Martin Virgo

When was the first time you heard good solid-state Class A amplification? For me it was in the early 1990s, following owning a series of Class AB amps. At that time, my gear included Naim’s 32.5, HiCap and NAP 250 amplifier stack, and I thought I had a grip on what good audio sounded like. Class A changed my mind. Is it better? Yes, in some ways. Like most worthwhile things in life, it’s more nuanced.

Nothing like working on a Saturday, unless you love what you do. Passion, you see, is a persuasive audio mistress, and a word that is going to get a frequent outing in this report. And the blame lies at the feet of Reference Audio, based in Witham, just off the high street (blink and you’ll miss the driveway, as our Editor did…twice 🙄).

Having owned and enjoyed a number of resistor to resistor (R2R) DACs over the decades I had not come across Garlubidor, perhaps not so much a brand as a name designed by committee to be trade marked. As it turns out, Garlubidor is a Chinese company which makes a range of audio equipment, including two R2R DACs. Garlubidor sits under parent company Guangzhou Danna Audio Electronics Co, which also owns the much lauded Denafrips brand, whose DACs I have enjoyed reviewing in the past.