The two rear sections each contain six capacitors with a total capacity of 132,000 microfarads per channel. They are each connected by three curved copper rails with a thickness of five millimetres. These alone would be reason enough to give the power amplifier a smoked glass panel instead of a metal cover, revealing the power amplifier's technology. The two bipolar output transistors of each channel are only a few centimetres away from their power supply. As Hervé Delétraz explains at length in the operating instructions, he is not a fan of symmetrical signal processing, since music, i.e. sound waves, do not move air, but are vibrations of air molecules, and behave asymmetrically. Based on these considerations, he has also chosen an unbalanced circuit for his power amplifier. Since he did not want to do without an XLR input, he is unbalancing the signal without reference to the ground by means of a transformer. At this point, I vividly recall the frequent discussions with my colleague Wojciech Pacuła and the interview with Michael Børresen, the developer of Aavik's C-880 and P-880, which, although partly with different arguments, agree with the darTZeel boss on the matter – unlike the author. In fact, some of Hervé Delétraz's strongly worded descriptions of technical solutions or their justifications could be passionately discussed – even if they seem extremely conclusive to me in their consequences. Be that as it may, what is crucial is in the listening room.

At first the darTZeel NHB-108 in my chain takes the place of Einstein's The Poweramp – admittedly an unfair comparison, as you could get about three Einsteins for the price of the Swiss power amplifier. Incidentally, both power amps draw their energy from Audioquest's Niagara 5000 and the line signal is transmitted via a balanced Dragon cable – even though this is not the connection favoured by darTZeel. Nevertheless, the NHB-108 is immediately convincing, even without a longer warm-up phase. During the first few minutes, I am sure that it performs at least at the same level as my standard power amplifier. But soon it becomes clear that the darTZeel has more to offer: especially in the low-frequency range, it simply produces a little more pressure – very pleasantly! But the NHB-108 doesn't just release more energy, it also does so in a highly controlled and precise manner.