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!”