Goldmund TELOS 380 Monoblock Power Amplifier Review

In the Hi-End audio world, whether it’s speakers, amplifiers, or sources, digital processors, there are always brands that push their products to the extreme. We call these brands “masters” without exaggeration, but few can go even further. Every time I mention the Swiss brand Goldmund, I am in awe of their attitude and pursuit of perfection in their products. Goldmund of Switzerland has a rigorous design structure and approach, allowing the entire audio system to have very low resonance, reducing the inharmonious resonance to the lowest level, making the sound quality more perfect. Each brand has its own long-term research and expertise, to achieve all-round, in addition to having a long time of technical accumulation that ordinary people can’t imagine, it also needs to have the spirit of excellence. Every product of Swiss Goldmund can be called a masterpiece, and recently launched an entry-level monoblock power amplifier – Goldmund Telos 380, we also took the opportunity to taste it, the performance is quite eye-catching.

The Ultimate Luxury Audio Benchmark

The Swiss brand Goldmund has a history of more than 40 years to date, and the founder and always the main person in charge is Mr. Michel Reverchon. Over the past 40 years, Goldmund has developed many of the highest-grade audio and video equipment. In the continuous exploration of the precise restoration of sound and image, it has also established an excellent reputation for itself, producing classic products like the Reference turntable, Apologue wireless speaker, and Telos pure power amplifier, each of which can be called a masterpiece. For his own products, Mr. Michel Reverchon has full confidence, Goldmund claims to be “currently the only manufacturer in the world that can achieve perfection in frequency response, phase response, and time response of speakers, and can achieve the most accurate and most live sound that other manufacturers cannot achieve”, and the manufacturer does not position itself at the Hi-End level, but at the “super Hi-End level”. In order to pursue the highest quality, Goldmund also has to pay a high price. It is understood that there are only three customers for the manufacturer that produces mechanical components for Goldmund, Goldmund is the largest one, and the other two are Rolex and Patek Philippe. To this day, Goldmund continues to provide the most extreme audio equipment for audiophiles, and also develops luxury lifestyle products integrated with top technology. This product line not only provides excellent sound quality, but also has wireless functions, which can seamlessly integrate with smart home design, easy to install, can be customized according to customer space, provide different color options to match interior design, and provide the most comprehensive and delicate exclusive service for customers. The reason why Goldmund has always maintained an absolute leading position is nothing more than two points. First, “Swiss Made” means the highest quality of Swiss processing technology, setting a new standard for luxury audio and video systems worldwide; second, Goldmund’s products are based on the most advanced technology. Over the years, the company has been focusing on basic research and constantly developing new technologies. The factory will not tolerate any compromise in quality and provide perfect service to users.

The More Perfect Telos 380

Tracing back to its origins, the Telos 380 monoblock power amplifier belongs to the many power amplifier series that Goldmund first launched in 1982. The schematic diagram of the latest Telos 380 has been patiently improved by several generations of engineers, and each generation of engineers has made it closer to perfection. The initial goal of Goldmund amplifier design was to provide better “speaker control” or “acoustic damping” than any other existing design, which means reducing any parasitic noise added to the signal received from the source and transmitted to the speaker to the lowest level. In the design of the power amplifier, speaker control is improved through the sum of specific amplifier attributes.

In terms of appearance, the Telos 380 monoblock power amplifier no longer needs too much ink embellishment, as always simple and smooth. The panel also has the usual gold brand nameplate, and the solid material has a considerable weight. In terms of volume, the Telos 380 is the smallest monoblock power amplifier in this family. Although the Telos 380 is just an entry-level machine, its performance is not small compared to high-end models, but in terms of damping factor and dynamic range, the Telos 380 is not inferior. Therefore, it can be said that the more affordable Telos 380 is actually not low in grade. In terms of internal layout, the Telos 380 is equipped with a large volume toroidal transformer. The old 380 power amplifier only has one set of RCA unbalanced input terminals, and the speaker terminals are also old-fashioned, but the new model not only retains the RCA unbalanced input terminals, but also adds a set of XLR balanced input terminals, and replaces the higher-level WBT speaker terminals. The output power of the Telos 380 is officially marked as 150W/8Ω, how does it perform? It still has to be judged by the ears.

