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John
404 Not Found? On the contrary. Causing quite the buzz at the Warsaw AV Show 2019 was Sweden’s Moonriver Audio. The Malmö-based company’s 404 integrated amplifier thumbed its nose at modern trends to surround Class D mega power with surface-mount components and wrap the whole shebang in a half-width box. Their unit would be hand-built using through-hole soldering techniques to marry a fully-discrete pre-amplifier section with a 50wpc (into 8 Ohms) Class A/B loudspeaker output whilst feeding both with a ‘hefty’ power supply. The company’s ‘less is more’ mantra would make the USB DAC and phono boards optional extras.
One year down the line and the Swedes are back with a new and improved 404. For the 404 Reference, the power supplies that feed both pre-amp and power-amp stages have been reworked for double the capacitance to “dig out more detail and low-level information”. WBT nextgen loudspeaker terminals have been specified for the back panel and the chassis has been internally lined with absorbent materials to reduce the vibrations that can microphonically mutate into unwanted tiny voltages.
The Moonriver 404 Reference will sell for US$4995 in the USA, €4490 in Europe. Shipping begins December 2020.
Further information: Moonriver Audio
