Atoll IN400 Evo integrated amplifier with DAC
Top-of-the-range products are usually something to shout about, especially if they are new, and Atoll’s IN400 Evo integrated amplifier scores on both counts. The Evo standing, perhaps unsurprisingly, for Evolution since it replaces the former IN400 Signature iteration. A heavyweight in more ways than one: the IN400 Evo weighs in at nearly 20kg and pumps out 300 Watts per channel. It’s bristling with analogue inputs, a phono stage is available and there’s an optional digital board for those who are that way inclined.
French sounds
Atoll is one of those hi-fi brands that I have grown to like the more I investigate their product portfolio. It is also a marque that deserves a higher profile for a range of high-quality electronics that are all designed and manufactured in France. I am pleased to say that awareness of their excellence is growing and I even noticed an Atoll display in a Salzburg dealership the other week. The company was founded in 1997 by Stephane and Emmanuel Dubreuil at Brécey, in Normandy. A year later and products began to hit the high street while 2001 saw the company needing to move to larger premises. Being the only French brand to have Dolby and DTS licences at the time, it’s little wonder that Atoll produced home-theatre products with a three-year research programme culminating in 2004 with its first multi-channel system.
Extending their headquarters in 2016 to meet rising demand, Atoll has managed to keep both R&D and manufacturing in house. Alongside full-width high-end separates there is a range of compact units in a line-up of 41 products. So far, I have enjoyed three of Atoll’s streaming amplifiers, the amazing value SDA200, the luscious SDA300 and the midi-sized MS120 which packs so much into a compact cabinet. The IN400 Evo by contrast is a more conventional unit albeit with the benefit of an optional onboard DAC on the review sample.
Design
The first thing that strikes me is the sheer weight of Atoll’s IN400 Evo as I struggle to remove it from the box. The second is the enormous number of analogue inputs offered, no fewer than eight on a mix of XLR and RCAs, not to mention a tape loop. I haven’t had need for one of those in a very long time, but a nice touch nonetheless. I note that a headphone socket has been included which is a nice touch.
While much of the weight is down to a pair of large toroidal transformers (1050VA for audio and +1.6VA for control logic), not an inconsiderable amount is a result of the hefty casework. This comprises a 2mm thick steel chassis, a 10 mm aluminium, brushed, micro-blasted and anodized fascia, and a pair of heatsinks machined from solid aluminium blocks to absorb mechanical vibrations and ensure good heat dissipation from the output devices.
Internally, the IN400 Evo is based on an integral dual mono structure and features one attenuator per channel (with switched resistors), bipolar transistor input stages, current sources with bipolar transistors and LEDs for voltage stability, Darlington transistor driver stages and audio stages with a perfectly symmetrical structure. The power stages rely on eight MOSFET transistors per channel with great care taken to ensure rigorous matching.
The IN400 Evo’s front panel is dominated by high-contrast but low-power OLED display and a beautifully crafted rotary control on either side; one for source selection and one for on/off and volume. The Atoll global remote control is supplied as standard although only a fraction of the buttons relate to the amplifier, the rest will control an entire Atoll system. The IN400 EVO can be supplied with digital and phono stage and cards, as desired. The DA200 card I have provides for twin optical inputs alongside a brace of coaxial ones, together with an asynchronous USB input and Bluetooth.
The overall feeling is that great attention has been paid to both the circuitry and the aesthetics of the IN400 Evo and the crafted rotary controls are gloriously tactile and a delight to use. Finish options are anodized brushed aluminium in either black or silver.
Installation and set-up
The sheer weight of the Atoll IN400 Evo necessitates a sturdy shelf and I opted for the top of my equipment rack. Here it was easy to attach a variety of inputs including an Auralic Aries G4 (to stream from Qobuz), and both satellite and internet tuners for a variety of off-air material. My Revival Audio Atalante 3 speakers atop Tonträger wooden stands were connected and I allowed the amplifier a few days to warm up and settle-in.
The IN400 Evo rewarded me with superb sound, it is obviously superior to results experienced with Atoll’s all-in-one products, if I might call them that; so, we have traded convenience for higher-level sonics. A move, if you like, from mere music to audiophilia.
Playing De La Soul’s The Magic Number, it’s clear that in every department the IN400 Evo excels. The basslines are taut and imaging spot-on, the midrange reveals the vocals clearly, and the treble is just how it should be, not overly exaggerated or muted, but rather in the correct proportion to the overall balance which I find suits these loudspeakers very well. This group’s adaptation of an obscure counting song (Bob Dorough’s Three is a Magic Number) into one of the biggest crossover pop/rap tracks of the late eighties is incredible; even the original vinyl crackle, not simulated as you might think, is revealed as the IN400 Evo shows how good it is as digging deep to unearth recorded detail.
