Even though I have almost used the beginning of the first movement of Mahler's 3rd symphony under Mariss Jansons too often for tests I still enjoy listening to it - probably also because of Christoph Stickel's mastering: In just a few minutes it makes clear what a hifi set-up can achieve in terms of dynamics, spatial representation, fine resolution and bass reproduction. After the entry of the brass section and the powerful timpani that follows shortly after, a certain uneasiness is introduced into the subsequent calmer passage. After about a minute, during the single, quite restrained timpani beats far in the depths of the room, the further events unfold against a deep black background. Thanks to the darTZeel, the source of the uneasiness can suddenly be made out: That are extremely light strokes on the deep drums, with a volume just above the threshold of perception. This is where the letters in the model designation of the power amplifier have their justification: never heard before!

In Patrice Herals' “Improvisation” on Le Concert Des Parfums, the Einstein pleased with a lot of low-frequency energy and a very deep space. However, the comparison with the darTZeel made it clear that the latter develops a little more force in the lowest octave and is a bit more accurate in the frequency range directly above. The imaginary stage extends at least as far in depth, but this is a little obscured by the fact that it also extends quite a way to the side. At the very quiet beginning of the fourth movement of the Symphonie Fantastique, conducted by Verujan Kojian, the NHB-108 demonstrates its enormous abilities in terms of resolution and fine detail. Nevertheless, it does not act as an analytical, audiophile magnifying glass: the reproduction has not the slightest hint of coldness, but instead a never intrusive, extremely pleasant sound. You could almost believe that there was a tube somewhere in the signal path. Even without the 50-ohm connection and the preamplifier from the same manufacturer, the darTZeel has impressed me so much that I already know how difficult it will be to part with it again.

After the darTZeel preamplifier took the place of the WestminsterLab Quest – the Audioquest Dragon XLR still connects the NHB-18NS to the NHB-108 – and I listened to a few pieces, I was faced with a problem: to describe the sonic improvement, it is simply not enough to refer to a hint more depth of stage or a detail that has not previously crossed the threshold of perception – even if the grand piano's interaction with the recording space on the title track of Carla Bley's Live Goes On really comes across as more fascinating than ever. Thanks to the darTZeels, an exciting relationship develops between the sparse notes and chords of the intro; the attack and decay of the individual notes suddenly take on a meaning that was previously not recognisable. But I only worry about that when I try to describe what makes the reproduction of the very familiar song by NHB-18NS and NHB108 so special. What is much more important is that the music can now be experienced even more intensely and is simply more fun. Even if the description of the amplifiers' acoustic merits seems a little contrived, the reproduction of the TZeels is certainly not: despite their high resolution and accuracy, they are real fun machines!