A few weeks ago, Ana Mighty Sound who is a darTZeel agent, organised an event with Hervé Delétraz. Sadly, I could not travel to Paris, and I missed the chance to meet Hervé.
François, the owner of Ana Mighty Sound, is a close friend. He had to come to my place to set up a new tonearm and do some comparative testing of loudspeaker cables for my secondary system. He proposed bringing along the darTZeel mono blocks NHB 468 and, icing on the cake, Hervé Delétraz would join us for the whole day. This is a proposal I could not refuse though I am not looking for a new amplification. I am very happy with my passive bi-amplification setup with Krell Evolution One mono blocks and a Tenor Audio 175 S stereo power amp driven by a Thrax Libra preamp.
François also brought his associate, Baptiste, who is a recording engineer by trade.
We spent the whole morning improving the setup of my two systems. Whilst François and I were busy with the secondary system, Hervé and Baptiste took the initiative to tame the loudspeakers in the main system. I have always had an excess of bass around 50 Hz which could not be cured with acoustic treatment. Hervé suggested placing highly dense foam in the bass reflex vents (there are two vents by loudspeaker). Luckily, I had a big stash of foam, so Hervé and Baptiste had plenty of material for experimenting. Eventually, they obtained a flatter response with deeper bass.
After lunch, the mono blocks were set up. Though François and Hervé had brought the darTZeel preamp as well, we decided to keep the Thrax Libra which was an excellent match. We had a 4-hour intensive listening session. We only listened to vinyl and tapes.
The NHB 468’s are transparent, fast, dynamic and were driving my loudspeakers with ease. The max output I saw on the digital meters was 275 watts. They are superior to my current bi-amp setup. The build quality is second to none.
I have listened to many high-end power amps. The NHB 468’s are by far the best I have heard so far.
I was privileged having these big boys in my system. Sadly, I had to let them go at the end of the day. Should I be looking for new power amps in the future, I know which ones will be on the top of my list.
François, the owner of Ana Mighty Sound, is a close friend. He had to come to my place to set up a new tonearm and do some comparative testing of loudspeaker cables for my secondary system. He proposed bringing along the darTZeel mono blocks NHB 468 and, icing on the cake, Hervé Delétraz would join us for the whole day. This is a proposal I could not refuse though I am not looking for a new amplification. I am very happy with my passive bi-amplification setup with Krell Evolution One mono blocks and a Tenor Audio 175 S stereo power amp driven by a Thrax Libra preamp.
François also brought his associate, Baptiste, who is a recording engineer by trade.
We spent the whole morning improving the setup of my two systems. Whilst François and I were busy with the secondary system, Hervé and Baptiste took the initiative to tame the loudspeakers in the main system. I have always had an excess of bass around 50 Hz which could not be cured with acoustic treatment. Hervé suggested placing highly dense foam in the bass reflex vents (there are two vents by loudspeaker). Luckily, I had a big stash of foam, so Hervé and Baptiste had plenty of material for experimenting. Eventually, they obtained a flatter response with deeper bass.
After lunch, the mono blocks were set up. Though François and Hervé had brought the darTZeel preamp as well, we decided to keep the Thrax Libra which was an excellent match. We had a 4-hour intensive listening session. We only listened to vinyl and tapes.
The NHB 468’s are transparent, fast, dynamic and were driving my loudspeakers with ease. The max output I saw on the digital meters was 275 watts. They are superior to my current bi-amp setup. The build quality is second to none.
I have listened to many high-end power amps. The NHB 468’s are by far the best I have heard so far.
I was privileged having these big boys in my system. Sadly, I had to let them go at the end of the day. Should I be looking for new power amps in the future, I know which ones will be on the top of my list.
Last edited:
