The sonics of the amp are as fetching as its appearance. For some time, I’ve been using the solid-state darTZeel NHB-468 Mk. II amplifier, which produces, among other things, a vast soundstage on the Avantgarde loudspeakers. I’ve had a number of tube amplifiers, mostly in the SET range, that simply weren’t quite as compelling in a variety of sonic parameters as the darTZeels. The Air Tight, by contrast, did not falter on music big or small. Instead, it offered an intoxicating mixture of sumptuous sound and sledgehammer drive.

On one of my all-time favorite recordings, a blockbuster LP on the Decca label by the Chicago Symphony, whose fabled brass section, led by the trumpeter Adolph Herseth, was in its prime, I played the final movement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition (orchestrated by Ravel). Sometimes the inner child in you takes over when listening to a high-flying stereo system, and in this instance it did. In other words, I let it rip. The Air Tight came through with flying colors. It wasn’t simply that the 3211 could play loudly without compression, though it does that. It was also that it provided the image density and tonal weight that made the whole shebang sound so darned lifelike, as though you were sitting in the concert hall with sound waves crashing over you—the trumpets blaring, the bass drum pounding and the strings shimmering. I almost felt as though I were standing before the monumental Great Gate of Kyiv, which was intended to mark Tsar Alexander II’s narrow escape in 1866 from an assassination attempt by a disgruntled Russian student who belonged to a circle of revolutionaries called “Hell.” The Air Tight sounded the very opposite, which is to say heavenly.

Was that sense of tonal weight a result of colorations? I don’t doubt that the Air Tight 3211 is less linear than many solid-state amps. But without straying too far into conundrums about what constitutes sound that is faithful to the real thing—here I suspect that Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous dictum about pornography applies, “We know it when we see it”—I can testify that the Air Tight delivered a musical offering that had its own kind of truth. The ability of tubes to supply the resonances of a note remains unsurpassed. The Air Tight didn’t just provide the outline of a note but the very substance.

This manifested itself in mesmerizing ways, whether it was a recording of a brass ensemble or a full orchestra.  Take the German Brass’ performance of the Bach aria “I stand with one foot in the grave,” which was arranged for brass by Enrique Crespo (a trombonist and founding member of the German Brass). The solo part, performed by the legendary trumpeter Matthias Höfs, does not emerge for almost a minute as the various sections of the ensemble play the introductory passages but is all the more moving for that. The Air Tight provided the sensation of the trumpet riding on a cushion of air, a sense of ease and felicity that was unparalleled in my experience. In rendering the solo so accurately, it captured the essence of the emotional power of the music. If you want to quibble about the nature of odd third-order harmonics, be my guest. 

Another virtue of the 3211 was its transient precision. It wasn’t that the soundstage was as defined as it was with the darTZeel amplifier. But there was a tangible sense of presence on the initial attack of a note. A billowing quality—dare I say bloom—accompanied the Air Tight’s reproduction of a variety of music, ranging from Elvis Presley’s rendition of “Crying in the Chapel” to Elly Ameling singing Schubert’s “An die Musik” or “O noble art.” It was possible to hear to an even more elevated degree the shaping of the syllables by the various performers.

At the same time, the Air Tight also endowed vocalists, particularly male ones, with a sense of heft. Gone was any lingering sense of wispiness or evanescence. Instead, it was replaced by a rich, warm, and inviting sound. This was most welcome on the young German-British lyric baritone Benjamin Appl’s debut album with Sony Classical titled Heimat or “Homeland.” On the opening song, “Seligkeit” or “Bliss,” the sound was indeed one of tube blissfulness. Not the least of the accomplishments of the Air Tight was its endowing the piano accompaniment with a propulsive power and resonant depth in the bass region.

So far, I’ve talked almost exclusively about digital recordings that had the new dCS Varèse as their source. But in my experience, vinyl playback can also benefit from tubed gear, which provides a sense of solidity to recordings that can sometimes sound a bit etched or even strident. The Air Tight, much as it did with digital, permitted voices to blossom into space without seeming crimped or pinched.  It almost made me wonder if having tubes somewhere in the system is imperative to achieve the truly lofty heights that vinyl records can attain. The Air Tight opened up the rear of the hall on the aforementioned Decca recording of the Chicago Symphony in ways that solid-state may not quite be able to achieve. 

Is there a fly in the ointment with the Air Tight? Not really. The one caveat I must mention is that I was not able to efface a slight 60-cycle hum. As good as the 2211, which had no hum, sounded, I can testify that the 3211 walloped it in every other way. I feel certain that the hum issue is one that Air Tight can remedy with an easy fix, one that might be as simple as providing a switch to lift the ground on the input stage. [See the Manufacturer Comment elsewhere in this issue for Air Tight’s response regarding the low-level hum. —RH] So glorious was the sound that several friends of mine continue to mourn the absence of the 3211s, which have moved from my basement listening room to Lisi’s. This remarkable creation deserves nothing but praise and admiration. 

Specs & Pricing

Tubes: One 12AX7, three 12BH7, two 211
Output: 120W (6 ohms/2% THD)
Frequency response: 10Hz–50kHz (±1dB/0.06% THD at 1kHz/30W)
Damping factor: 6 (1kHz/1W)
Input sensitivity: 1V/input impedance 100k ohms
Load impedance: 6 ohms/16, ohms selectable (6 ohms standard)
Dimensions: 400mm x 405mm x 450mm
Weight: 97 lbs.
Price: $99,975 per pair

AirTight/A & M LIMITED
1-20 Demaru-cho, Takatsuki, Osaka, 569-0076, Japan
airtight-anm.com
+81-72-668-1760