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The Viva Audio Egoista amplifier is a monster of electronics.
It's a physical monster:
43cm wide, 38cm deep, 25cm high, and 30kg !
But it's also a monster of power: 2 x 15 Watts !!!
Of course, 15 watts might seem low to those of us used to speaker amplifiers.
But it's important to know that the vast majority of headphone amplifiers on the market output between 500mW and 1W.
Viva Audio chose the famous and still highly regarded 845 triodes for the Egoista 845.
The 845 triode was developed in the USA 80 years ago by RCA and is still used by some smaller manufacturers, despite the difficulties they encounter in its implementation.
The filament heater voltage must be precise to within 2V. In use, very high voltages are involved (almost 900 volts), and these high voltages tend to induce noise that absolutely must be controlled.
However, these minor difficulties, when mastered by competent designers, are not insurmountable, and a well-designed amplifier based on 845 triodes is generally extremely musical and very quiet.
This is certainly the case with the Egoista 845.
Another key component of a tube amplifier is the output transformer, which ensures optimal power transfer to the load (headphones or speakers).
For the Egoista 845, Viva Audio chose "monster" dual-core transformers, purchased from a leading specialist located near Vicenza, Italy.
These extremely high-quality transformers, manufactured to Viva Audio's specifications, are wound with silver-plated copper wire.
Of course, there are no printed circuit boards inside the 845, only point-to-point wiring and spot-soldering, done by hand by the team of engineers partnered with Amedeo and Giampietro Schembri, the designers.
Among these engineers are musicians, including a pianist and a cellist.
In Vicenza workshops, Manuel plays his Stradivarius (yes, really!) and the team can compare, at will, the reproduction and the "real" sound of this magical instrument... How many manufacturers have this opportunity?
Upon listening, the Egoista 845 immediately distinguishes itself from the best amplifiers currently in production.
The 845 brings a grace to the music, a dynamic range, and a punch in the bass that neither I nor any of my client friends who have heard this amplifier had been able to perceive before, even with the world's leading brands.
The Viva Audio Egoista offers more depth to the sound reproduction, a richness and "materiality" that others don't emphasize as much.
The Egoista 845 opens up the soundstage considerably and also offers greater depth.
But the Egoista 845 is marvelous in its ability to bring melodic lines to life, to make the listener resonate with the slightest vibrato, to eliminate the final barrier between accurate reproduction and a sense of presence.
The Egoista 845 is unique in its presentation of timbre, dynamics, soundstage, and bass quality.
Specifications
Dimensions w × h × d : 430×250×380 mm
Weight: 30 kg
4 source inputs and 1 Direct Input bypassing the preamp stage
2 headphone output jack 6.35mm / 2 headphones output XLR 4 pins
Zero negative feedback pure class A operation, 15 Watt/channel
Tube complement: 1x 6N1P, 1x6SN7 GTB, 2x 845, 2x EH 5U4GB