Pre/Power Amplifiers

Based in Berlin, German company MBL is perhaps still best known for its omni-directional Radialstrahler loudspeakers [HFN Jun ’21], spreading their output over 360° in the cause of creating sound that fills a room. The idea isn’t new – the design was first launched at IFA in Berlin in 1979, in the times when audio was a major focus of that show – but it has been developed and refined over almost five decades, and is still a mainstay of the company’s lineup.

But for anyone reading this review and expressing surprise that MBL also makes ‘front end’ electronics, that’s nothing new, either – the 1986 arrival of the 6010 preamp, also known as Der Vorverstärker, created similar incredulity, so bound was the company to its radical speaker design. Since then, MBL has developed and expanded its range, the latest arrival being the £7820 C41 streamer, combining the functions of network player, DAC and preamplifier, and usable straight into a power amp such as the partnering C21, priced £6720 and claiming 180W/8ohm [see PM's Lab Report].

Neither unit is what you’d call a shrinking violet, and although the pairing tested is part of the Cadenza lineup, above which sit the Noble and Reference ranges, it’s striking in its looks, and comes in a choice of finishes. You can have the gloss black with gold detailing seen here, the same with Palinux silver/chrome trim, or either of those with an all-white main body.

Simply does it

Whichever you choose, you get the solidity of build and finish concomitant with that whole ‘Made in Germany’ thing. The C41 alone weighs 15.5kg – a poundage which, though certainly substantial, doesn’t probe the higher reaches of high-end daftness. For all that glistening trim and equipment-rack presence, this MBL pairing has a distinct air of ‘sensible’ about it.

And there’s simplicity, too: eschewing the ‘bells and whistles’ approach of many network-connected players, the C41 has just Ethernet and USB-B inputs for streaming and playback from a computer, plus AES/EBU, coaxial and optical digital ins. Its output provision is similarly frill-free – a single coaxial digital out and analogue audio available on balanced XLRs and RCAs, their volume controlled by the single front panel knob to provide that ‘straight into a power amp’ preamp functionality. Of course, you could also cut out the middleman and run the C41 directly into a pair of active speakers...

The player itself is also decidedly simple, apart from the use of MBL’s True Peak technology [see boxout]. The backbone of the digital-to-analogue conversion employs the almost-ubiquitous ESS Sabre solution, while the streaming capability is implemented using one of those Raspberry Pi ‘computer on a board’ devices. But why not? If there are tried-and-tested solutions out there, where’s the sense in trying to reinvent the wheel? Better to concentrate the design and engineering effort on maximising performance, which is what MBL has endeavoured to do with its own power supplies, re-clocking and custom DSP/digital filter and upsampling technologies [see Lab Report]. The fully balanced analogue output stage is an MBL staple as well, of course.

Neither is the actual streaming capability exactly groundbreaking as the C41 only accepts file formats up to 192kHz/24-bit, in addition to DSD64 via DoP. Nevertheless, that ‘only’ should be more than adequate for most users’ needs. I suppose those of us who occasionally play 352.8kHz/32-bit DXD-resolution or DSD256 (or even 512) files are very much in the minority.

On the cards

Streaming services? The company cites Qobuz, Roon, Spotify, and Tidal, although it admits some of these may be part of the C41’s ‘easy expandability and updateability through online updates’. That’s not a major problem if these updates are indeed on their way, but it’s unusual these days to find a device requiring an SD card to be inserted to carry them out.

The C21 amp has been around for a while, and is part of a range of power amplifiers from MBL – also in the Cadenza series there’s the C15 monoblock, and there are several even more powerful models further up the hierarchy. Like MBL’s other designs, the C21 uses its Class D ‘Linear Analogue Switching Amplifier’ (LASA) architecture, this being said to ‘deliver prodigious amplifier power, minimal thermal loss, and go about its business with stoic calm – even when managing loudspeakers with challenging loads’.

The interior layout of the amplifier is clean and logical, with a shielded transformer and a bank of 16 massive smoothing capacitors, plus relatively compact heatsinking located up behind the front-panel. Inputs are provided on both unbalanced RCA and balanced XLRs, there’s a single set of 4mm speaker cable terminals for each channel, and the company’s SmartLink sockets, used across the range, allow for system integration.

Above: Screened toroidal transformer [top right] feeds regulated PSUs [bottom, centre] for the C41’s network/digital input board (with Raspberry Pi module) [bottom left] and balanced analogue output board [blue, bottom centre]

Polished pair
Hooked up to the flagship Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature speakers [HFN Sep ’23] and fed from an Aurender W20SE music server [HFN Mar ’23], this MBL combination sets out its stall in short order. Early impressions might well be of a bold and largescale sound, with excellent instrumental detail and precise soundstaging where the recording allows, but is it a bit too polite and well-mannered at the same time?

