I liked the orange Micromega M-One integrated amp at Rocky Mountain AudioFest 2016 more than the silver one (pictured) at CES 2017. I liked it more because it was a rich, good color and it matched the orange Focal Sopra No.2s it was driving. I liked it because it played beautiful music in front of a backlit rice-paper wall. The whole presentation looked, and felt, and sounded so Zen clear, relaxed, and revelatory. I thought it was the best sound at RMAF.
Ever since the silver age of giant Japanese receivers, I've always cringed when presented with a feature-laden box of audio parts intended to sell, not on how the box plays music, but on its checklist of attractions—and the knobs, switches, and meters that advertise those attractions. And then I saw that orange M-One
The Micromega M-One has more features than any of those silver-age contraptions, but to my eye, it is the purest, most high-design-beautiful audio machine on the planet. And, of course, it's made in France. Inside that sleek, cut-from-a-single-block-of-aluminum Zen box you'll find a music-streaming device with a 100Wpc amplifier output and a full menu of connections including: balanced and unbalanced analog inputs; Bluetooth aptX; LAN-Network 24-bit/384kHz asynchronous; SPDIF Coax-Optical-AES 24-bit /768kHz USB asynchronous passing DXD, DSD, DOP; and DSP with automatic room correction (M.A.R.S). If that is not enough, you can add an MM/MC phono stage and/or a Binaural headphone converter. Look again at the M-One's sleek beauty. The base model costs $4999 and it comes in more colors than French cars. Keep your eyes peeled for my review.
