This amp is also fast, in a way I’ve not really noticed with Accuphase before. Transients just happen, there’s much less sense of the electronics playing catchup with the music. Take Stanley Clarke, and an old favourite which surely contains no surprises: ‘Bass Folk Song No.6’ from The Stanley Clarke Band [Heads Up]: this is mostly just Stan and a plucked double bass, with a hint of synth backing for atmosphere. But aside from the precision, the shape and the sound of ‘the p of the pluck’, and the associated benefits in terms of the assuredness of the timing, the actual pitch of the double bass notes is clearer and more tuneful as a result. The whole is more evidently a song. The leading edge of the note doesn’t bleed into the sustain and decay elements, muddling how they are perceived. So we have more opportunity to appreciate the actual note bit of the note, in all its richness and harmonic complexity – and more opportunity to appreciate the space between that note and the next.
While the E-5000 offers a useful power advantage over the E-4000, at least on paper (nominally 240W into an 8Ω load and 320W into 4Ω as opposed to 180/260W respectively) I’m not sure that’s the root of its magic. But combine that available power with the speed described above and, especially with dynamic and rhythmically complex music and you get body, presence and musical purpose. More than I’d expect from an Accuphase integrated. Whether in single-ended or balanced mode it has an ability to keep the various threads of music separate, preserving the relationships between them and their respective dynamic interaction, so you still perceive the music as a whole. The shape and structure are intact, but each line is easier to discern, and more fully realised. Take Patricia Barber and ‘The Hours’ from Mythologies [Blue Note]: much of the magic in this piece comes from the backing vocals, a small gospel choir that the E-5000 resolves, spatially and timbrally right down to the level of individual voices. The way they fill in the background, subtle but significant, then swell to take a leading role as the piece develops, all contributes to the slow-burn satisfaction of this track. When the voices are blended or smudged together, you don’t get all that gospelly goodness or the vibrant sense of swelling energy.
There are things about the E-5000 that are reminiscent of the clarity, speed and stiffness I admired so much in the CH Precision L1/A1.5 combination. If the Accuphase hadn’t followed the CH in my system, I wonder how easily I would have identified not its quality, but its specific qualities. It can’t hope to match the Swiss kit’s levels of dynamic discrimination, nor that feeling of absolute solidity, come what may. But it closes the gap between what I want, what I can afford and what I expected from Accuphase, now I’ve had a taste of what’s achievable at the highest end of performance. Given that there’s still the lovely organic, relaxed naturalness to proceedings, it has clearly lost none of Accuphase’s established virtues in the process. That makes it a significant and emphatic win for the company – and for me: the E-480 is no more – hello E-5000!