As it turns out, this is very dependent on what’s coming down the pipe, so playing devil’s advocate I fired up ‘Medicine Show’ from Big Audio Dynamite’s This Is... album [CBS 26714]. Not the last word in hi-fi, agreed, but a track with plenty going on over many layers, all of which the MBL C41/C21 system revealed with clarity to spare. What you don’t get is all the ‘Spaghetti Western’ grit, or the fullest punch in the bass.

Stern test

Seeking to find out what’s going on here, next off the server was the ‘Young Person’s Guide To The Orchestra’, from Michael Stern’s Britten’s Orchestra album with the Kansas City Symphony, an excellent Keith ‘Prof’ Johnson production for Reference Recordings [RR-120SACD]. As the title suggests, this is a fine ‘check disc’ for instrumental timbres, which I why I use it so much when assessing products, and while this MBL pairing sounded a little loose in the bass, there was no denying the scale and musical flow.

True, there are set-ups capable of even greater timbral colour, and a bit more snap and sting, especially in the percussion, but the C41/C21 gives a fine sense of the music reaching out to capture the listener, making what could seem like an academic exercise – indeed, that was its original purpose – an involving musical experience. Just the thing to get those ‘young persons’ interested in orchestras!

Audio from A-Z

With music of a more pared back nature, the precision of the C41/C21 duo becomes even more apparent. Playing ‘Adam Alphabet’ from the Neil Cowley Trio’s Entity [Hide Inside Records; HIDELP003], there was still that slight lack of intimacy, but the piano was persuasively focused in the soundstage, and the bass and drums powerful without dominating matters, driving the track along. And intimacy wasn’t lacking in Madeleine Peyroux’s take on Leonard Cohen’s ‘Dance Me To The End Of Love’, from her 2004 Careless Love album [Rounder Records/Universal 0602498235836], not least due to the retro-style recording of her voice. Okay, the band occasionally gets lost in the wash of sound, but the effect is superbly appealing.

So, yes, this combination can sound big and lush when required, as it proved with the smooth flow of the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Ivan Fischer in the ‘Siegfried Idyll’ from the Wagner: Opera Excerpts recital [Channel Classics CCSSA32713]. Here the MBL C41 and C21 offered good insight into the orchestra, but above all provided a compelling view of the romantic, unhurried sweep of the piece.

Another atmospheric Channel Classics recording – this time Anna Fedorova’s solo piano from Intrigues Of The Darkness [CCS47124] – saw this Cadenza pairing making the most of the reverberant acoustic and the weight of the piano, both in the almost terrifying Scriabin ‘Black Mass’ sonata and the selections from ‘Pictures At An Exhibition’.

Above: The C41 [top] includes Ethernet and USB ports alongside AES/EBU and coax/optical [all to 192kHz/DSD64]. The coax digital output mirrors all digital inputs while the variable analogue out is on RCAs and balanced XLRs. The C21 [bottom] has matching analogue ins with unswitched 4mm speaker cable binding posts

By Jupiter!

The notes tumbled together in the ‘Limoges’ section of the latter, and then I was treated to a mighty and stately ‘Great Gate Of Kiev’. This wonderful recording features sensational playing from the Ukrainian-born pianist, and the C41/C21 relished conveying all its complex and intertwined qualities.

What’s more, this player and power amplifier appear to have a natural affinity with vocals, presenting them with clarity, intelligibility and plenty of presence. However unfashionable it may be with the music snobberati, Chris Martin’s vocal on ‘Jupiter’, from Coldplay’s Moon Music album [Parlophone; 48kHz/24-bit download], is so vivid in its simplicity, and excellently focused. Even as the track gets louder and more anthemic, as Coldplay tends to, that clarity was maintained to fine effect by the C41/C21. Meanwhile the band’s ‘Alien Hits/Alien Music’, which can be rendered as a confused wall of sound, instead took on the effect of a wall of fascinating elements, each completely distinct.

Switch to the good time ambience of Paul Heaton’s ‘The Blues Came In’, from his The Mighty Several release [EMI EMICDXX2126], and the track sounds big and bold, the lyrics clear (always a good thing with Heaton’s work), and that element of fun and fine songwriting and performance very much intact.

Above: MBL’s all-alloy remote also caters for its disc players and preamps. Input, volume, display dim, mute and standby are used for the C41

Communication king

And that’s the beauty of this two-box combination from MBL: it may be lacking a little when it comes to the multifunctionality available elsewhere, the styling may be a little ostentatious, and the sound might just be on the polite and precise side when one might want it be rather more abandoned and raunchy. But... it communicates so much of the music’s heart and soul that it’s impossible not to get on board!

Hi-Fi News Verdict

Is the MBL C41/C21 pairing just a little too straitlaced for its own good? Maybe, if your system is so disposed, but what it lacks in the ‘down and dirty’ stakes it more than compensates for with its measured, precise delivery of fine recordings, and the ambience it can reveal with atmospheric content. So throw caution to the wind because there’s much to admire here, and with many delights in store.

Sound Quality: 85%