If you have had an opportunity to listen to a darTZeel NHB-108 Model Two Stereo (twin mono) power amplifier, you may pose the very reasonable questions, “how can you improve on that?”, and “why would you ever need to?”.
In some circumstances, people use low efficiency speakers, have inefficient speakers in large rooms, or simply have a speaker that is particularly challenging to drive. These situations require more power to control these types of speakers. If you have had some experience with high power amplifiers, you may have observed that the type of design & topologies used to produce more power make it difficult for high powered amplifiers to retain the ability to play nuance & fine detail well. Most of the time, their tonality becomes more sterile, colder and harsher.
darTZeel decided to build an amplifier that would have no limitations….enough power to drive any speaker but with the incredible natural tonality, realism, richness and timbral excellence that the rest of their range is known for. This was not an easy brief. Building a high-power amplifier is not difficult, but building one that can be at the summit of sound quality was quite a challenge and would require a significant investment in research, costly materials and state-of-the-art engineering.
Meet the darTZeel NHB-468 – Power with elegance and grace.
These mono blocks are the most powerful amplifiers ever developed by darTZeel and sit at the pinnacle of their range. The NHB-468 highlights more than ever darTZeel’s considerable expertise: a generous power supply, a shielded transformer suspended by a dedicated platform, a chassis built from specially extruded aluminium components in line with darTZeel specifications, toughened glass side panels with a sanded logo and a cooling unit finished and polished by hand. Every detail makes the darTZeel NHB-468 an exceptional amplifier. The casing alone requires more than 80 hours of machining, with the same amount of time allocated to finishing, anodising and final assembly.
Great care and expense has been invested into this design (9 years of R&D), all focussed on retaining all the musicality of the original signal. The NHB-468’s immense power supply ensures that they can cover the full dynamic range, providing effortless delivery from a few milliwatts through to a whopping kilowatt of power.
Many people have described the NHB-468 with the phrase “travel faster than the speed of thought” due to the unbelievable speed of the amplifier. For an amplifier to possess lightning speed yet with an organic tonality that some describe “like a great tube amp” and behemoth levels of control has previously thought to be impossible, sitting the NHB-468 squarely in the genre “state-of-the-art”.
Despite the scale of the engineering accomplishments of the NHB-468, what they were designed to do is play music and if judged even on that scale alone, they are astonishing, possessing rare attributes like giving the sensation that the music is wrapping around you, gifting each note with 3-dimensionality, creating a cavernous soundstage that feels so real and giving you the feeling that finally you really relate to this artist, or sympathise with their emotions. If there ever was such a thing as best amplifier on the planet, the darTZeel NHB-468 would be first to be nominated into the conversation. A once in a lifetime experience.
Videos
Awards
Reviews
Hi-Fi News, Andrew Everard, 2022
"That ability to get to the heart of the music is what you’re buying here, and with the joyous Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Thomas Oliemans recording of French chanson, Formidable! [Channel Classics CCS43321; DSD128] both the exuberant playing of the band and the crisp, expressive vocals are a delight. Clearly, all concerned are having huge fun, and that translates into a smile on the listener’s face – making the heart go ‘Boum!’ as the brass solo winds around the singer. Yes, this is more than most of us will ever spend, but that doesn’t stop these superb amplifiers being objects of desire by dint of sheer musical enjoyment."
Stereophile, Michael Fremer, 2019
"The new amps produced a sound that was immediately more supple, more liquid, and noticeably more “wraparound” three-dimensional, without turning soft….the darTZeel “sound” is ideal for all musical genres: good grip on bottom, natural transient performance, plenty of air on top if it’s in the recording, and never even a hint of etch, grain, or edge….I believe Delétraz is capable of reducing distortion to as low as is measurable, but he’s going for something beyond measured perfection, and I think he’s achieved his goal in terms of a unified, holistic, natural sonic picture. These are expensive, powerful amplifiers, handcrafted in Switzerland and as attractive to listen to as they are to look at. If you can afford them, you should have a listen."
Product Specification
Type
Mono Block Power Amplifiers (pair)
Nominal Output Power
465 watts RMS (550 watts peak) @ 8 ohms
625 watts RMS (700 watts peak) @ 4 ohms
222 watts RMS (300 watts peak) @ 2 ohms (software limited)
Power Stage Gain
26 dB and 32 dB, user selectable (ref. 8 ohms.)
Analog Input Impedances
1 x BNC Zeel 50 ohms, 1 Hz to 1 MHz
1 x RCA line > 30 kohms, 5Hz to 100kHz
1 x XLR > 30 kohms
Speaker Output Impedance
< 0.28 ohms from 20 Hz to 20 kHz (measured under 8 ohms)
Frequency Response
0.7 Hz – 700 kHz, +0, -3 dB
Rise Time
< 0.8 µs
Slew Rate
> 200 V/µs, peak-peak
Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)
< 1 % from 7 Hz to 77 kHz within the output dynamic range
Temporal Distortion
None, at any level and load, as specified above
Signal to noise ratio
> 115 dB (A) @ nominal power
Power consumption
2 watts Standby, 40 watts @ idle, 2000 watts @ maximum output power
Dimensions in mm
277 (W) x 511 (D) x 460 (H)
Dimensions in inches
11 (W) x 20 (D) x 18 (H)
Net weight
70 kg (154.4 lbs)
Choose options