Excellent dynamics. Very musical sounding.

No headphone output. No phono stage.

This an update to my earlier review. I have now had this amplifier for around 3 years, and I am really quite happy with it. I feel, perhaps, that I may have been a bit harsh in my earlier criticism of its bass performance. I wrote that review just after I bought it, and hadn't allowed any time for 'running in'. Over time I have also gone through the usual process of trying to optimise performance (upgrading cables, bi-wiring, speaker positioning etc.) and I am really quite happy with the results I am now getting. In fact, I now concur with the previous reviewer's opinion of this amp. My only grumble is the lack of headphone output and phono stage - but that is not really a criticism as I was aware of these ommissions whrn I bought the amp.

Similar Products Used:

Ancient Rotel integrated.

Good long term ownership qualities. An amp for the heart as much as the head. Great with acoustic,vocal and classical music,good with beat driven and rock.

Not a lot and I wouldnt criticise the Bass as the previous reviewer has its full and quite focused and sharp not warm and overful like my Sony.

I have replaced my Sony amp with this and I must say it hits the spot. If I had to describe the character of this amp is full ,rich and clear and of course genuinely warm. The dynamics are startlingly good and when used with TV would leave a lot of A/V amps for dead in this regard. I use with Marantz CD6000 CD player not the OSE model and all my friends say its the best upgrade yet to my system. It has the power and current to control quite large speakers and I dont think most people would want more power for domestic use. It sounds much better than NAD 350 which I listened to next to it in the shop before taking it home for a trial-more fluid and resolved.I like to switch interconnects as I own a few different ones.Sonic Link Silver Pink and Monster M550i are my 2 favourites. I also have M400/2 and QED Qnex 2 both good but not as good as the first 2.

Similar Products Used:

Amps owned or borrowed to date. Kenwood 3020SE-nice sounding starter amp, fast exciting but lacks a bit of depth. Sony Taf 448e-nice amp I still have it,one for the head,does everything well. Borro

I bought this amp to replace my 20 year old Rotel RA413. I recently bought a pair of VAF DC-X speakers, and found that the sound from the Rotel was very hard and shrill through them, to the point of being unlistenable.
It is obvious to me that the E11 has been engineered to produce a certain type of sound. It has a smooth sound quality, which I found very appealing after the hardness of the Rotel. The midrange is very rich and full, which seems to suit vocals particularly well. The E11 gives a good sense of presence, with good stereo imaging qualities. The top end is well detailed, and its dynamic capabilities are very good also. On the negative side, I think the bass performance is a bit lacking in some ways. The smooth character of the E11 extends down to the lower frequencies, where it doesn't seem to work so well. To my ears the bass sounds a bit over full and muddled, with finer details being masked somewhat.

Subjectively, the build quality seems to be quite good. This is a minimalist design, and so is somewhat lacking in convenience features. There is no remote control, headphone output or phono stage and only one tape loop. (It does have pre-out sockets though, but no main-in.)

In summary, I consider the E11 to be very well suited to vocal and acoustic music. It works beautifully with folk, blues, jazz and classical music.Rock music is ok too, depending on the source material. If your tastes run to bass-heavy techno music (mine don't), then I would look elsewhere though.

My rating for this product is 4 stars. (If only that bass was a bit tighter.)