this video is sponsored by premium sound, one of the UK's premier dealers located in Kensington, London, with an online store carrying a comprehensive inventory to cater for a variety of needs. For more details, click the link in the description. Audiolab's design team may well be the busiest in the industry. It's only recently that they launched their flagship 9000 series. The range includes the 100-watt per channel into atom 9000A amplifier with a DAC based around the ESS-9038 Pro chip. It retails for just under 2,000 pounds in the UK. There's a matching CD transport, the 9000 CDT, that'll set you back a grand. The forthcoming 9000 N network streamer will complete the lineup soon. It was only in 2018 when the 6000A was launched, a 50-watt per channel amplifier with a DAC based around the ESS-9018 K2M chip. It retails for 649 pounds, the 6000 CDT at 399 pounds, and the 449 pound 6000

n network player complete that lineup excluding the play version of the 6000a. That combines the amplifier and the streamer in one box. I reviewed the 6000a back in 2020, and I still think it represents the benchmark for performance at its price. Well, now comes the 7000a, and there's a matching CD transport and network streamer at launch. I don't think the guys at Audio Lab like to sleep very much. The specs suggest that the 7000a sits right between the 6008 and the 9000a. I wanted to find out if it represents the same kind of value for money that impressed me so much with the 6000 a three years ago. The Audiolab 7008 is a well-built unit with all-metal casework, including I think the dials measuring 444 by 330 by 78 millimeters and weighing a reassuring 8.4 kilograms. That's 17.5 by 13.0 by 3.1 inches and 18.5 pounds.

there's a silver finish available that tends to be offered on all Audio Lab products. And after all these years, I still haven't made up my mind which one I prefer. Both retail for 1099 pounds in the UK. Starting on the right-hand side is a button to take the unit in and out of standby. The other side of the IR sensor is a 6.25-millimeter (quarter-inch) headphone socket. A rotary volume dial, which you can also press to mute the amp. The 2.8-inch color IPS display is larger than the monochromatic, much simpler screen found in the 6000a. The mode dial grants you access to set up the 7000a as an integrated amplifier, just a pre-amplifier, or separate out the two sections in pre-power mode. Pressing the dial will bring up menu functions, which I'll get into later. I want to keep things moving for this section. The dial on the extreme left will allow you to scroll through various analog and digital inputs. I'm generally a fan of

dials over buttons. However, on this occasion, I have a preferred one less and have the input selection integrated with the volume control, achieving closer to a mirrored symmetry that would provide a more elegant aesthetic. The supplied remote control isn't likely to get lost down the back of a couch. It has a metal front plate and can be used with a matching CD transport and streamer. The quality of the speaker binding posts are nothing to write home about but understandable for the price. Either side of the Bluetooth antenna are 12-volt trigger connections for system integration and a USB slot for system updates. You're extremely well served with digital inputs with two coaxial inputs, two Optical ones, a USB input, and an HDMI ARC. There's a set of analog pre-outs to connect to external power amps or powered subwoofers. You can directly access the power amplifier in pre-power mode. There are three conventional line level inputs plus a phono stage that will support moving magnet cartridges. Before I move on, I just want to say that the addition of a USB input and HDMI ARC

input are a pretty big deal. Neither of them can be found on the 6000a. The inclusion of a USB input allows you to take advantage of an asynchronous connection from your streamer or PC, and in most cases, in terms of sound quality, that's going to be preferable over coax or tosling. The HDMI ARC input allows you to use your TV's remote control to adjust the volume of the 7000a, and it will switch on and off in sync with your TV as well. Now that's great if you want to use this amplifier as part of a simple home cinema setup. Foreign taking a look at the internals of the 7000a, what we have is an architecture that's very similar to the 6000a. I spoke to Jana, another chief designer, some time ago, and he said that he tweaked the design based on what he's learned over the last few years. In case of it isn't broken, don't try and fix it. Our supply transformer is larger. It's 250 VA as opposed to 200 VA on the 6000a.

and it's by Norwegian company Naruto, which is a top quality part. And here we have the AC inlet filter. To the side of that, we have the power supply filter capacitance. As far as I can tell, that's identical to 6000 a 60,000 microfarads, 30,000 per side. Still fairly generous for an amplifier in this class. And the Caps are by owner, which is another top quality part. We have two power amp modules sitting alongside each other, very similar in architecture to the 6000a. Although I'm sure there's some component changes on the board itself because this amplifier has to produce 70 watts into o terms as opposed to 50 Watts. The output devices are mounted onto the heatsink. I'm sure they're the same as on the 6000a because the peak current is the same at 9 amps. And we have the same on this module here. That board that's sticking up is the digital interface. And that board, which is larger than on the 600a because

this amplifier has more digital inputs HDMI ARC Etc. I'll just point out some of the key parts. This chip here is the ESS 9038 k2m DAC chip, which is newer and has better specs than the one on the 6000a, which uses a 9018 chip. That xmos chip is the USB interface. There's a cirrus logic chip here, which is an up sampler for the spdif signal that's toslink and coax coming in. And there's a couple of chips here, which are from Texas Instruments, and they're expanders for the I squared S Bus. This larger chip here is the Bluetooth module. Over this side, we have the phono stage. Below that, digital board and the pre-amplifier board. You can't see because it's underneath there. Over this side, you see some capacitors under the board on this side. And that is the headphone amplifier. There is a dedicated header phone amplifier sitting underneath there. A lot of the other capacitors are by Decon, which are relatively inexpensive.

