickly and easily be instead reconfig-ured for use with a moving-magnet cartridge (optimally with an output of 2.5mV and an impedance of 47kΩ) via the removal of two internal jumpers, which Einstein says should be done by your dealer.

The Tune has a single line output which, as delivered, is configured as a pre-amplifier output, so that when connected to an exter-nal power amplifier, that power amplifier’s volume will be controlled by The Tune’s volume control… very useful in bi-amplified applications. However, if you’d rather, the line output can instead be configured as a tape output so it delivers a fixed output volt-age irrespective of the setting of The Tune’s volume control. This reconfiguration must be done by your dealer.

Unlike most of Einstein’s amplifiers, which are full dual-mono hybrid valve/solid-state designs, The Tune is firstly a conventional solid-state Class-A/B design using two pairs of Sanken transistors as output devices,

and secondly not full dual-mono, since it uses only a single potted 360VA toroidal transform-er—albeit one with triple windings, one each for the left and right channel power amplifiers and a third for the preamplifier section. The main power supply offers 60,000μF of storage per side, with additional storage supplied for the pre- and DAC boards.

Finally, The Tune is also unlike other Einstein amplifiers in that it does not have a fully-bal-anced output stage (Einstein uses a proprietary balanced output circuit it calls ‘Ciclotron’ on its amplifiers with balanced output stages).

Power Output: Single channel driven into 8-ohm, 4-ohm and 2-ohm non-inductive loads at 20Hz, 1kHz and 20kHz. [Einstein]

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Power Output: Both channels driven into 8-ohm, 4-ohm and 2-ohm non-inductive loads at 20Hz, 1kHz and 20kHz. [Einstein]

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Power Output: Single and both channels driven into 8-ohm, 4-ohm and 2-ohm non-inductive loads at 20Hz, 1kHz and 20kHz. [Einstein]

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power Output: Single channel driven into 8-ohm, 4-ohm and 2-ohm non-inductive loads at 20Hz, 1kHz and 20kHz. [Einstein The Tune]

power Output: Both channels driven into 8-ohm, 4-ohm and 2-ohm non-inductive loads at 20Hz, 1kHz and 20kHz. [Einstein The Tune]

power Output: Single and both channels driven into 8-ohm, 4-ohm and 2-ohm non-inductive loads at 20Hz, 1kHz and 20kHz. [Einstein The Tune]

Unlike most of Einstein’s amplifiers, which are full dual-mono hybrid designs, The Tune is a conventional solid-state Class-A/B design using two pairs of Sanken transistors

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36 www.avhub.com.auAustralian Hi-Fi

An attribute The Tune does share with other Einstein products is incredibly high construction quality. Indeed when you look closely at the construction quality of The Tune, it may have you thinking that Rolf Weiler is also a fan of Mies, because one of Mies’ other favourite sayings was ‘God is in the details’, and if you look at the finer details of The Tune—the circuit board layouts, the positioning of those boards, the quality of the components used, and the beauty of way the wiring looms have been dressed—you’ll instantly know that you’re witnessing Ger-man electronic engineering at its finest.

Einstein says it tests its amplifiers immedi-ately after they’re manufactured to make sure they meet specification and if an amplifier passes these tests, it’s then run continuously for 60 hours (the power level at which this is done is not specified), after which it’s completely re-tested to ensure it still meets specifications after burn-in. The company says each amplifier is then auditioned with music before being packed. Each manual comes with a ‘Final Test Before Shipping’ section (Item 16) where three different em-ployees have to sign off against four checks: Visual Inspection; Electric Test; Listening Test; Packing/Contents.

The Tune isn’t a particularly large amplifi-er, measuring just 430×405×130mm (WDH) but it does weigh a fairly hefty 14kg. It comes with a one year warranty, but in these times where longer warranties for electronic components are becoming more common, the duration offered by Einstein seems a bit miserly, particularly considering the asking price.

