I owned this amp for about one year and never grew quite comfortable listening to it for extended periods. Yes, the high, mid and lows are well defined and tight, with good detail. But the highs and mids could also be harsh and brittle, leading to listener fatigue. Construction seemed to be rock solid, though there were some random problems raised in some audio forums.

For the money, there are many, many better amps out there that I'd consider before this. I sold this for a Bel Canto Evo 2 Gen. III amplifier and the differences were startling.

It should be noted that the review above mine is by Rocket Ronnie. Great guy, but he sells audio equipment for a living, including the Arte Forma. Not that anything he says is wrong, but just bear thias in mind.

Bottom Line:

This is an amazing and wonderful 150 watt integrated amp. It has tremendous clarity and delivers an extrodinary image. Quite breath taking really. All served up with a delicious, almost tube like liquidity. It really draws me into the music and is a joy to listen to. I honestly can’t say I would rather have a Levinson, Krell, etc., because they are better at this thing or that; as this thing takes me near the top of the solid state mountain.

Here is what I am hearing from this gem:

-A beautiful musicality and tone, with an almost tube like liquid delivery. Not rounded off or slow, not at all. In fact it is very fast.

It has Mundorf caps inside and as I understand it was voiced by Mr. Mundorf himself.

-Tremendous clarity. Things like seeing right into shakers, triangles, reverb trails, mic pops, etc. None of this amazing detail is fatiguing at all, just beautiful and addicting.

-Bass is tight and fast, yet full. Yet I don’t find it overdone or unnatural.

-Imaging is very important to me and this amp does exceptionally well for a solid state amp. Any amp for that matter. Vocals just pop to life and everything is very localized, yet all remain in the same acoustic space.

When I auditioned the Pass Labs Elph 30 and 5 I thought they were the most tube like solid state amps in the way they carve out each instrument in a 3D form. Think single ended triode. Yet, they were so pulled apart from each other as no longer be in the same recording space. So I actually preferred my Classe 70 to them for that reason. The Arte Forma I-150 gets this right as far as I can tell.

-Quiet. No hiss or hum. Just a lovely velvety, black, background.

-Remote control. Yes it has a remote for volume as well. Nice.

-Very good build quality. And what looks like a straight forward simple design.


All I can say is that I think this amp is top shelf. It is the best solid state amp I have owned and I believe can hang with the best out there and not be embarrassed in any way.

Solid state amps I have owned:

-Classe DR2
-Classe 70
-Electron Kinetics Eagle 7A
-Bryston 4Bst
-Little Dot 100
-Others I forget


Solid state amps I have auditioned:

-Levinson, several different ones including their large monos. I like them.
-Krell FPB Nice
-Pass Labs Elph 30 and 5
-Moon W3 Great amp as well.
-Moscode 300
-Mcintosh monos
-Audio Refinement
-Charlize
-Threshold Stasis
-A bunch of others I forget. It does not matter as I have heard many amps to know a good one when I hear it. And these are all seperates. Integrates are not supposed to sound this good, but it does.

In conclusion, if you are looking for an amazing integrated for under 2 grand I would say give the Arte Forma I-150 and audition. I sure am glad I did. I value best bang for the buck and this things gives a very good bang.