A playlist of some of our favorite tracks released in March 2024.
Access the playlist at the following sites:
We strongly encourage everyone to support their favorite musicians. Follow them on social, buy their music and merch, see them live.
Enjoy!
A playlist of some of our favorite tracks released in February 2024.
Access the playlist at the following sites:
Today is Bandcamp Friday, which is the day Bandcamp waives their revenue share and 100% of your purchase goes to the artists, so this is a great day to support your favorite musicians.
Buy their music and merch, see them live, follow them on social, tell your friends.
Enjoy!
We are honored to announce that Steve Guttenberg - The Audiophiliac - has chosen the MicroZOTL Preamplifier as his new reference preamplifier.
Hear everything Steve has to say about the MicroZOTL Preamplifier (and the Ultralinear+ power amplifier) in this video on his Youtube channel.
For the fourth consecutive year, Linear Tube Audio’s Z10e headphone amp + integrated amp has been selected for Stereophile Magazine’s Recommended Components list.
The Z10e landed in two separate categories: Integrated Amplifiers and Headphone Amplifiers.
It’s only one of two amplifiers to be honored in two categories.
The Z10e is the only amp in the world that can power electrostatic headphones, traditional dynamic headphones, and speakers. If only there was an “electrostatic headphone amp” category…
Here are some excerpts from the listing:
The Z10e got the best from Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Focal Clear, and ZMF Vérité Closed dynamic headphones and excelled with STAX SR-009S and Dan Clark Voce electrostatics.
“The LTA Z10e/Susvara combo missed no beats, showed no weaknesses, and kept my head bopping...The Z10e amp displayed no hesitations, dullness, or clipping; no smoke from the tires, no engine stalling—only full-traction, high-torque engagement.”
With the Audeze CRBN headphones, the Z10e's "overall, timbre and tone were just right and satisfyingly color-saturated."
Michael Lavorgna, of Twittering Machines, takes one of the most complete looks at the Z40+ Integrated Amplifier to-date. He tries the amp out with multiple pairs of speakers over a wide-range of price points, from Credo to Q Acoustics to Devore Fidelity.
Photo: Michael Lavorgna
This review also marks the first official review of the internal phono stage, so if you’ve been interested in that, definitely check this review out.
Photo: Michael Lavorgna
If for nothing else, you’ll want to check out the review for Lavorgna’s beautiful photos. Here’s one more as an example…
Photo: Michael Lavorgna
The last time the hifi audio world converged on the suburbs of Chicago for AXPONA, the largest audio show in North America, was 2019. The ensuing three years was the longest decade any of us had ever experienced, so we were excited (and a bit wary, admittedly) to see old friends and meet new ones at AXPONA 2022 last month.
Friends, I’m here to tell you, it was worth the wait. Smiles and good cheer - and good music - were plentiful.
LTA featured in two rooms:
Room 606
Room 696
We were also in the headphone and personal-audio focused EarGear Expo, featuring:
Response was off the charts! Here’s what the audiophile press had to say:
Michael Lavorgna’s Twittering Machines named both rooms to his “A list”
Thanks to everyone who came to our rooms and our EarGear booth!
Thanks to our wonderful partners!
Thanks to the staff at the hotel (tip your housekeeping staff), the shipping company, and the Axpona event team.
Thanks to literally everyone at LTA who contributed to making this show a success.
See you next year! (Hopefully!)
We first met jazz greats Bill Frisell and Julian Lage in NYC at a private preview of the Audeze CRBN and LCD-5 headphones in the summer of 2021. Audeze had chosen LTA amps - the Z10e and MZ3 - to showcase their latest flagship headphones to the invited group of luminaries from the world of music, audio production, and hifi. This group included Frisell and Lage as well as Ron St. Germain, Nate Wood, Chris Lightcap, Herb Reichert, Steve Guttenberg, and many others.
So, in a strange and wonderful twist, we were in the room with some of the greatest musicians alive, but instead of us listening to what they make (music), they were listening to what we make (amps)! It was quite a thrill, to put it mildly.