LisTening sessiOnsAlthough a switched resistor network gives far superior and far more precise control over volume than a potenti-ometer, especially at low volume

levels, and also ensures channel balance does not change with changes in volume level—this in particular being something of a bête noire with ordinary volume controls—I did find the switched network as implemented in The Tune had a tiny flaw, which is that when the volume level moves from 30 up to 31 or from 32 down to 31, it causes a ‘tick’ sound from the speakers at the moment of the change. This was surprising, but not frus-trating. What was frustrating was the (slow) speed at which the volume changed when I pressed either the ‘up’ or ‘down’ buttons on either the remote or the front panel. I meas-ured that it took around a full 20 seconds to get from minimum volume (00) to maximum (63). Also, the rate of volume change was constant. Many other similar controls speed up when they detect a button is being held down, and it’s a technique Einstein could look at adopting… except that, according to Rolf Weiler, ‘we don’t copy!’ As it turned out, the speed at which the volume adjusts will probably not be too much of an issue in most applications, because I found that with most of the loudspeakers I trialled in conjunction with The Tune, I had to wind the volume up to ‘46’ simply to get what I regarded as a ‘reasonable’ listening level, which means the practical range over which you’re likely to have to adjust the volume will be between 46 and 63… and this takes only 4 seconds. This means that the only time you’ll ever have to spend some time with your finger on the but-ton is when you switch on the amplifier, and have to ramp the volume up from 25 to 46.

Another issue I had with the relay that may amuse you is that the relay(s) inside the am-plifier that control the resistor ladder seemed to me to make ‘tick’ sounds for even-num-

bered numerals and ‘tock’ sounds for the odd numbers, so as I ramped up or down in volume, the amplifier made ‘tick–tock, tick–tock’ sounds rather like an old-fashioned clock. I hasten to point out, however, that these sounds issued from inside the amplifier itself, and not from the speakers, so depend-ing on the volume level you’re listening at, you may not hear any tick-tock sounds at all when you’re adjusting the volume.

Although The Tune has a mute function, it can only be accessed by using the remote control: pressing the ‘Mute’ button once to mute the amplifier, and again to unmute it. However, you can also unmute the amplifier by pressing either of the volume control but-tons on the remote, which will simultaneous-ly un-mute the amplifier as well as increase or decrease the volume by one notch. The only potential problem I noted with the way Weil-er has designed the muting circuitry is that after you have muted the amplifier, you can-not un-mute it without the remote: touching ‘Mu’ on the front panel does nothing. I must admit that I can’t fathom why Einstein didn’t provide a front-panel un-mute function. So, if you don’t have the remote control handy and you need to un-mute the amplifier, the only way I could see of doing it was to switch the amplifier off, and then back on again. This process has the effect of re-setting the muting circuitry.

Even from the start of my listening sessions, it was evident that the Einstein is a neutral-sounding amplifier. Einstein is obviously leaving it to other manufactur-ers to provide amplifiers that accentuate the bass regions, or the treble, or make the midrange sound anything other than natural. The Tune is completely even-handed to all

An attribute The Tune does share with other Einstein products is incredibly high construction quality.

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37Australian Hi-Fi

Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier

frequencies from the lowest bass notes to the most extreme high frequencies, treat-ing each exactly the same as any other. So, when listening to Eric Satie’s Gymnopedies for example, (Nos 1, 2 and 3!), I heard the very lowest notes at exactly the same volume as the very highest notes, which is particularly noticeable when they’re the same note, but several octaves apart. The slow pace of these works also allows detailed examination of the tonal quality of the piano as reproduced by the amplifier, and I’m here to tell you that The Tune’s tonal delivery was perfect. These pieces are also good for hearing the ‘silences between the notes’ and here, once again, The Tune returned a perfect performance because all I heard was a true silence: there was no background hiss, no background hum and certainly no perturbations during the transi-tions from sound to silence, or from silence to sound.

