Leak Stereo 230 integrated amplifier combines vintage style with more power and upgraded DAC

[What Hi-Fi?]

Leak has once again travelled back to the future in order to create a new step-up amp that promises to deliver a "virtuosic performance".

Leak Stereo 230 integrated amplifier combines vintage style with more power and upgraded DAC : Read more

 

[spicyramentt]

I say this all the time and I will say it again, unless you are a budget brand or budget product, you have no excuse if your product has no sub out. A product of this price has usb in, hdmi arc, but no sub out. Mind you they have a pre out for daisy chaining, but no dedicated sub out.

 

[nopiano]

I say this all the time and I will say it again, unless you are a budget brand or budget product, you have no excuse if your product has no sub out. A product of this price has usb in, hdmi arc, but no sub out. Mind you they have a pre out for daisy chaining, but no dedicated sub out.

That’s one thing I’ve never looked for in almost fifty years of buying Hifi. Perhaps the majority of potential Leak customers would choose floorstanders and not want subs?

 

[Gray]

That’s one thing I’ve never looked for in almost fifty years of buying Hifi.

Same here 👍

 

[spicyramentt]

Well how many Leak customers are going to plug this into a TV with HDMI or into a PC via USB? I'm pretty sure the Leak crowd of old would prefer to use turntables and wax cylinders. But i'm sure potential new Leak customers would appreciate the option to add bass that can go below 60 hz.

There are a lot of questions you can ask, I mean, I've only been doing the audio hobby around 10 years, and im sure back when you got into it powered subs were an inconceivable thought then, just like the idea of a video cable supplying a signal to audio equipment, or plugging in a fancy compooter to your amp as a source, or providing an audio source via light beamed through glass cables, but again here we are living in the future, and yet a simple sub out... nope, that's inconceivable. Now im not saying you have to defile your deliberate ears and use the sub out, gracious no, but for the rest of us who appreciates the finer things in life (and would spend this kind of money for a hobby), it would be a nice thing to have, IF we wanted to use it.

I say thank goodness, those asian engineers out there in asialand like SMSL/VMV and Fiio who figured out how to add in a sub out for us younguns' in everything from their budget to high end offerings. I guess that is where the old brands use nostalgia to prey on a particular crowd and the newer brands try to grow their market share by asking what the new generation of customers would like.

Note:
As i re-read my comment I realize now there is a certain amount of snark in it and I do apologise for that, but when another commenter can say something like

"That’s one thing I’ve never looked for in almost fifty years of buying Hifi. Perhaps the majority of potential Leak customers would choose floorstanders and not want subs? "

It comes across to me as elitist and rubs me the wrong way.

As we mention floor standings, I have floorstanding speakers that are not lowpassed, and when i add a sub to the mix, there is a whole world of bass floorstandings will never be able to reach unless you spend way too much money. And here i can have that for very little comparatively by adding a simple dedicated, powered sub (or two). And when i do a lowpass on my floorstanding, they are able to focus on what they do best and leave the really low bass to my subs letting the floorstandings perform even better.