I proceeded with joy, because everything I heard through the Monica Mk3 elicited from me an affirming yes! Rather than sounding overtly tubey, as in warm, sweet, and mushy, Ms. Monica sounded neutral, color-saturated, and fast. Bass was excellent, and soundstaging was wide, deep, and airy. The only overt indicator that the Monica Mk3 was a tube product lay in the subtle glow and luscious ripeness of its sound.

I began with one of the most colorful issues I reviewed in 2021, the Akademie für Alte Musik's Harmonia Mundi recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos (24/192 WAV). The soundstage was ideally wide, the sound beautiful and believably warm, the essential foundation provided by period-instrument cellos and basses full and firm. In the 5th concerto, the recorder sounded heavenly, surrounded by air.

Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges's gospel-like delivery was touching; trumpet soloist Hugo Moreno and the uncredited bass soloist were equally eloquent. In "Ally 1:7 Sing to Your World," the emotion in Brandie Inez Sutton's wonderful soprano bathed me in sadness. The Monica Mk3 does not hold back on emotion.

Thanks to the Qobuz Stereophile playlist assembled by my fellow writers, I ended up on Martin Garrix's Animals (16/44.1 FLAC, Tidal/Qobuz). Bass on this club track sounded fabulous. Ever one for contrasts, I turned to my latest earworm, the great Cecilia Bartoli's irresistible 2013 performance of Mozart's "Non temer, amato bene," on Unreleased (24/96 WAV, Decca 485 2093), and sat mesmerized by the eloquence of Maxim Vengerov's meaty violin obligato and the presentation's uncanny depth and marvelous dynamics. Then I played it again and whistled my brains out over Mozart's brilliance.

I would have liked to have remained forever in a state of bliss, but a glance at the day's headlines led me to Pt. 1 of Dialog: Ich und Du from January's Recording of the Month, Sofia Gubaidulina's Dialog: Ich und du, The Wrath of God, The Light of the End (24/96 WAV, DG), performed by the Gewandhausorchester under Andris Nelsons. Vadim Repin's violin sounded gorgeous, the background black, and knockout percussion fast, sharp, and correct in timbre.

Link do recenzji: Engstrom Monica – Stereophile

During the recording of the Carreras/Te Kanewa West Side Story [Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft 415 253-1], producer Hanno Rinke tells conductor Leonard Bernstein not to worry about a sonic anomaly he’s hearing on playback because "It can be fixed in the mix." Sadly, Hanno and a lot of other recording engineers were overconfident in their skills, as becomes only too apparent when you examine their work through the looking glass of the Engström amps. It’s not that you can only listen to simple, small-scale recordings on the Lars and Monica, just that you really get to hear their benefits, broadening the gap between the almost "they are here" credibility of the best, small acoustic recordings and larger-scale, mass-market offerings. In the same way, the qualitative gap between CD and vinyl becomes a gaping chasm. Don’t get me wrong -- the Engström amps sound great on CD, but when you play records, those special intimate performances really come to life.

With the LP of Coltrane's My Favorite Things [Atlantic 1361], I’ve never heard its simple genius laid quite so elegantly bare, while listening to "Lush Life" (from Lush Life [DCC/Prestige 7188/LPZ-2032]), I’ve never before enjoyed such clarity of purpose or such a direct musical connection. The piping, reedy textures of Coltrane’s sax are immediate, breathy and natural, while Paul Chambers’ bass lines -- bowed or plucked -- have a clear sense of pitch and direction, pace and impulse. The switch from ballad to double time is an effortless and utterly fluid change of gear, while Trane’s elongated lines are beautifully shaped, his evolutions clear. Clarity and separation were exceptional despite the mono recording, with tonality and depth differentiation effortlessly identifying each instrument. When Donald Byrd’s sparky, quicksilver trumpet solo shoots out, the playing is fast yet relaxed and unhurried, never jumbled or flustered, so that when he drops back into the ballad tempo for the finale, the transition, once again flows with a natural expressive grace, a simple extension of what flowed before.

That level of relaxed intimacy and rhythmic dexterity makes for a captivating listening experience that pulls you into and through the track’s evolutions, captured by its natural sense of progress and musical momentum. The track might be familiar, but this is a new, brighter, more colorful and more exhilarating journey. Even the dense and difficult A Love Supreme [Impulse! A-77], an album I’ve always struggled with, takes on a new clarity and shape, more easily followed and tracked. Normally, I get lost around half way through side one, but with the Engströms doing the heavy lifting, I was -- perhaps for the first time -- able to not just listen but start to appreciate what this music is really about.

Interestingly, early stereo jazz, with its often hard right-left separation, is just as successful. The miking might disturb the spatial integrity, but the otherwise simple recording still delivers the musical goods, while sensitively executed modern recordings can be spectacular. Kit Downes’ Tricko [Coup Perdu CPLP003] juxtaposes his crisp piano against the contrasting textures and longer notes of Lucy Railton’s cello, with occasional ambient embellishments. The Engströms give the way those textures combine a glorious clarity and impact, whether the cello’s accents are longer bowed notes or the sharper attack of plucked interjections. Even with music this sparse, it commands your attention, the system dropping away from the performance before you.

Link do recenzji: Engstrom Monica – The Audio Beat

Link: Engstrom Monica – Stereophile – Recommended Components 2025

Link: Engstrom Monica – Stereophile – Recommended Components 2025

Link: Engstrom Monica – Stereophile – Recommended Components 2024

Link: Engstrom Monica – Stereophile – Recommended Components 2024

Link: Engstrom Monica – Stereophile – Recommended Components 2023

Link: Engstrom Monica – Stereophile – Recommended Components 2023

Link: Engstrom Monica – Stereophile – Recommended Components 2022

Link: Engstrom Monica – Stereophile – Recommended Components 2022