Sound
Contents
It’s only when you connect the thing and impose the first album that you understand why the price is so spicy. This is good, very good. For example, the Rega Aethos plays a level higher than the great Hegel H120 and Naim XS3. The playback goes here to ‘the next level’.
Flexibility, fluidity, refinement, tonality, dynamics you name it. It is all present and provides a higher involvement and a touch of emotion. The Aethos does not sound artificial but very organic and realistic. It is also a rhythmic amplifier (prat) that flawlessly follows the flow of a song.
Listen
We start with a reissue of an electronic album by Move D and Benjamin Brunn. “Let’s call it a day” is a techno album full of atmospheric tracks. Electronic music doesn’t seem to be suitable for testing at first sight but it is. To start with, on a transparent system you will hear a lot of small bleeps and bops that you otherwise only hear on headphones. In addition, you also get a good picture of the quality of the bass.
On “Let’s call it a day” you’ll notice surprisingly enough the organic feel around the songs. Especially the ambient pieces seem to get a bit more glow, which works very well on this album. The Aethos has enough power to drive the songs forward and is fast and rhythmic. The bass is tight but as said, not to the extreme.
Ian Noe makes great country music and his latest album “Between the country” is a gem. The Aethos puts feeling in the sparse songs of this Kentucky cowboy and brings in a touch of realism. It’s hard to explain exactly what the Aethos does but we think it’s all about tonality. We had the same feeling with the Yamaha AS-3000 which also adds some subtlety and emotion to the music.
Ottla, a side project of multi-instumentalist and jazz genius Bert Dockx, brings on his similar album an amalgam of sounds and atmospheres that is forged into an astonishing whole. On the last song ‘Vroeg vroeger beter’ it is the silences and moments of rest that impress. They are full of excitement and especially in the evening in the dark you experience magical moments with this music. The Aethos is a ‘musical’ amplifier that puts experience first and that is immediately the biggest asset of this amplifier.
Compare
We have the excellent Hegel H120 still in the office, and take the Rega Aethos out of the set. The Hegel is good and after a while we remember why we liked this Norwegian control freak so much. It just grabs the speakers in a hold and won’t let go. But the Rega has enough confidence to release that grip in favor of nuance, subtlety and refinement. Or is that three times the same word or synonymous?
In any case, it is a bit more fluid and playful. Both amps are bold when it comes to dynamics and punch but the Hegel has more grip. It is also a matter of taste of course. After a few hours with the Hegel we appreciate again the versatility and balls of the Hegel. The Hegel is a bit more to the point and the Rega a bit looser. Insight and audibility is at both amps equal certainly through the AKM dac of the Hegel which is very good.
The Aethos is a bit between two price categories but after a few weeks we dare him confidently between the candidates put our last multitest where more expensive candidates were tested. A nice achievement. It reminds us the most of the Yamaha A-S 3000 because it is also very much about experience.