This time listening, the partner with the Telos 380 monoblock power amplifier is also from Goldmund’s Mimesis 27.8 preamplifier, this preamplifier was launched in 2018, belonging to the classic preamplifier product. In fact, this built-in DAC Mimesis 27.8 preamplifier evolved from Mimesis 27.5, just like Goldmund’s consistent design, the whole machine uses all-aluminum alloy chassis, no different from the Ultimate series. The precision craftsmanship and quality from Switzerland have made its chassis both sturdy and exquisite. Precise cutting and drilling allow the chassis to achieve the best mechanical structure strength after assembly, which also strengthens the mechanical grounding of the chassis, solving the vibration problem of the preamplifier. Its analog circuit design is perfect, so it can make the treble and details clear and accurate, even at high volume, it can maintain extremely low distortion. One of the highlights of Mimesis 27.8 is the built-in DAC, which allows it to not only serve as a preamplifier, but also directly accept digital signals from sources such as turntables and digital players. The DAC circuit in it is Goldmund’s newly developed Alize 6 digital conversion circuit, which further enhances the dynamic and analytical performance of the sound, making the sound more Hi-End.

The Beautiful Sound of Unrestrained Release

First, I listened to a famous piece of Akado’s “Famous Piano Four Seasons” – “Vivaldi – The Four Seasons & 2 Concertos” album, the feeling of spring returning to the earth in the opening “Spring” chapter became more vibrant and energetic, and when playing to the larger ups and downs section, not only crisp, natural without dragging, but every bit of dynamic detail can be captured with both ears; plus the complete sound field and overtones, making the violin sound more charming. In terms of timbre, many audio enthusiasts have thought that this album is easy to show the discomfort of “sawing wood”, which is caused by over-analysis and insufficient timbre of the machine. Under the drive of the Telos 380 monoblock power amplifier, the violin sound displayed by the entire system is accurate, realistic, and the timbre is elegant and smooth, which makes me listen to it deeply. After listening to a song, I feel that the sound effect of the Telos 380 and Mimesis 27.8 combination is amazing, the sound bottom is rarely warm and restrained, full of rich emotions and vibrant style. Like the playing of the piano keys in “Piano Concerto”, it is particularly agile and elegant, shining with pleasing brilliance. The piano sound is full and has a sense of three-dimensionality, and the shocking scale brought by the strong playing is admirable.

And when listening to “Beethoven Symphony”, we can feel the strong driving ability and dynamic performance of this system. The contrast between the silent state and the full performance of the symphony orchestra at the concert scene is vivid and vivid. When entering the climax of the music, even if you turn up the volume again, the overall sound field is still very solid and solid, there is no sense of chaos, and the high frequency section still maintains a calm and leisurely state, equally bright and lively, without distortion. The low frequency section is of course even more powerful, solid and powerful, deep and deep, and contains complex and rich levels and relaxed and natural sound field expansion, which is addictive.

Then play the Canadian female voice Nikki Yanofsky’s “NIKKI” album, the female singer’s singing on this system is full of youth and vitality, shining, as soon as she starts, it immediately gives people a surprise, full of energy, the sound bottom contains a lot of energy, large dynamics, lip and tooth sound, accompaniment low frequency are displayed one by one, the sound field is amazing. The Telos 380 does not lose its elegance in terms of sound flavor and other performances, and still retains the aftertaste and tenderness of the human voice very well, and the vitality of young women is fully revealed, giving me a sense of grace. Continue to test in some vocal tracks, the female voice tracks in the entire system are very rich, with excellent temptation, fascinating, and more discover the glossiness of the restoration. The mid-frequency tone of the human voice is good, full and highlights the emotional beauty of the human voice accompaniment, the mid-low frequency overtones are very large, have a kind of infectious power and diffusion power. I found that the whole has a very mellow and full side. When playing Lin Yilian’s “Walking with Me

Conclusion

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