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Beyond Frontiers Audio Tulip Integrated 200W Hybrid Amp/DAC Beyond Frontiers Audio Tulip Integrated 200W Hybrid Amp/DAC Posted On 15.02.2021
Last Update On 15.02.2021 Beyond Frontiers Audio Tulip Integrated 200W Hybrid Amp/DAC
Beyond Frontiers Audio Tulip Integrated 200W Hybrid Amp/DAC Beyond Frontiers Audio Tulip Integrated 200W Hybrid Amp/DAC Beyond Frontiers Audio Tulip Integrated 200W Hybrid Amp/DAC Beyond Frontiers Audio Tulip Integrated 200W Hybrid Amp/DAC Beyond Frontiers Audio Tulip Integrated 200W Hybrid Amp/DAC
Description Original Description is in English, other language texts are translations and can contain errors. EnglishDeutschTurkish

UPC:

Beyond Frontiers Audio Tulip Amp

Condition:

Used

Weight:

11.00 KGS

Minimum Purchase:

1 unit

Maximum Purchase:

1 unit

Shipping:

Calculated at Checkout


Excellent and boxed. Factory updated in 2020.


 


Some enthusistic outpourings:


In our Show Report, we named the Beyond Frontiers Audio (BFA) as “BEST SOUND AT SHOW”, commenting “This was easily the biggest (pleasant) surprise at the show. This Serbian company has created one of the most exciting systems we've ever heard. We don't know if it was the speakers or the integrated amp/DAC that most contributed, but the musicality we've noted throughout these awards was here in spades, hearts, diamonds AND clubs. The music just permeated our hearts, souls, brains and bodies. Big grins were plastered on everyone's faces. With each cut of the Stereomojo Ultimate Stereo Evaluation Disc, we found ourselves saying, "Now THAT'S the way this is SUPPOSED to sound!" Highs, mids and deep bass inspired us to not only do a little bootie shaking, but we even ended up breaking into a sing-a-long session. Classical music burst forth in such a way that we wanted to do some air conducting. Talk about immersive. We stayed way too long in this room and hated to leave.”

Not long after, I was sent the new BFA Tulip integrated amp for its world’s first review. The old Sonic Frontiers philosophy still stands, to build the best amplifier available making absolutely no compromises. The name Beyond Frontiers is a direct reference to the old Sonic Frontiers, this time going beyond the former Sonic Frontiers. The Tulip is indeed an all out assault on the state of the art. Here are some of the amp’s features:

- VFD display by Noritake – Japan,

- Inputs include 4 LINE level, 2 digital COAX (S/PDIF) and 1 USB port,

- Click-less (in sound path) (Takamishawa-Japan) Shunt Relay Volume Control - Patent Pending,

- Built-in 24bit/192kHz resampling Cirrus Logic & Burr-Brown DAC (all audio data always plays on 24bit/192kHz),


- Mundorf M-CAP® Supreme Silver / Gold / Oil (2x) and MLytic® HC (4x) 47000uF/80Vdc Mundorf electrolytes,

- Tubes are JJ Tesla 1x ECC83S and 1x E88CC Gold pins, cryogenically treated,

- Amplifier is 100% tube gain without any type of feedback,

- Dual-mono amp, current output driver with Sanken bipolar transistors,

- Pure silver Mundorf and Kimber wire PTFE insulation,

- WBT Speaker Output posts and Cardas Rhodium input RCA’s, Neutrik USB port,

- Toroidal 1600W dual primary power transformer,

- 2 x 200W/8 Ohm, 2 x 400W/4 Ohm, capable to drive speakers down to 2 Ohm,

- Swedish air-craft quality aluminum chassis panels and unique constant temperature heat-sinks,

- Full aluminum remote control, in house patented remote protocol.


Designer and company owner Zdenko Zivkovic told me that this amp is “the sum total of all I have learned in all my years, the culmination of everything I know”.


The Tulip is a hybrid design, meaning the preamp section is tube based while the amplifier section is solid state, for many the best possible combination with the preamp providing the qualities that only tubes can impart while the solid state provides much more power at a much lower cost than a full tubular power amp could.

At 17” x 8” x 14” and a hefty 112 lbs, the Tulip is certainly not built like a flower.

The first thing you see is the BFA logo and motto “Together to Sound”. Next, as the amp warms up and does a complete internal check, you see display that tells you the number of hours on your tubes. If there’s another amp that provides that info, we don’t know about it. In operation mode the Selected Input is displayed on the left side, “LINE 1” or whichever input you used last – it remembers. The upper right side displays the relative dB level of the output signal, “-46dB” while the lower right side displays the volume position in a range from 00 to 96 steps.

The status LED will flash Blue for 10 sec. upon the AC cord connection. Once the LED stops flashing it changes color to Green. You press the “STAND BY” button to turn ON the Amp. The Green LED light changes to Blue again, to indicate that the unit is in a working state. A Red LED will indicate an error, but that never happened.

The VFD is easily visible from across the room and does not emit too much light like many LEDs do. The whole display can also be turned off via the remote. YES! Thank you Zdenko!

Beneath the display are 6 small buttons. The first pair on the left, vertically aligned is for changing sources. The next, standby and mute. On the right the two buttons are volume up/down. Simple, elegant and effective. All of those functions and more are also available via the metal remote. In fact, one the amp is set up, I never had to touch it again, other than to make gear changes.

The Beyond Frontiers Tulip Hybrid Integrated Amplifier’s designer Zdenko Zivkovic set a very high bar for himself and the amp – the best in the world with no compromises in build or sound quality. No expense was spared – even sending parts to Canada and back to Serbia for cryogenic treatment. The best materials and parts with the most efficient circuitry with noise and vibration suppression.

Is the Tulip the best on the planet? Unlike other reviewers, I’ll be honest and say that I have not heard every integrated amp on the planet (neither have they), but I can say I have not heard anything at any price that is better. The BFA’s ability to portray music in a lifelike, highly musical and neutral manner is unsurpassed. Its degree of transparency, clearness, dynamics and lack of distortion is about as good as it gets. Most importantly perhaps, it conveys the emotion of the music in a way seldom heard at any price. It rocks, it simmers, it can bring tears to your eyes – or more accurately, it can allow the music to bring tears to your eyes. And you never have to strain to hear the most minute instrumental line or vocal background. Music is full of nuance and so is the BFA.

The BFA is unique in that it does high-res music up to 24/192 over USB.

The only downsides are (one) that it lacks balanced circuits. The DarTZeel for comparison has one pair of balanced inputs, but costs considerably more. A phono stage is a DarTZeel option where the BFA has none. The BFA is the only Hybrid integrated amp to include a 24/192 DAC, they tell us.


The second downside is that the DAC upsamples everything to 24/192 with mixed results. If your collection is mostly high quality recordings like classical, jazz or any genre with high quality sonics, the BFA is the perfect choice. But there are many who pay much less attention to the recording quality than the musical content. It used to be that the two were seldom found in one recording, but that is changing rapidly.


The BFA Tulip is a reference qualityamplifier, integrated or not. It has luxuary touches, like telling you how many hours are on the tubes, a full-function matching metal remote, the ability to match all inputs levels and more. But it doesn't waste money on excessive casework just for appearance sake; it appears that every dime was efficiently spent building a machine that has one purpose - to be the best on the planet.

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