ÉTUDE

150w Stereo power amplifier

Featuring technology derived from the aerospace industry, the Étude is an incredibly compact stereo amplifier with stunning power, speed and clarity.

DESCRIPTION

The multi-award winning Chord Electronics Choral family of products has never sounded so good. Welcome Étude to the table, a 150w Class AB stereo power amplifier featuring the first fundamentally new topology since Chord Electronics’ inception in 1989, using highly advanced technologies seen within the aerospace industry.

The Choral Étude has been designed to both compliment and exploit the full potential of the multi-award winning DAVE DAC, which has preamp functionality, and the brand new topology has even faster power delivery than exiting designs, offering unrivalled dynamics, life-like delivery of transient information, plus effortless control over loudspeaker drive units.

The design for Étude is based upon multi-feedback and dual feed-forward error-correction amplifier technology that intelligently adjusts and compensates the individual linearity of the 250-watt lateral structure high-power proprietary MOSFETs. Internally there are three individual high frequency switch mode power supply units, one for each active power rail and a final for the auxiliary rails. When paired with advanced internal shielding, active cooled plenum chamber design, and custom Chord Electronics MOSFETs, you have Étude, an world class extremely fast crystal clear amplifier.

Although the amplifier is conservatively rated at 150W into 4Ω, if you run Étude in bridged mono mode you can increase this to 300W into 4Ω.

Weight: 3.45kg

FEATURES

• Class AB Sliding Bias
• HF Switch Mode Power Supply
• Chord MOSFET Construction
• Fully Balanced Circuitry
• Stereo Balanced XLR Inputs
• Fan Cooled
• Stereo Unbalanced RCA Inputs
• Solid Aluminium Chassis
• Bridgeable to 300w - 4Ω

INCLUDED ACCESSORIES

REVIEW & AWARDS

Chord Electronics Étude stereo power amplifier

"Finally, there’s an important aspect of the Étude that has almost nothing to do with the technology; namely, the trinity of Blu, DAVE, and Étude that I’m going to call the ‘Power Chord’. Unfortunately, due to the rarity of all three (they sell out faster than Chord Electronics can make them), I did not have all three Chord Electronics products to hand at the same time, but they match in terms of equal degrees of technological advancement and styling, and from memory I’m fairly sure they match in terms of sound and performance, too. I’m hoping to put the three together later in the year to find out for sure, but I have a feeling this might be one of those ‘stick a fork in me, I’m done!’ type systems where – aside from the choice of cable and loudspeakers, the system is a complete given" - Alan Sircom

Short ride in a fast machine

"The principles behind this amp may go back nearly 40 years, but good ideas can’t be kept down – especially when Chord Electronics' engineering talents are allowed to bring them into the twenty-first century. Such work has paid off; what we have here is a solid-state amp that transcends its modest physical dimensions in terms of the scale of music reproduction it can muster. Its speed, meanwhile, makes for pace and timing that grip your attention and won’t let go. Small, powerful and impressive.
" - Hi-Fi World

SPECIFICATIONS