B.audio Alpha One

The high-end integrated amplifier – seen here in the shape of B.Audio’s Alpha One – is a relatively new phenomenon; back in the 20th century, almost everyone who wanted to hold their head high at audiophile gatherings had or planned to have a preamplifier and power amp in a minimum of two boxes, often many more if you were a Naim person. But the desire to have a stack of black boxes on the rack is not as strong as it was and given the space that most of us can dedicate to our musical passions, that’s hardly surprising; as a result, enthusiasts have been looking to downsize their hardware without compromising on quality.

Move to better

Over the past 20-plus years, there has been a move toward better quality integrated designs, which has got to the point where I reviewed a cost-no-object example from Aavik. Such designs have started to include digital electronics, with some examples also offering streaming capabilities, which cuts down on the clutter even further and brings with it the possibility of a single piece of electronics and a pair of speakers being all that’s needed for top-notch home entertainment. The serious streaming integrated amp has arrived.

B.audio is a French company that specialises in electronics and has two small but superbly finished ranges of separates on its roster, each containing separate DACs, preamps and power amps, sometimes monoblocks such as the B.amp monos that produced some magnificent results via Bowers & Wilkins 800 D4 Signature speakers in my listening room last year. But B.audio can see the way the wind is blowing and has spent many hours developing an integrated design that they feel lives up to the standard for which the brand is known. The Alpha One not only has a capitalised name but could, at a glance, be one of B.audio’s preamps or DACs, as they all share the same minimalist fascia and square black display seen here.

Perfect linearity

However, it is more heavily loaded than any box in the B.audio catalogue. It has a high-quality digital to analogue converter, streaming engine and analogue preamplifier, which controls a 120-watt Class AB stereo power amplifier. This dual-mono design is based on the circuitry developed for the reference power amplifiers, including the B.amp mono. This means that it has high current reserves and claims “perfect linearity” regardless of the load presented by the speakers, which is a bold claim but one that B.audio amplifiers have met in the past, albeit rather larger ones. 

The key to this is an intermediate driving stage between input buffers and the output stage, which controls the loudspeakers. B.audio calls this intelligent output drive (IOD). This consists of a local feedback loop around the output stage, which stops back EMF currents from reaching the gain stage, an approach that produces strong linearity.

The digital side of Alpha One combines a multi-input DAC with all the usual socketry and an ethernet input for the onboard streamer. The digits pass through B.audio’s patented jitter removal processing, designed to make the actual digital-to-analogue converter’s life easier and thus result in higher sound quality. Analogue inputs extend to one balanced and two single-ended pairs, with the latter referred to as ‘an.coax’ in the display. In contrast, the balanced input is called ‘an.XLR’, which is only slightly idiosyncratic, given the high-end nature and French origin of this amp. Pre-amp outputs are on XLR only.

Squeeze it

All functions are accessible with the combination of display and remote or front panel buttons, and there are many of them to scroll through, they include the option to turn protocols on/off for UPnP/MPD, Squeezelite (LMS), Roon, HQ Player, Airplay and Spotify. I can’t remember the last time I saw the option to use Logitech’s Squeezelite on a streamer, but it’s the basis of the software in Innuos products, so it clearly has a lot of potential.

The Alpha One offers server functions for music files stored on USB media, and this can be controlled with a third-party app such as mConnect or BubbleUPnP for Android devices. B.audio do not offer their own control app yet (one is in the pipeline) but the list above indicates that most of the worthwhile apps on the market will work with the streamer in this amp. I used JPlay because it sounds better than the alternatives, it found the Alpha One as both a server and an audio output, which is a good sign.

One feature that caught me out is the automatic mode, which puts the amp to sleep. If a signal is undetected, the relays click in (it’s a very clicky amp), and you have sound. I preferred to disengage this function for ease of operation. The amp runs warm but not particularly hot and sounds noticeably better when it’s up to optimum temperature after a couple of hours. You can set a standby time from a range of options which will help the energy bill.

Curve your enthusiasm

One RCA input can be used as a bypass with no volume control, so with an AV processor or separate preamp, subsonic filtering can be applied to low frequencies (below the threshold of audibility), and you can adjust left/right channel balance. There is also the option to activate parametric equalisation with eight independent filters, each offering high and low pass, shelving, peak and notch variations. Meanwhile, there’s a visualisation utility to help understand how these filters work and some wise words on how best to use them, eg “it is advisable not to attempt to obtain a perfectly flat curve”. And there is plenty of processing power available to the inquisitive enthusiast.

For the more technically challenged, however, the remote handset can be a puzzle. Some have been known to open the four fixings to check whether there’s a battery inside before realising that the black bit should not be pointed at the amp… There are no legends on the seven buttons, but there are some on the back. It is intuitive, however, if pointed in the right direction.

Making a Start

The Alpha One made a start in my system by driving PMC twenty5.26i loudspeakers with a digital signal from a Mutec MC3+ USB reclocker going into the AES input. This pairing produced a fast and muscular response that was very strong on detail and control but short on warmth. My room is on the bass-light side, and the lack of thickener from the amp and speaker made the balance a shade on the lean side. Still, the timing was magnificent.

After adjusting to the balance, I started to enjoy this amp and its ability to revel in so much of the delineation of every musical phrase. Moving over to the mighty Dali Epikore 11 speakers proved to be a good move; these are much warmer in balance yet deliver very high transparency, so we were able to reveal just how much texture and tonal colour the B.audio can resolve whilst offering class-leading timing. It lets you hear into everything that’s played, the reverb on a very familiar piece of music seeming far more extreme and going on far longer than usual, which means that the sense of space is holographic and the room almost disappears.