parts from a Chinese manufacturer, so I think is the case here of using expensive parts where you can. There's still restrictions, obviously, at this price. The overall character of the 700a is of an articular amplifier that has a tonality that is consistent with the Audio Lab house sound. That's a presentation that sits a little bit on the analytical side of neutral. That statement in itself has a limited value unless I place it into some kind of context. So I'm going to lay out some milestones of my journey of reviewing amplifiers below a thousand pounds thus far. I hope that will be useful to those of you who are cross-shopping amplifiers in this price range but maybe you don't have the opportunity to demo them alongside each other that much. And I'm aware that the 7000a is a little bit over a thousand pounds, but it's close enough. The Iota VX sa3 was my reference amplifier in around 500 pounds for some time with very good clarity and great

Dynamic ability: it has a little extra emphasis at the frequency extremes, which gives it an engaging presentation. But the neat thing is, it manages to pull this off without overcooking things, so you're not compelled to hit the off button after half an hour of listening. It wasn't long after I reviewed the Iota VX SA3 that the Audio Lab 6000A came in for review. At 649 pounds, it currently retails for 200 pounds more than the Iota. The extra outlay is justified. You get a much better internal DAC; the one in the SA3 is barely fit for purpose. Plus, the 6000A has a more mature presentation. The bass and treble sit much more in balance with the mid-range, even though it's still on the lean side. The entry Audio Lab amplifier has a little better instrument separation and more treble refinement, but it doesn't have everything its own way. The Iota VX SA3 has a more muscular presentation by virtue of that little bit of bass boost.

in 2022, the Cambridge Audio AXA 35 came in for a review. It shouldn't be dismissed because of its 349-pound price tag. It can comfortably hang with amplifiers twice its price. The XA35 has a furnace stage but no internal DAC, so once you factor in a couple of hundred pounds for one of those, you can see there's a much more Level Playing Field. The Cambridge adds body to the mid-range that the Iota lacks, and it does this without giving up performance in other areas. It's not quite as precise in its musical delivery as the 6000A, but the Audio Lab can't match it when it comes to fleshing out vocals or fullness in the mid-range in general. I reviewed the Cambridge Audio CXA 61 early in 2023, a bargain at 699 pounds, adding a good quality DAC that's absent from the AXA 35. If there's one criticism of the AXA 35, it's that it's distinctly colored on the warm side. This is toned down in the

cxa61 adding detail and refinement in the process. That brings me on to the Audiolab 7000a. Unfortunately, I didn't have the cxa61 here at the same time, but I did have the Iota VXSA3 and the Cambridge Audio AXA35. As you can see, this is where I have to apply a little bit of deductive reasoning. Where the Iota VXSA3, the Cambridge Audio AXA35, and the Audiolab 6000a all have relative strengths and weaknesses. What I mean is, I can understand why somebody might choose one over the other in certain systems. That isn't the case with the 7000a. It's a different level to the SA3 and the AXA35 when it comes to bass control, instrument separation, and resolving details in the upper frequencies. The 7008 gives up nothing to those two amplifiers in terms of dynamics and soundstage as well, extending nicely beyond the speakers to the sides. Although you're not going to get a lot.

of Sound Stage depth at this level. Now, here's the deductive reasoning part: the 6000a went back long, long ago, but if it performs at a similar level to the Iota VX sa3 and the Cambridge audio AXA 35, it is fairly logical to deduce that the 7008 is a step above the 6000a as well. I can hear someone say, What about the Cambridge audio cxa61? Well, this is a much closer call, and here I'm in the Realms of an educated guess rather than sound reasoning, but I'd wager the 7000a has a little bit more detail. But certainly the cxa61 has a fuller tonal presentation. As good as the 7000a is, there's no giant killing going on. The exposure 2510 is significantly better, as it should be for a purist amplifier at 1750 pounds, with greater overall Fidelity that's capable of revealing nuanced textures and a layered Sound Stage. Let's go through some of the menu.

