Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Sources: 27" iMac with 5K Retina display, 4GHz quad-core engine with 4.4GHz turbo boost, 3TB Fusion Drive, 16GB SDRAM, OSX Yosemite, PureMusic 3.01, Tidal & Qobuz lossless streaming, COS Engineering D1 & H1, AURALiC Vega, Aqua Hifi Formula, Fore Audio DAISy 1, Apple iPod Classic 160GB (AIFF), Astell& Kern AK100 modified by Red Wine Audio, Cambridge Audio iD100, Pro-Ject Dock Box S Digital, Pure i20, Questyle QP1R]
Preamplifier: Nagra Jazz, Esoteric C-03, Vinnie Rossi LIO with DHT module,COS Engineering D1, Wyred4Sound STP-SE Stage 2
Power & integrated amplifiers: Pass Labs XA30.8; FirstWatt SIT1, F5, F6, F7; S.A.Lab Blackbird SE; Crayon Audio CFA-1.2; Goldmund Job 225; Aura Note Premier; Wyred4Sound mINT; Nord Acoustics One SE UP NC500MB; LinnenberG Audio Liszt
Loudspeakers: Audio Physic Codex; EnigmAcoustics Mythology 1; Boenicke Audio W5se; Zu Audio Druid V & Submission; German Physiks HRS-120; Eversound Essence
Cables: Complete loom of Zu Event; KingRex uArt, Zu and LightHarmonic LightSpeed double-header USB cables; Tombo Trøn S/PDIF; van den Hul AES/EBU; AudioQuest Diamond glass-fibre Toslink; Black Cat Cable Lupo; Ocellia OCC Silver; Titan Audio Eros power cord
Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra on all components, 5m cords to amp/s + sub
Equipment rack: Artesania Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc Krion and glass amp stands
Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators
Room: 4 x 6m with high gabled beam ceiling opening into 4 x 8m kitchen and 5 x 8m living room, hence no wall behind the listening chairs
Review component retail: €5'799

Italian Music Experience. That's Gold Note's new tag line; quite different from their earlier Renaissance of Technology. How it shifts emphasis from tech to emotions is obvious. But what about the qualifier? If there's an Italian music experience, there must be Germanic and Finnish takes; one for each country in fact. That's a radically different notion than the immutable absolute sound. From classical orchestras we know how culture shapes tone and phrasing. Symphonic forces of different countries champion clearly different aural aesthetics. But it actually begins in a country's very language. Its sound and cadence provide hints. An opera sung in German, French or Italian changes colours. What do we imagine an Italian music experience to be? On second thought, it seems best to leave this an open-ended question so each reader is free to inquire into that for themselves.


My literary anchor for such musings would be Andrea Camilleri's cultural commentary on Italy through his Inspector Montalbano books. For road-going hardware, I had prior ownership of a Moto Guzzi El Dorado 'California Police' 850 cruiser. For actual country immersion, I had spent a long summer in Tuscany around Montalcino and subsequently seen Venice and Sicily. For hifi hardware, I'd now have this company's first new stereo amp in two decades. It's called PA-1175 where 'PA' is short for power amp, not public address system. For the complete experience, one would obviously want an entire Gold Note system. It's something this company actually offer. They start with sundry turntables, go to digital including disc and streaming, then preamps, amps, integrateds, speakers, cables and racks. Today we extricate from such an exclusive engagement their 175wpc/8Ω stereo amp. It scales to twice that power when bridged. Gold Note strategically dispatched two units from Florence to have me report on the optional transformation to mondo mono.


Each fully balanced class A/B push/pull stereo amp runs eight power transistors per channel. Uniquely it features user-adjustable 25/250 damping. That alters output impedance from 0.3 to 0.03Ω. Its frontal switch is called 'DF' for damping factor. This is confirmed with a blue power LED for high damping, green for low. A 630V toroidal mains transformer with special core is said to be mechanically silent as a rock but still decouples via viscoelastic isolators which also show up as Vibrastop engine mounts on Ducati race bikes. Outside the signal path, a secondary small 6VA transformer handles housekeeping chores. For specs, head designer Maurizio Aterini's choices net us bandwidth of 1Hz-100kHz ±1dB, S/NR of -110dB, slew rate of 20V/µs, input impedance of 47KΩ and 1V RCA/4V XLR input sensitivity. Power consumption is 800W max which at idle plummets to a Brussels-approved sub 1 watt. These performance figures pack into a compact 42 x 13.5 x 37cm WxHxD chassis of 25kg weigh whose finish is black or silver. Styling is by architect Stefano Bonifazi, stripe accents are in walnut, acrylic or aluminium.

"There are two circuits which feature our proprietary optical design. The first of these regulates the bias of the bipolar output transistors. The second verifies max power output to engage the protection if current draw exceeds a preset safe value. As to the evolution from our previous Demidoff amp platform, we only wanted to transfer its musicality. Otherwise the current design is radically different from the inductive single-ended class A precursors. Almost 20 years after our first power amps, we now wanted to share our most current experience with the best solution for this type of component. We also wanted a fully balanced high-power unit to match the majority of speakers around. In stereo mode, 4Ω/2Ω power becomes 250/300 watts. That scales to 500/600 watts in mono. The central power transformer can work dynamically like a 800VA unit because of its oversized core. That is specially cut to stop possible AC interference from creating mechanical vibrations. This unique design resulted from a cooperation with a specialized Italian transformer firm in the Marche region. Finally, while many believe that a maximal damping factor is always best, high-efficiency and mini-monitor applications can in fact prefer lower damping. That's why we made it adjustable. As your own contributor Joël told me in Munich, during his tests of our IS1000 super integrated, he preferred the low DF setting."


When 75 days passed without delivery, I checked with my contact Tommaso Dolfi, Gold Note's young marketing manager. "Apparently I won’t be able to ship before September. We are currently updating the design to improve it inside and out and that's taking longer than expected. I’m attaching a render to show you what it’s going to look like."
... to be continued...

GoldNote website