Reproducing solo piano is one thing, but reproducing a full orchestra another thing entirely, so what better to trial the Einstein with than one of Beethoven’s symphonies (Beethoven being a fellow German, after all). Not, not his famous 5th symphony… even I’m a little tired of that one, but his well-known but not quite as famous 7th symphony, written while Beethoven was convalescing in Bohemia. Even if you’re not familiar with this work you’ll certainly have heard part of its second movement, because it featured in the block-buster film ‘The Kings’ Speech’, which starred Australia’s very own Geoffrey Rush (OK, OK, so Colin Firth was in it as well).

contact details

Brand: Einstein

model: The Tune

Category: Integrated Amplifier

RRp: $12,750

Warranty: One Year

Distributor: Audio Heaven Pty Ltd

Address: Keys Road Keysborough, VIC 3173

T2: (04) 1855 2051

e: [email protected]

W: www.audioheaven.com.au

• Balance control

• Muting function

• Volume control

• Stunning exterior

• Superb build quality

• Natural sound

lab RepoRt on p 38

The dark, sombre notes that start the sym-phony came across from The Tune with just the correct amount of foreboding, while at the same time the power and the majesty of the sound were awe-inspiring. The second movement was a revelation at its first per-formance (indeed the audience demanded it be played again!) and it was no less of a rev-elation when I listened via The Tune. You can hear the motifs that have gone before, and intuit those that are to come. The soundscape is immaculate. Then there’s the stunning, almost crazed finale, in which the musicians play as if their lives depended on their perfor-mance, just before which point I worried that the 80-watts of power on tap might not be up to delivering this finale in all its glory. I need not have worried: the Einstein delivered all the power that was necessary and obviously had some left in reserve … exceptional dy-namics indeed. So exceptional, indeed, that I was compelled to follow-up by auditioning Beethoven’s Ninth symphony in its entire-ty, which made for rather a long listening session, but a truly satisfying one that firmly cemented The Note’s place in the pantheon of first-class amplifiers.

No matter how long my listening sessions, how loudly I played the music, or the ambi-ent temperature in the room—Sydney sum-mers can be stinkingly hot, and I don’t have air-conditioning—the heatsinks on the side of the amplifier never got beyond warm, so this is one amplifier that will never run hot… though when you look at the expanse of heatsinking—around 1,050cm² per channel—

running along each side of the amplifier, it’s very easy to see why it didn’t.

COnCLusiOnYou are paying a premium price for The Tune, but this is hardly surprising considering that what you’re buying is not merely ‘an amplifi-er’, but a work of art: a device hand-made in Germany from the finest materials, with an exterior finish unlike any other and a sound quality that is unfailingly pure, clean and natural.

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0.00 Hz 4000.00 8000.00 12000.00 16000.00 20000.00

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Graph 4: Total harmonic distortion (THD) at 1kHz at rated output (130-watts) into a 4-ohm non-inductive load, referenced to 0dB. [Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier]

Newport Test Labs

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Graph 1: Total harmonic distortion (THD) at 1kHz at an output of 1-watt into an 8-ohm non-inductive load, referenced to 0dB. [Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier]

Newport Test Labs

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Graph 5: Intermodulation distortion (CCIF-IMD) using test signals at 19kHz and 20kHz, at an output of 1-watt into an 8-ohm non-inductive load, referenced to 0dB. [Einstein The Tune]

Newport Test Labs

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Graph 2: Total harmonic distortion (THD) at 1kHz at an output of 1-watt into a 4-ohm non-inductive load, referenced to 0dB. [Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier]

Newport Test Labs

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Graph 6: Frequency response of line input at an output of 1-watt into an 8-ohm non-inductive load (black trace); 4-ohms (green trace) and into a resistive/inductive/capacitive load represen-tative of a typical two-way loudspeaker system (red trace). [Einstein The Tune Amplifier]

Newport Test Labs

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Graph 3: Total harmonic distortion (THD) at 1kHz at rated output (80- watts) into an 8-ohm non-inductive load, referenced to 0dB. [Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier]

