The FX-Audio L-07 Integrated Amplifier

$200 for a 200-watt per channel integrated? That you can hold in the palm of your hand? Really? And it will drive a pair of Magnepans? You bet.

I was really excited about the FX-Audio DS-07 DAC/PRE. We’ve just finished up a Distilled “first look,” and I have listened to both of these enough to give them a Product of the Year award in the upcoming issue.

The L-07 checks off more than the normal number of boxes for an entry-level component. It sounds great, looks great, and is easy to use. It’s easy to get carried away with mega-expensive gear, but what so many of us forget is that we all started our audio journey considerably further down the food chain. I know I did.

This amplifier is a model of design and engineering efficiency. It’s class-D, so the sound is more neutral than warm, but that’s a great place to start. With plenty of power to spare, you should be able to use any speakers with it and get great results – as I mentioned, it drives my Magnepan 2.7X speakers just fine. While you probably won’t pair this amp up with a $10k pair of Magnepans, you might pair it up with a nice pair of used $1,200 Magnepans and have a very musical system.

With one balanced and one unbalanced input, it’s easy to connect a phono preamplifier and your favorite DAC (or the great L-07). It also proved to be a great match for my vintage ESS AMT-1b’s out in the garage system. Bass is tight and controlled, and the highs are reasonably smooth. The amplifier also manages to throw a very wide soundstage. We’ll go into further detail and explore some more speaker combinations in the full review.

I love the L-07 because it’s a great place to start your audiophile journey on a reasonable budget. I bought the review samples to keep around as an example of what can truly be accomplished at this level. If you’re a well-heeled audiophile and want to get a friend or a friend’s kid into the game – buy them one of these, and away you go.

$199

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