Fast and bulbous

Moving over to the onboard streamer proved to be a very positive experience, its delivery is fast and full, even juicy, with the right music. But it’s the textures that shine out of the deepest notes on Bugge Wesseltoft and Henrik Schwarze’s Duo, the latter can be heard to add a crunchy edge to the bass line that makes it even more appealing on ‘Leave My Head Alone Brain’, a tune that Take Five inspire, not that they would admit it. With vinyl on the line input, the results were equally impressive, with good integration of musicians in a mix like Herbie Hancock and Norah Jones’s version of ‘Court and Spark’. Some amplifiers separate out the voice more distinctly. Still, the way that the B.audio allows band and singer to hang together sounds very natural, and it’s easy to appreciate just how beautiful the piano is on this great song.

With the Locrian Ensemble’s rendition of Mendelssohn Octets (Chasing the Dragon), the presentation is a little more urgent and engaging than usual; the instruments are well separated, and you get a strong sense of the melodic flow and dynamic variety of this excellent recording. The Alpha One is nothing if not dynamically sensitive; this was apparent in many music types and not something you find with many amplifiers, integrated or otherwise. On Steely Dan’s ‘Babylon Sisters’ there is an emphasis on the snare drum that gives this tune stronger metronomic precision than is usually the case. Likewise, on Kraftwerk’s live version of ‘Radioactivity’, the band sounds more robotic than usual, and the heavy bass on this track is meaty, achieved whilst resolving the noises from the crowd more clearly than I have heard it in quite a while.

Royal biscuit

The Alpha One very well serves vocals, Lizz Wright is exceptional on ‘Sparrow’ (Shadow) but Jeff Buckley takes the royal biscuit on ‘Hallelujah’, here the dynamic subtlety that this amp brings to the party gives this song a depth and precision of imaging that makes it palpable in the room, the power of the bass is clear and controlled, which underpins the emotional depth of the voice. Vying for the top spot in the B.audio’s roster of strengths is the way it combines speed and power. Fast amps frequently lack profound impact on the bass; they almost seem to lighten the bass to provide the sense of immediacy higher up the range.

Conversely, amps with lots of power in the bass can often be sluggish when turning on the proverbial dime when the signal requires. The Alpha One seems to be able to do both and that makes for an intense experience with a track like ‘Interstate 5’ by The God in Hackney, this starts out with drums alone and gradually builds with bass then guitar and keyboards, there appears to be little or no limiting involved, which means that with an amp like this, you get the full visceral thrill power of live music without the nasty PA which that usually includes. Playing this after the amp had been on for a few hours made it clear that the Alpha One gives its best when it’s cooking, but not smoking (you wouldn’t want that).

Combat

Nigel Payne from Quiescent introduced me to an exciting track last year: the ‘Battle Scene’ from Gladiator (the movie so beloved by AV demonstrations a few years ago). Playing this on some decent amps reveals why it sounds so horrendous on most AV amps. It’s a dense, seemingly heavily compressed recording of a large orchestra and various less acoustic elements with heavy-handed studio processing. On the B.audio, however, the track opens up, and you can hear the rhythm of the piece; it no longer sounds hard and compressed but makes musical sense; I would even go so far as to say that it becomes involving, which is certainly not the case on a great many amplifiers.

It would be nice if the Alpha One offered input gain adjustment, but other than this, little comes to mind that could be added to its very strong roster of features and capabilities. The DAC is particularly good. Clearly, the B.audio jitter reduction tech is doing a good job, and the amplifier is also exceptional, with a nimbleness and power that does justice to everything it plays. I also found that the remote control was straightforward to use once that initial hiccup had been overcome. With the Alpha One, B.audio proves that the all-in-one streamer, DAC and amplifier have arrived at the high end and without apparent compromise in either sonic or feature count departments. In fact, when it comes to features, it’s hard to think of many separates that can hold a light to it. 

Technical specifications

• Type: Solid-state, two-channel integrated amplifier with built-in DAC and streamer.
• Analogue inputs: Two single-ended line-level inputs (via RCA jacks), one balanced input (via XLR connectors).
• Digital inputs: Three S/PDIF (one coaxial, two optical), one USB port, one AES/EBU, one RJ45 network connection.
• Analogue outputs: One pre-out (via XLR connectors).
  • Supported sample rates:Coaxial S/PDIF: PCM up to 24-bit — 192kHz
  • Optical S/PDIF: PCM up to 24-bit / 96 kHz
  • USB: (PCM up to 384 kHz / DXD / DoP / native DSD up to DSD256
  • RJ45: PCM up to 384 kHz / DXD / DoP / native DSD up to DSD256
• Input impedance: 47kOhm
• Output impedance (preamp): 100 Ohms
• Headphone Loads: N/A
• Power Output: 120Wpc @ 8 Ohms, 200W @ 4 Ohms
• Bandwidth: >200kHz
• Distortion: THD < 0.001% (1-100 W, 8 ohm)
• Signal to Noise Ratio: Not specified
• Dimensions (HxWxD): 102 x 450 x 395mm
• Weight: 15.5kg
• Price: £15,500, $18,000

Manufacturer

B.audio

www.b-audio.com

UK distributor

Nexus Audio

www.nexusaudio.co.uk

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