Newport Test Labs

graph 1: Total harmonic distortion (THD) at 1kHz at an output of 1-watt into an 8-ohm non-inductive load, referenced to 0dB. [Einstein The Tune Integrat-ed Amplifier]

graph 2: Total harmonic distortion (THD) at 1kHz at an output of 1-watt into a 4-ohm non-inductive load, referenced to 0dB. [Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier]

graph 5: Intermodulation distortion (CCIF-IMD) us-ing test signals at 19kHz and 20kHz, at an output of 1-watt into an 8-ohm non-inductive load, referenced to 0dB. [Einstein The Tune]

graph 3: Total harmonic distortion (THD) at 1kHz at rated output (80- watts) into an 8-ohm non-induc-tive load, referenced to 0dB. [Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier]

graph 4: Total harmonic distortion (THD) at 1kHz at rated output (130-watts) into a 4-ohm non-inductive load, referenced to 0dB. [Einstein The Tune Integrat-ed Amplifier]

graph 6: Frequency response of line input at an out-put of 1-watt into an 8-ohm non-inductive load (black trace); 4-ohms (green trace) and into a resistive/inductive/capacitive load representative of a typical two-way loudspeaker system (red trace). [Einstein The Tune Amplifier]

38 www.avhub.com.auAustralian Hi-Fi

L A B R E P O R T Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier

Einstein’s The Tune is rated with an output of 80-watts per channel into 8Ω loads and 130-watts per channel into 4Ω loads and you can see from the tabulated results prepared by Newport Test Labs that the sample it provided was flying very close to the wire. Actually, not close to the wire, but actually on it, returning exactly those figures: 80-watts per channel, both channels driven into 8Ω, and 130-watts per channel, both channels driven into 4Ω. When only a single channel of the amplifier was driven, power outputs were slightly high-er: 87-watts per channel into 8Ω loads and 140-watts per channel into 4Ω loads, so you’d expect more power on musical transients.

Newport Test Labs also tested The Tune into 2Ω loads, for which it’s not rated, and it delivered 186-watts (both-channels driv-en) and 202-watts (single-channel driven) respectively, but these figures were the point at which the rear-panel fuse blew, not the point at which the amplifier’s output stages started clipping, which is how the power output figures into the 8Ω and 4Ω loads were established.

Distortion was not as low as I’ve seen, as you can see for yourself by looking at the graphs accompanying this review. At an output of one watt into 8Ω, the second harmonic was at –68dB (0.0398%), the third was at –75dB (0.0177%), the fourth at –83dB (0.0070%), a fifth at –87dB (0.0044%), a sixth at –92dB (0.0025%), a seventh at –95dB (0.0017%) and an eighth at –102dB (0.0007%). As you can see, higher-order harmonics are present, but the first two are both more than 110dB (0.0003%) down, and the others more than 120dB (0.0001%) down. Distortion into 4Ω at 1-watt was slightly higher overall, with the distortion compo-nents showing the same relationship. Overall THD+N was measured at 0.015%, well below the level considered audible by acousticians.

Surprisingly, the level of the low-order distortion components did not increase much when the amplifier was driven at rated output. In fact into 8Ω loads, the second and third harmonics were almost at exactly the same levels (relative to the fundamental), and the fourth, fifth and sixth harmonics only very slightly higher. The primary difference

LABORATORy TesT RepORT

was the increased number of higher-order components, but mostly they were more than 100dB (0.001%) down. Driven at rated output into 4Ω loads, the results were similar. Overall THD+N at rated output was just 0.016%... again well below the level considered to be audible.

Noise was very low, as you would probably already have noticed from the distortion graphs, where the noise floor is visible on the one-watt graphs as being mostly just above –140dB, and for the most part van-ishing below –140dB on the graphs showing distortion at rated power. However, you can see that below 4kHz noise is higher than it

is across the midrange, and that some mains hum is also present (extreme left of graphs). However, the proof is in the summed tests of the total signal-to-noise ratios, and you can see from the tabulated results that Newport Test Labs measured the S/N ratio of The Tune at 96dB A-weighted referenced to one watt, and at 107dB A-weighted referenced to rated output. These are stunningly good figures for an integrated amplifier: I’d consider them very good for a power amplifier, which is really saying something!

Intermodulation distortion was high for a solid-state amplifier, with a 1kHz regenerated signal (the difference between the 19kHz

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39Australian Hi-Fi

L A B R E P O R T Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier

and 20kHz test signals) peaking at –75dB (0.0177%), which is what I’d expect to see in a valve amplifier, but higher than I’d expect from a solid-state amplifier. The high-fre-quency sidebands, on the other hand, were all more than 90dB (0.0031%) down save for the 18kHz and 20kHz components, which were at –83dB (0.0070%).

