Shinai

Echoing tube-amplifier topologies, the Italian, dual-mono, fully balanced Shinai features two single-ended, class-A, solid state output stages in a push-pull arrangement for each channel, with no loop negative feedback.

«As long as I am Grandinote boss,» designer Massimiliano Magri told RS, «feedback will be prohibited like sincerity in politics.» RS liked what he heard from this unique amplifier: «The Shinai made aural space microscopically tangible,» he wrote, adding that the amplifier has «a knack for detail retrieval» and «gave notes and musical lines enough space to stretch out and seamlessly transition into the next notes and musical lines.» This transparency was achieved without the presentation sounding clinical or etched: «The Shinai has the spirit of a revealer. It speaks the truth—not ruthlessly, but honestly.»

In the test lab, the Shinai almost met its specified maximum power of 37Wpc into 8 ohms at 3% THD+N, though JA warned against using the Grandinote with speakers whose impedance dropped below 4 ohms. JA summed up the measured performance by saying that it «is dominated by the designer’s decision not to use negative feedback. I would expect the Shinai’s sonic character therefore to be similar to that of a typical tube amplifier.» However, RS concluded that the Shinai «did some things better than my tube gear—definition, detail, space, scale, touch.» Two months after he submitted his review, RS was astonished to find that the Shinai’s sound exploded: «It blew open musically. As good as it was already, the sound went from here up to there, overnight.»

An enigma, but lengthy listening sessions confirmed his impression. He concluded that the Shinai sounded «rich and bloomy but with a sense that you’re hearing the true, original thing and not a recording.» (Vol.43 No.11, Vol.44 No.4 WWW)