Zanden Audio Systems has received (2) coveted 2014 Product of the Year Awards from The Absolute Sound. The Zanden model 3100 has received the Tubed Preamplifier of the Year Award, and its companion piece the model 8120 has received the Tubed Amplifier of the Year Award.
Zanden model 3100:
"JV called this beautifully made tube linestage preamplifier and its companion stereo amplifier, the 8120, from Japanese designer Kazutoshi Yamada’s Zanden Audio 'one of those rare combos that somehow manages to be transparent to the sources ahead of it (and the speakers behind it) while at the same time putting a consistently lovely and lifelike spin on timbres.' Essentially neutral in balance, without any of the excess warmth or midbass fudge or top-end shading of certain tube products, the 3100 seems to reveal differences among recordings without insisting on them. Instead, it finds a dollop of natural musical sweetness in whatever balance a recording, record player, or DAC presents, making everything not just more listenable but more enjoyable and realistic. One of JV’s references."---TAS 249, pg.72
Zanden model 8120:
"Like its companion piece, the 3100 linestage preamplifier, this elegant, 90Wpc, tube stereo amplifier from master craftsman Kazutoshi Yamada is a little marvel of neutrality, resolution, and enjoyability. Just like the preamp, the 8120 will tell you little details about how a performance or a recording was made without ever sounding analytical while doing so. The antithesis of warm, syrupy tube amps (or cool, dry solid-state amps, for that matter), it somehow retains a full measure of the natural ease, sweetness, and lifelike tone and texture that still make tube amps so attractive, while also preserving very nearly the full of measure of resolution, speed, and control of solid-state. Like the 3100, the 8120 is a remarkable piece of audio engineering. One of JV’s references."---TAS 249, pg.72
