2024 Golden Ear: Berning/Hi-Fi One Reference SET Monoblock Power Amplifiers

$230,000/pr.

A nearly quarter-million-dollar price tag for a 20W amplifier may seem like the height of audiophile excess—until you listen to how this extraordinary amplifier transcends mere “hi-fi” to bring music to vivid life. Conceptualized as the ultimate realization of David Berning’s output-transformerless “ZOTL” circuit, the four-chassis Reference SET is the culmination of six years of development between Berning, Rick Brown of Hi-Fi One, audio legend Steve McCormack, and an array of global partners. It is an extremely esoteric design built without regard to cost—each outboard choke is wound with 14 pounds of pure silver wire, for example. The result is an amplifier that delivers the glorious midrange of an SET without sacrificing bass extension, weight, dynamic impact, and authority. But more than that, the Reference SET is simply transcendental in its stunningly natural rendering of timbre and density of tone color, ability to make the speakers disappear with its imaging vividness and expansive soundstage, and perhaps best of all, its sense of relaxed ease that fosters an intimate connection with the music. When driving a loudspeaker of appropriate sensitivity and impedance—an important caveat—the Reference SET is without peer. For an oblique take on the Reference SET, see Paul Seydor’s Golden Ear Award in this issue for the Avantgarde Trio loudspeaker; the Trio he heard was driven by the Reference SET. (352)