HEED LAMBDA & GAMMA

The Lambda and Gamma are very stylish in appearance, with a minimalist, modern flare. The build quality is terrific, and more than one would expect at these prices. In function, both power amplifier, housed in a chassis identical to the Lambda, offers up 110 wpc, and is outfitted with high quality speaker binding posts and RCA stereo inputs. volume control. There is a full function remote control as well. There are five single ended inputs around the back, and, happily, a tape output. There is also a connector for an optional outboard power supply. The Gamma with sources including a Sonore microRendu streamer feeding a Marantz HD-DAC1, and a Rega Planar 3 turntable, with a Rega phono stage. The speakers were a pair of Spendor A2 floorstanders (review forthcoming). Cabling was all Audio Art Cable. Everything was plugged into an Audience power conditioner. No other special tweaks were used.

We started off streaming a ton of classic rock from our networked library, powered by ROON, and it honestly took very little time to understand the Heed electronics were exceptionally clean, open, and wonderfully transparent sounding. There was no particular coloration or tonal inequalities that we could detect. We streamed mostly CD rips in the beginning and were pretty dazzled by how excellent plain old Redbook digital sounded. We cued up a string of classic European progressive rock, leaning toward the off the beaten path and obscure artists for good measure. We enjoyed everything from Goblin, Banco De Mutuo Soccorso, Atoll, Pancake, Golden Earring, Circus, Walrus, and some more familiar bands like the great Renaissance. Not to overlook some of our favorites, we also mined the superb Fairport Convention seven disc archival box set, The First Ten Years. Not much of this music has been released in high resolution, but all these CDs have been mastered with care, most as a labour of love, and without exception they all sounded very organic, with all of their analog goodness preserved. But most importantly, the Heed gear allowed the music to reveal itself out of the mist of time, and made one long for an era when there were real instruments and mysterious compositions to challenge the ear and provide an escape from the mundane.

We wanted to also listen to modern music, which we rabidly consume, so we cued up recent albums from alt-J, Punch Brothers, Eddie Veddor, Big Thief, Josefine Lindstrand, Cate Le Bon, Wovenhand, Walker & Wylde, Lars Bygden, Erdogan Emir, and far too many more to mention. The majority of these albums are 24 bit downloads, and are well recorded. The Heed amplification allowed these new recordings to shine bright, and helped get to the heart of the artist’s intentions.

The Veddor album, Earthling, was a bit of a challenge, as it was produced like a “big” rock record, with more commercial sounding mixes than Veddor’s band Pearl Jam is known for. Clearly, his voice is in superb form, and right up front in the mix. The Heed combo helped produce a coherent picture, with very controlled bass and a very wide soundstage fitting for some of the epic rockers on this album.

The Dream, alt-J’s latest work, is the sound of a band in full creative overdrive, with quirky time signatures, off beat vocal harmonies, and overall experimental spirit, but delivered in a tighter package, with enough left turns to dazzle. The 48 kHz download, with a bit of squashed dynamics, is still a great listen.

Hell On Church Street, the new release from Punch Brothers, is a career highlight, with great, natural sounding production, and varied material, including songs by Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, and even Gordon Lightfoot. The interplay between Chris Thile’s mandolin and