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Astell & Kern SP3000T review: a tube amp in your pocket

Astounding on several levels.

Analog stalwarts write love letters to the warm, natural, lifelike sound of the tube amp; proponents of solid-state digital amplifiers praise their precision and faithful reproduction of the source material. This setup brings out the best in anything you throw at it: Jeff Buckley singing “Hallelujah,” Prince’s “Purple Rain” soundtrack, Yo-Yo Ma’s cello suites, Miles Davis, A Tribe Called Quest, Radiohead, Lizzo, Jazmine Sullivan, Led Zeppelin, pretty much any Björk or Sigur Rós, the list goes on. Using the UE Premier in-ear monitors through the balanced audio jack sounds just as good, with even more precision, and when I was on a succession of four five-hour flights in a week, I was able to check out and go to a different sonic landscape whenever I wanted.

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