“Although the 5687 line stage valve is not as widely used as other vacuum tubes made during the same era in the world of hi-fi, Audio Note managed to put a spotlight on it and make it shine. Not only did the 5687 become exclusively used by Audio Note, it also became a signature for the brand. From that, one can see Peter Qvortrip and Andy Grove are two mavericks with their own style. “

“Peter and Andy are both material-oriented artisans… AUDIO NOTE has always been equipped with a large family of homemade and carefully selected parts, such as vacuum tubes, transformers, capacitors, resistors, wires, etc.”

“… Peter Qvortrip has a tradition when it comes to the design of amplifiers. The circuitry is a magnified version of the Moving Magnet (MM) and must have an external Moving Coil (MC) step-up transformer added. Peter insists on this when it comes to equalization, because he reckons the best sound comes from an MC cartridge paired with a step-up transformer amplified by the RIAA phono amp.”

“With the power source, this design uses the M10 as its blueprint, and it uses the 6X5, OB2 and ECL82 valves. On top of that it also uses large transformers and other heavyweight capacitors and silver wiring…which literally fills the box to the brim.”

－ Charlie Ma

Audiophile – February 2019

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