Audiolab - 9000A Integrated Amplifier

'Great Value for the Money': Roon-Ready Audiolab 9000A Integrated Amplifier Blends Digital Prowess with Analog Pedigree, Features 100Wpc Output, ESS 9038PRO DAC, DSD512 Ability, and MM Phonostage

Whether your listening preferences lean to analog or digital, or both, the Audiolab 9000A integrated amplifier takes care of your needs with superb capability. Flexible connectivity, wireless interfacing for portable devices, a built-in phonostage, and head-of-the-class amplification for your speakers and headphones help turn 9000A into a component Hi-Fi News calls "a clear cut above."

A dual-mono Class AB design with "triple cascade" complementary feedback to produce superb linearity and "direct path" technology with a precision analog volume control, 9000A outputs a true 100Wpc into eight ohms and 160Wpc into four ohms. Three variations of operating mode (integrated, pre-power, pre-only), a custom-spec 320VA toroidal transformer, and 4 x 15,000uF reservoir capacity (60,000uF in total) further account for value-addled performance notable for everything from lively dynamics to firm control, signal purity, and coloration-resistant faithfulness.

Mixing digital capability with an analog pedigree, the Roon-tested 9000A offers premium digital-to-analog conversion via a flagship 32-bit ESS 9038PRO DAC chipset with patented HyperStream II architecture and a Time Domain Jitter Eliminator. Post-DAC analog active filtering happens via a single-stage Class-A linear phase filter. Complete internal "three-unfold" MQA decoding and aptX Bluetooth further expand your options, while the on-board MM phono preamplifier touts a JFET-based circuit with precise RIAA equalization. Similarly, the headphone output stage employs current-feedback circuitry with wide bandwidth and high slew rate to deliver dynamic, detailed performance with all headphone types.

Adorned with a 4.3-inch full-color IPS LCD screen and clean aesthetics that match the other 9000 Series components, the 20.7-pound 9000A supports up to DSD512 via its USB-B input. Other inputs include one XLR, three RCA, one phono, one power-amplifier type, two coaxial, two optical, one Bluetooth, and one 12V trigger. On the output side, 9000A accommodates one preamplifier, one pair of speakers, one headphone, and one 12V trigger. 9000A also touts adjustable input sensitivity. 

Sold with a remote control, 9000A delivers what AVForums says is "effortlessly brilliant without losing its emotional edge." To learn more, or arrange for a risk-free in-home audition, give us a shout at 312-433-0200.

"While you might expect a mid/entry-level integrated to be 'jack of all trades, master of none,' the 9000A is a clear cut above, as evidenced by its low-end extension, articulate midrange and considerable power. And when coupled with the matching transport, CDs are afforded the same clean, musical treatment.
—Hi-Fi News, Outstanding Product

"Across all sources, Audiolab's new 9000A proved a highly capable performer that unlocks pretty much any type of music and lets the listener in. [It's] the company's best ever integrated amplifier by a good way — and thus represents great value for money."
—Stereonet, Applause Award

"Audiolab has taken everything it does, refined it and created an amplifier that manages to be effortlessly brilliant without losing its emotional edge. The result is an unquestionable Best Buy."
—AVForums

Operating Modes
The primary mode is 'Integrated.' This combines the pre and power amp stages, for the connection of digital and analog sources to the amp's inputs and a pair of speakers to its binding posts. 'Pre-Power Mode' disconnects the pre and power amp stages. The allows 9000A to be used solely as a power amp, for example, connected to an AV processor in a home cinema system. It also enables additional signal processing to be added, by connecting the 9000A's 'preamp out' socket to an external processor, then returning the processor's output to the amp's 'power amp in' socket, making the most of its 100W per channel performance and critical performance characteristic of the 9000A's pre-section.