January 1, 2003 2002 Product of the Year: Halcro dm58 Mono Amplifiers Even though Ultra Audio has been publishing for only a few months, choosing a Product of the Year was easy. Halcro's line of amplifiers has been gaining momentum over the last year, and based on their technology and performance, the dm58 monoblocks embody "sound to the extreme," making them a natural choice for the single best product Ultra Audio has reviewed in 2002. Calling them "a precedent-setting design," Jerry Kindela, an admitted tube admirer, learned from the solid-state dm58s to be "no longer so one-sided in my view of amplification." He praised the amps' "impossibly low noise floor" along with their "effortlessness," and "dynamic ability." He goes on: "What much of this seems to come down to is the Halcro's ability to reveal subtlety in textural structure of harmonic overtones, an overlayering that must come through if music is to become a living, breathing entity." We congratulate designer Bruce Candy and the entire Halcro crew on a product that attempts to rearrange the amplifier hierarchy -- and is having success doing so.
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