High-End Audio Buyer’s Guide 2024: MBL Cadenza C21

$9600

Sounding more like a fine linear amp than the hybrid-switching amp it is, the 180Wpc C21 offers much of the lush sweetness and sonic gravity of MBL’s own Reference Line 9011 monoblock. It may not have the 9011’s slam, but in most other ways the C21 bears a strong resemblance to the flagship’s air and dynamic energy. Its top end, where Class D has previously struggled, is smooth and extended, not glassy. Its low end is elegantly controlled but not over-torqued. Rather it has a bit of dark velvet bloom, imparting the full measure of harmonic and ambient decay and timbral resonance with acoustic music. This is an amp that can proudly stand next to the best in its class—switching or non-. (228)