After the Mutual Admiration Society meeting had ended, it was decided that both Frisell and Lage needed to own an MZ3 to go with their Audeze headphones. A couple months later, after spending time with their new LTA-powered hifi setups, Bill and Julian were kind enough to share their thoughts on how the MZ3 changed their relationship with recorded music…
“When I was a little kid I got my own transistor radio. I loved it. Went with me everywhere. Slept with it under my pillow at night. Wow. The joy and thrill of hearing new music for the very first time. Being transported into another world. Mind blown. That is the place where I want to be. I long for it. Listening now to Audeze LCD5 headphones through a Linear Tube Audio MZ3 amplifier brings me right back to those wonderful moments. Mind blown. I’m so lucky. Thankful.”
“The MZ3 combines power and richness in a way that is so deeply musical and pleasurable. Listening to music through the MZ3 makes me feel like all of the acoustic and sonic information available is being focused like a beam of light, stripping away anything that might color or impeded the purest signal. The MZ3 makes it feeel as though I’ve been ushered into the center of the music and the musicians making it. It is utterly sublime! A dream!”
Very cool to see Ben’s system, which includes a MicroZOTL Preamplifier, featured on The Audiophiliac Daily Show! Thanks to Ben (and his dogs) and Steve!
You don’t have to work hard to find good new music every week. We’re just making it that much easier on you by highlighting a couple handfuls of new releases that we’re excited about. #newmusicfriday
We’ve made a New Music @ LTA Playlist on Tidal and Qobuz to make it even easier.
We strongly encourage you to seek out these artists’ websites, Bandcamp pages, etc. and support them directly by purchasing their music and merch.
Khruangbin : Mordechai
Kamasi Washington + Throttle Elevetor Music : Emergency Exit
Derrick Hodge : COLOR OF NOIZE
Free Nationals : Free Nationals (Instrumentals)
Nadine Shah : Kitchen Sink
Free Nationals : Free Nationals (Instrumentals)
Dirty Projectors : Flight Tower
Art Feynman : Half Price at 3:30
James Krivchenia : A New Found Relaxation
Ezra Feinberg : Recumbent Speech
h/t to @neddyo for Art and Ezra
Lou Hinkley, founder of Daedalus Audio, talks about the his unique loudspeakers, his inspiration, the special challenge of reproducing acoustic instruments, and the value of craftsmanship.
This is part one of a two part interview. Check back later this week for part two.
Herb Reichert says the Z10e “might be Linear Tube Audio’s finest achievement so far.”
Check out the full review where Herb pairs the Z10e with speakers from Devore Fidelity and Zu Audio and headphones from STAX, Dan Clark Audio, ZMF, Focal, HiFiMan, and Abyss.
Watch the video to find out if Nicholas is doing his best Joe Exotic tiger impression or demonstrating his masterful piano technique…
We made a themed playlist, Songs for Self-quarantine, to send you into the weekend with some good tunes.
We'll be hard to miss at Capital Audio Fest. We're in four rooms and will also be running an "LTA Headphone Lounge" featuring our headphone amps and a curated selection of the best headphones on the planet.
It's a lot to keep track of, so here's a cheat sheet to what you'll find in each room.
Room 526
LampizatOr Amber 3 DAC (New!)
Room 323
Fern & Roby Maverick Phono Preamp (New!)
Randolph
LTA ZOTL Ultralinear Amplifiers (monoblock)
LTA ZOTL40 Reference Amplifiers (monoblock)
LampizatOr Vinyl Phono 1 (New!)
Room 312
LampizatOr KT150 Single Ended Amp (New!)
Room 538
LTA Headphone Lounge
Amps & Sources
Headphones
MrSpeakers VOCE, Ether2, & Aeon2 (New!)
STAX SR-009S & SR-L700 MKll (New!)
ZMF Vérité Closed (New!), Auteur, & Atticus
Meze Audio Empyrean (New!)