The Tune is a wideband amplifier, with Newport Test Labs measuring the 3dB down-points of the frequency response at 4Hz and 175kHz. It’s also a very linear ampli-fier, with the response measured at 7Hz to 100kHz ±0.5dB. Across the audio band, the response was even more linear: 20Hz to 20kHz ±0.07dB. The Tune didn’t only perform well into standard resistive loads, it also performed very well into a load that sim-ulates that of a standard two-way bookshelf loudspeaker, which is shown as the red trace on Graph 6. You can see a few minor ‘bumps’ in the response centred around 80Hz, 2kHz and 14kHz, but the overall response into this difficult load was still measured at 20Hz to 20kHz ±0.09dB.

The excellence of The Tune’s frequency re-sponse is reflected in its excellent square wave performance, as you can see from the oscil-lograms. The 100Hz square wave shows the

tilt to be expected from the response being 3dB down at 4Hz, but there’s no bending, so phase accuracy is excellent. The 1kHz wave is almost perfect, with just the slightest amount of rounding on the leading edge—and the 10kHz wave is exceptionally good, again with only a very slight amount of rounding. Into a highly reactive load performance was also better than average, with only a third-height initial overshoot, and the little ringing that followed was damped within five cycles.

Channel separation was outstandingly good at low and midrange frequencies, being 105dB at 20Hz and 98dB at 1kHz, but dimin-ished to being merely ‘very good’ at 20kHz, where Newport Test Labs measured 74dB. Channel balance was excellent at 0.054dB at 1kHz. Interchannel phase was perfect at 1kHz and only slightly in error at 20Hz (0.08°) and 20kHz (1.13°).

The Tune does not have a standby circuit, so while-ever it’s switched on, irrespective of whether or not you’re actually using it, it will pull around 31-watts from your 240V mains power supply. In day-to-day use playing music, I’d expect it to draw around 50-watts from your wall socket.

Einstein has done an outstanding job with the design of The Tune. It performed very

well in all Newport Test Labs’ tests, but most notably in the areas of low noise, channel separation and high-frequency extension and linearity. Highly recommended. Steve Holding

Readers should note that the results mentioned in the report, tabulated in performance charts and/or displayed using graphs and/or photographs should be construed as applying only to the specific sample tested.

Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier – Laboratory Test Results

Test Measured Result Units/Comment

Frequency Response @ 1 watt o/p 7Hz – 100kHz –1dB

Frequency Response @ 1 watt o/p 4Hz – 175kHz –3dB

Channel Separation (dB) 105dB / 98dB / 74dB (20Hz / 1kHz / 20kHz)

Channel Balance (Direct/Tone) 0.054 dB @ 1kHz

Interchannel Phase (Direct) 0.08 / 0.00 / 1.13 degrees ( 20Hz / 1kHz / 20kHz)

THD+N 0.015% / 0.016% @ 1-watt / @ rated output

Signal-to-Noise (unwghted/wghted) 83dB / 96dB dB referred to 1-watt output

Signal-to-Noise (unwghted/wghted) 93dB / 107dB dB referred to rated output

Input Sensitivity 67mV /590mV (1-watt / rated output)

Output Impedance 0.07Ω at 1kHz

Damping Factor 111 @1kHz

Power Consumption NA / 31.09 watts (Standby / On)

Power Consumption 51.99 / 285 watts at 1-watt / at rated output

Mains Voltage Variation during Test 237 – 252 Minimum – Maximum

Einstein The Tune Integrated Amplifier – Test Results – Power Output

Channel Load (Ω) 20Hz

(watts)

20Hz

(dBW)

1kHz

(watts)

1kHz

(dBW)

20kHz

(watts)

20kHz

(dBW)

1 8 Ω 87 19.4 87 19.4 87 19.4

2 8 Ω 80 19.0 80 19.0 80 19.0

1 4 Ω 140 21.5 140 21.5 140 21.5

2 4 Ω 130 21.1 130 21.1 130 21.1

1 2 Ω 202 23.0 202 23.0 202 23.0

2 2 Ω 186* 22.6 186* 22.6 186* 22.6

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