functions that you access by pressing the mode dial. There are five digital filters that can be selected. They make a subtle to imperceptible difference to the sound. In my experience, linear phase fast is supposed to have the best transient attack. Linear phase slow is the default filter with less ringing than the fast one to give a punchier bass and cleaner highs. Minimum phase fast offers minimal pre-ringing that's supposed to be better for sound staging imaging. Minimum phase slow is a non-symmetrical filter also with minimal pre-ringing that's considered preferable for transient attacks. The hybrid filter offers a combination of what the linear phase and minimum phase filters do. You can automatically upsample incoming PCM signals to 352 or 384 kilohertz. The digital phase-locked loop should be left alone in the normal setting unless you know that you have digital sources that produce a lot of jitter. A quirk is that there doesn't seem to be any quick way to exit certain menus. You have to wait five seconds and start again. Audio Lab.

need to address this. There is a balance control, but no tone controls. You can adjust the input sensitivity by plus/minus six decibels. For those of you who have large differences in volume when switching sources, a volume limit can be set to avoid any sudden loud surprises. When you take the unit out of standby, the volume can also be synced with the 7000 N player if you have one. The display options are pretty cool. Amongst them are choices between digital or analog VU meters. You can adjust the brightness and the time for the home screen to appear after accessing functions. People who don't like the VU meters can turn the animation off. If you're using HDMI ARC, the CEC can be set to on so the 7000A will automatically power on and off with the TV. Note that even with it set to off, the TV's remote control will still adjust the volume. Finally, the ability to adjust the standby time is also worth a mention. Plenty to get stuck into there. Let's talk about partnering equipment. I did.

hook up my Denafrips Venus 2 DAC to see if it was a big improvement over the internal DAC. The Sound Stage opened up a little bit, and there was a little bit more detail, but it was hardly night and day. I would strongly urge you to stick with the internal DAC. Now onto speaker pairings. I asked if I could hang on to the Elac Unify Reference UBR 62s specifically because I knew this amp was coming at 749 pounds. It seems a likely candidate as a partner. If I have a slightly smug smile on my face, it's because the 7000a is exactly the right kind of speaker to get the best out of the UBR 62s - plenty of grip and control of the low frequencies whilst tempering Andrew Jones speaker's tendency to sound overly warm and a little bit dark. The Amphion Argon once took performance to another level with a 1300 pound speakers, delivering a lot more detail, better scale, and dynamics. Some of you will crave more harmonic richness, but neither of these components.

are overtly dry-sounding. A combination of the pair of these two made for one of my favorite systems at this price. But the amphi and argon ones are probably as far as I'd go in order to squeeze the best performance out the 7000a. Next up with the Dali menu SCS at 1499 pounds. These mini monitors are more revealing in the mid-range and top end than the amphians but naturally have less bass. It was by no means a bad pairing but the 7000a did place a glass ceiling on the mini or sc's ability to resolve those fine textures in the mid-range and separate our instruments in a way in which more exotic amplification would reveal. I suspected that my prior response 1sc's would be a step too far and I was right. These are tricky speakers to drive and with the 7000a they sounded thin and flat but the Audio Lab has nothing to be ashamed of. I use my proax as a kind of torture test for amplifiers around this

price, and they've been amps at twice the price of the 7000A. They've been left by the wayside as soon as you lift the Audio Lab 7008 out of its box. You're likely to be impressed by the way it's put together, its weight, and the absence of any plastic that you often find on many of its competitors. However, it's the 7000A's breadth and depth of abilities that were likely to have you admiring it long after the novelty of having a new toy has gone. The internal DAC is excellent, and the amplifier is comfortably a step up from the class below that includes the 6000A. The addition of a USB input and an HDMI ARC input up to the value states considerably in my book. It allows you to squeeze the best performance out of your streamer and is a very convenient way to connect your TV to your Hi-Fi system. Yes, for 1100 pounds, there's going to be purer amplifier solutions out there that will give you better dynamics and

more fleshed out mid-range, and the ability to drive trickier speakers, but I doubt they'll have anywhere near the same features. The Audio Lab 7000a gets a very highly recommended from this channel. I have two-channel Hi-Fi systems connected to all three TVs in my home. I just can't stand to listen to the sound that comes out of TV speakers, and I like to see HDMI ARC included, a lot more of the feature-rich amplifiers, not the purest amplifiers, that's fair enough, but the ones that tend to sell off the back of having a lot of features. But what do you think, and let me know how you listen to TV in your home, what equipment you have, or at least what equipment you'd like to have. All That Remains for me to say is if you like what I'm doing with this channel, you want to see it grow, and you haven't done so already, please like, share, subscribe, hit the Bell notification, check me out on Patreon, there's a couple of consultancy tiers.

you can access there as well as the ABA Club on patreon which is a really fun way to interact with me and other patreons but for today for now I'm British audio file signing off.

DEVIL IN THE DETAIL! Audiolab 7000A Amplifier Review

For music enthusiasts and hifi lovers, old and new