Bel Canto e1X

I own and enjoy loudspeakers from seemingly opposite ends of the audiophile spectrum: I’m a huge fan of minimally efficient yet otherwise overachieving flat-panel designs, such as my Magnepan LRS speakers.¹ Yet I’m just as smitten with another, equally outside-the-norm alternative: high-sensitivity full-range loud-speakers, such as my Zu Omens—especially when driven by tube electronics. It’s an ongoing yin and yang that keeps my home system in a constant state of flux: Alternating between loudspeakers that use such different technologies, while maintaining relatively optimal positioning for each, is a bit daunting. But there’s an even bigger challenge: finding a single amplifier design that’s simpatico with both. While tubes would be the obvious choice for the Zu loudspeakers, all-tube amplifiers with sufficient power for my Maggies are definitely outside my fiscal comfort zone.

That’s where Minneapolis-based Bel Canto Design comes into the picture. I’ve heard great things about their class-D solid-state amplifiers for some time, but they’ve always existed on the periphery for me: I considered Bel Canto amps a bit too for my relatively utilitarian system. But now’s the time to rethink that perspective: With their new e1X product line—a stereo power amp, a preamp/DAC, and an integrated amp—Bel Canto suggests that they’re making a generous portion of their top-line technology available at a significant cost savings. Hence this review of their new e1X Stereo Amplifier ($6000), which is priced 40% lower than its