Stéphane Even was bullish about the driving capability of the TMA. Despite its modest rated output he is clear that it should handle some surprising speaker loads. In part that is down to the use of quite high levels of global feedback, an approach that certainly delivers low-frequency control. Unfortunately it also gets a bad press as it often produces an over-damped and sat-on sound. Except that that isn’t how the TMA (or any other Neodio product) sounds at all. Listening to the unit I was astonished to hear that it’s a high-feedback design, but then, as M. Even was quick to point out, it’s not the feedback that’s the problem, but the way it is generally implemented. He spent three-years working on the TMA circuit to combine the amp’s easy musicality with the drive and control that comes from the careful application of GFB. In this case, the results speak for themselves.
The first speaker I hooked up to the Neodio was the Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Concert Grand, chosen for its modest efficiency, considerable bandwidth and a bottom-end that needs an iron fist in a velvet glove approach to maximising the benefits without suffering the consequences. I was expecting a stern test of the TMA’s capabilities, but in practice it barely even noticed the challenge – and I barely noticed the amplifier, so effortlessly did it slot into place.
Natural born amplifier…
The word I want to use to describe the TMA’s sound is “natural” – but it is a word that is so over-used and clichéd when it comes to audio commentary as to be almost meaningless. Yet that is exactly how this amplifier sounds: exactly how it makes a system sound. So perhaps I should endeavour to explain what that word means – at least in this context. Look it up in a dictionary and you’ll find a range of meanings, from “usual” to “unaffected”, synonyms from “normal” to “accepted” and “expected”. All of them describe the sound of the TMA, suggesting a quality that is as rare as it is valuable. Plug the TMA into a system and suddenly, the music sounds exactly the way you expect it to. It sounds almost naively simple, but that really is the case. It’s open, relaxed, it has presence and a sense of tempo (fast or slow), tonal colour, energy and expressive intent.
How does the TMA succeed in delivering what so few of its price peers (or even products at many times its price) seldom do? It’s all about balance and perspective, scale and above all, proportion. The Neodio manages to maintain a sense of balance between the elements in the sonic landscape, between the weight and energy at the top, through the mids and deep into the bass. It has a stability, dimensionality and steady point of view that anchor the performers and their performance in space. It manages to sound realistically present and scaled, so that the elements on the soundstage appear at the right distance and fit together. But by keeping everything in proportion, in terms of instrumental scale, relative energy, dynamic shifts and density, it stops the music getting bent out of shape. It preserves the original relationships (dynamic, spatial and temporal) between all the different elements – whether that’s between a singer’s voice and the guitar in their lap, or a full orchestra going through the gears. And because of all that, what you hear is presented with the shape and proportions you expect.