Another stand out during those early hours of listening was Mikhail Glinka’s overture from Ruslan and Lyudmila (Phillips, 1995). This vibrant and dynamic piece (based on Pushkin’s poem) is noted for its exciting twists and turns, particularly its challenging string passage, making it hard for some lesser amplifiers to handle well. Not so Atoll’s IN400 Evo though. Here we are entertained with truly thrilling playing with a bold tutti announcement, the strings rushing off with their incredibly quick first theme in an exciting, almost frenzied way to capture the music’s emotion and bring it to the listening room. This amp copes so well with the sheer speed and intricacy needed to bring this music to life. We are then treated to the gushing string melodies and delicate woodwind interlude before Atoll’s engineering shrugs off the dynamics as though it’s no effort at all. The detail exhibited by the IN400 Evo brings home Glinka’s rich textures while managing to keep the melody light and the accompaniment heavier. Not easy to pull off, but it takes it all in its stride, offering us an intriguing display of timbres and increasing tempo as this fizzing overture comes to its spectacular end. I would say that the electronics here have passed muster test with flying colours.
Sound quality
Before long it was time for the panel to assemble and a change of loudspeaker to Sonus faber’s new Concertino G4s on their matching stands for the IN400 Evo to drive. We started with the original airplay mix of a pumping dance track of the ‘90s, this revealed very clearly that the amp/speaker combo was adept at handling timing, speed and bass beautifully. The soundstage produced was enormous, without any ‘hole in the middle’ effect. The electronics were capable of reproducing oodles of detail in a track that can easily sound blurry and confused on lesser equipment.
Atoll’s IN400 Evo also came good when we turned to the album version of Dire Straits’ Private Investigation. Highlighting its ability across the frequency spectrum, from the sinister, deep pitched synthesizer orchestration, leading into that slow piano progression accompanying an acoustic guitar and a pulsing bassline. The mighty integrated handled it with aplomb and we didn’t note anything out of place. This is clearly a step-up the sonic ladder from the Atoll products I have sampled thus far and filled the room with glorious sounds. Mark Knopfler’s whispered rather than sung words brought a tingle to back of my neck and we all agreed that Atoll was clearly an audiophile marque to recognise. The temptation to increase the volume didn’t faze the electronics at all, and at higher SPLs the system sounded just as good, if not better thanks to the Atoll’s substantial power.
Female vocals can be a useful testing ground and reveal many a system’s shortcomings, not so with Linda Ronstadt’s Different Drum here though. Deliciously melodic, wrote one panel member and I agree. The bittersweet, passionate, melancholic lushness comes across full of emotion, the Atoll IN400 Evo was very clearly at home, not putting a foot wrong. This amplifier (and loudspeakers, come to that) avoids stamping its own character on the music, allowing the original recording to come through as intended by the producers in a most natural and lifelike way, with no exaggeration to parts of the frequency spectrum that would make the whole seem unreal or forced. I like that in an audio product.
We finished with a change of genre and Nocturne from Borodin’s String Quartet Number 2 (the Lindsay Quartet on ASV). Presented with clear, detailed, dynamically realistic sound, the Atoll IN400 Evo demonstrated for the panel, just as it had for me in my solo listening, just how contented it is with gentle, chamber music, the presentation was sublime.
Bluetooth convenience
Before packing the review unit, I must confess to using the Bluetooth connection on the IN400 Evo from my iPhone to access Apple Music tracks, including some of my own recordings. The inclusion of Bluetooth is perhaps an anathema to the amplifier’s otherwise wholly audiophile credentials, but it certainly makes for quick and convenient streaming and I was pleased to have it available. Okay, the quality might not be to the same standard as Qobuz from a streamer, but there’s a lot of material in Apple’s library that just isn’t available from the French streaming service, much of it speech-based, so the quality difference isn’t critical. It allowed me to enjoy some of my favourites including Kenneth Williams, Jasper Carrott and Tony Hancock.
Conclusion
It was a delight to sample the more-audiophile end of Atoll’s expansive product catalogue. In the IN400 Evo integrated amplifier we have a product of incredible performance, and one which has clearly been very well designed and beautifully constructed. The detailing in the knurled controls is testament to that criterion.
Sonically, the IN400 Evo is in the highest echelons for its price bracket and can’t be recommended highly enough, especially for those with a range of analogue sources who find other products leave them short of connections. The IN400 Evo’s overall balance is one of beautiful transparency, without audible blemish, the resolution of detail supreme and the ability to play such a variety of material is so refreshing. I am convinced that this amplifier will make glorious sounds for many an appreciative music enthusiast.