The separates approach has held sway in the world of high-end hi-fi from the very beginning. That is perfectly understandable, given the idea that each component only has one job to do, and so can be optimised for that task. Such logic is undeniable. When you are charging huge sums of money for a premium product, every last degree of performance matters, after all.
But we’ve noticed a change in recent years. Manufacturers are getting better at integrating functionality without compromising the sound, particularly in the digital space. Esoteric’s new N-05XE streaming preamplifier is a prime example of that trend.
