Global Distribution for Concert Fidelity products was previously handled exclusively by Stereolab, LLC. Distribution has been discontinued.
From the archives… About Concert Fidelity
Masataka Tsuda, founder and chief designer of Concert Fidelity, has over 45 years of experience in vacuum tube and solid state amplifier design. He combines a profound understanding of audio circuits (which allows him to see where many typical design “conventions” do not make sense), with uncannily creative inspirations and a perfectionist’s drive to pursue the limits of circuit simplification and purity in sound.
Mr. Tsuda believes that the true depth of musical expression can only be experienced through circuits which do not try to artificially manipulate the signal in any way. His proprietary Direct Signal Path Technology (DSPT) is inspired by his goal to minimize the amount of time music signal spends in circuit, so that it retains the energy and life inherent in the original material.
Circuits, selection of parts, and layout are optimized so that all unnecessary compensating circuitry can be eliminated and the simplest circuitry can suffice, thus causing the lowest levels of signal degradation. The results of his perfectionist drive for simplification are amplifiers of extreme transparency and the musical expressiveness of the very best SET’s – without their weaknesses.
Achieving Concert Fidelity’s level of circuit optimization and simplification requires a deeper understanding of audio circuits — what is essential versus what is best eliminated — than does implementing complex circuits which contain numerous compensatory components. Once our “surprisingly simple” designs are heard, it is difficult to go back to more complex amplifiers with their colorations and limitations.
As a case in point, the sound of the best tube electronics should be that of the tubes themselves, and our vacuum tube products reveal tube differences to a greater degree than we have ever heard elsewhere. This results in achieving “transparency,” allowing the source material to be revealed in all its emotionally involving glory. Without hi-fi enhancements, artificial warmth, muddiness, distortion, or glare, real music is revealed.
Mr. Tsuda goes to perfectionist and no-holds-bared approach in design and manufacture because he recognizes that discriminating customers will notice the subtle design touches and will readily hear the difference they make in expressive nuance and musical enjoyment.
His highly optimized and simplified circuits, innovative and perfectionist layout techniques, carefully specified and matched parts, and custom transformers, allow you to hear transient speed and low-frequency extension akin to solid state designs along with purity, delicacy, and musicality akin to single-ended triodes. With Mr. Tsuda’s electronics, superior performance can be expected in:
- resolution of harmonic complexity
- microdynamic expression
- transient speed for resolving rhythmic nuances
- extension and speed in low frequencies
- resolution of complex musical textures
- resolution of soundstage details, along with better presence of individual images
Global Distribution for Concert Fidelity products was previously handled exclusively by Stereolab, LLC. Distribution has been discontinued.
“There is no doubt in my mind that Masataka Tsuda’s designs push the state-of-the-art forward …”
– Dick Olsher, The Absolute Sound Magazine and Enjoy the Music.com Review Magazine
“Concert Fidelity has been a crucial part of my music listening experience and restoration mastering work for many years now.”
– Steve Hoffman, Mastering Engineer
