High End 2018 • Hot Product

The French-built Apurna amplifiers are as different in design and concept as they look. Each monoblock is almost cubic in shape, with beveled vertical edges and a footprint that’s around 15” on each side, and each can be configured as either a power amp or an integrated amp. There are three models in the range: the Soprano (left, 300Wpc, €29,000 each), the Evidence (center, 400Wpc, €45,000 each) and the flagship Apogee (460Wpc, €69,000 each), each with identical dimensions and circuitry but differentiated by finish and output power. The Soprano comes in five paint finishes, the Evidence offers color-matched leather wrap, while the Apogee boasts a range of extravagant finishes. In each case, an extra €15,000 will buy you the built-in preamp functionality and a range of line inputs for both channels.

The company is secretive about its technology but cites 25 years of experience in the advanced aerospace field -- experience that has yielded significant expertise in signal integrity, noise control and linear-power-supply design. The Apurna amplifiers are certainly beautifully put together, with gold-plated buss bars in place of internal wiring and ultra-high-tech, six-layer circuit boards.

The amps are as ambitiously priced as they are bold in appearance, but only time will tell whether they walk the walk as loudly as they talk the talk. First sonic impressions, even in a cardboard-rabbit-hutch listening room, were of notably clean and unforced sound with exceptional clarity and dynamics.