Focal Stellia (New!) & Utopia
Klipsch HP-3 (New!)
We love meeting our customers and fans in person, so if you'll also be at CAF, we invite and encourage you to stop by and introduce yourselves.
LTA will once again be all over the place at AXPONA. We love meeting our customers and fans in person, so if you'll also be at AXPONA, we invite and encourage you to introduce yourselves and say hello.
Where to find LTA @ AXPONA
Room 546: Hear the microZOTL Preamplifier paired with ZOTL Ultralinears (monoblocks with custom wooden faceplates) and Daedalus speakers.
Room 606: We're joined by our partner Fern & Roby to show off the MZ3 as a preamplifier running with our new ZOTL40 Reference amplifier through their beautiful floorstanding speakers.
Room 696: We're showcasing the award-winning combination of our microZOTL Preamplifier + Ultralinear amplifier and Spatial Audio's latest open baffle loudspeaker designs.
Ear Gear Expo Booth 8415: We'll have a bevy of high-end headphones for you to listen to with the MZ3, and we'll also have our new Z10e electrostatic headphone amp on display.
LTA Products @ AXPONA
PRODUCT LAUNCH: Z10e // Electrostatic Headphone Amp - Details
LTA’s newest product, the Z10e is a reference 10-watt electrostatic headphone amp, also capable of driving any planar and standard dynamic headphones on the planet. This is an end-game product for demanding electrostatic headphone owners. $6,950
MZ3 // Headphone Amp + Preamp + 1-watt Integrated Amp - Details
The latest version of our award-winning MZ2. In a beautiful new low-resonance aluminum chassis, the MZ3 offers reference-level sonics through upgraded internal components, premium tubes, and a digital control system with display. $3,700
microZOTL Preamplifier // Preamplifier + Headphone amp - Details
The ultimate expression of the microZOTL as a full-featured reference preamplifier. Grand soundstage, heightened clarity, blacker background, and smoother dynamics characterize the sonic improvements of this premium product. $4,450
ZOTL10 MK. II // Mono+Stereo Power Amplifier - Details
The next generation of the ZOTL10, the Mk.II, has a beefy linear power supply, Belleson regulators, low output impedance, consistent performance regardless of speaker impedance, and low heat operation with long tube life. $3,200
PRODUCT LAUNCH: ZOTL40 Reference // Mono+Stereo Power Amplifier - Details
The latest iteration of LTA's EL34-based ZOTL40, voiced for high efficiency speakers, includes a new chassis, component improvements, and is supplied with Mullard NOS EL-34s, that take this 40-50 watt-per-channel amp to a new level. $6,800
ZOTL Ultralinear // Mono+Stereo Power Amplifier - Details
Our flagship ZOTL amplifier design by David Berning and the first Ultralinear amplifier not limited by traditional output transformers. The LTA Ultralinear outputs 20 watts per channel using premium 17JN6 tubes. $6,800
This past weekend we teamed up with Denmark’s Audio Fidelity to showcase our ZOTL 10 Mk. II at a Hi-Fi exhibition in Aarhus, DK. Paired with a Holo Audio Spring 2 DAC our little 10-watt amplifier had no problem driving a beautiful pair of Martin Logan ESL X electrostatic speakers for 6 hours to a packed room.
"...the LTA MZ3 is even quieter, more detailed and is the most natural-sounding amp I have ever heard. It has the same see-through quality into the layers of the music, but the scale of the instruments is even more natural, and it has an even better tone."
Read the full review here.
Terry London of home theaterreview.com reviews the MicroZOTL Preamplifier.
“It was quickly apparent and astounding to me that the MicroZOTL Preamplifier produced a spatial perspective that made my seven-foot tall, 21-driver speakers completely vanish in the largest and accurately layered soundstage that I have ever experienced in my listening room.”
Read it here!
Best Value of Capital Audiofest 2018? See what Marc Phillips of Part-time Audiophile has to say about our room with Spatial Audio.