Esoteric F-01 - shockingly good

I just watched the unpacking and the first two audio demo videos on YT. Looks impressive, indeed.

I've always been impressed by Esoteric's products, superb engineering, impeccable build quality and gorgeous sound.

Not suprised it's "shockingly good."

I also love a nice integrated. :)
 
It’s indeed very good. I’ve had mine for about a month. Great as an integrated — good punch but with the nice warmth of class A. The pre amp section is also great. I have a 300b tube amp that I also like to use and have connected the pre-amp in the F-01 to feed the 300b. I did get the extra power supply for the pre amp section — so the pre-amp and amp are using completely independent power supplies — almost like separates in a singe chassis. In any event, would definitely suggest that anyone looking for an integrated in this price range who has efficient speakers to give this a listen. I use mine with Devore Fidelity O/96 speakers (96 db efficient).
 
The two new integrated models have been out for a while yet I haven't read anything to explain why you might choose one over the other.
 
I think they have at least slightly different use cases. F-01 is Class A and 30 watts per channel into 8 ohms (doubles into 4 ohms). F-02 is 120 watts per channel into 8 ohms (doubles into 4 ohms) and I think it is a Class A/B design (although Esoteric doesn’t seem to state that explicitly). In my case, I chose the F-01 over the F-02 because (i) I have 96 db efficient speakers so don’t need more than 30 watts, (ii) I generally like Class A sound (although, candidly, not sure whether I would actually hear much difference between the F-01 and F-02 in a real world setting), (ii) I couldn’t listen to either amp before purchase because my dealer doesn’t carry either in stock, but I could listen to the Esoteric S-05, which is a Class A amplifier (not integrated) of similar design to the F-01 and I liked the S-05 and (iv) the extra heat/lower efficiency of the F-01 isn’t a practical concern for me in my room.
 
F-01 is Class A
(S-05 is also Class A)

F-02 is Class A/B with the first watts Class A

Both integrateds benefit from the X generation amp improvements and you can further add an external PSU. ES-LINKA also supported.

Gorgeous sound and great capabilities...
 
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