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Sound: As already stated, I did not engage in any tube rolling. Though I am fully aware of the upgrade potential, why not in this case also exchange the transistors of a solid-state device under review? Given its not insignificant price, I reasoned that the Cha’am’s stock tube complement should neither require more expensive valves nor should my review’s purpose be to emphasize tube rolling but to instead describe the sound out of the box. Nevertheless it seems obvious that the replacement of especially the first 6DJ8 should constitute a step up.


The Cha’am’s main sonic feature is a very high level of transparency. Here one is clearly in the presence of the top-most range of valve or transistor amplifiers. My audiophile friends consider my personal system—Orpheus Labs mono amps + SPL controller—to be optimized mostly for transparency but the Cha’am did even better. That was quite a surprise for an integrated valve amplifier. I felt I was vacationing in a 5-star hotel usually occupied by good Krells and Levinsons but with more subtlety and less roughness.


Another important feature were the dynamics which again caused no regret coming from good solid state. The Cha’am could play loud and fast with exceptional transients. Even the very low bass was taut and free of criticisms. The Cha’am played with great authority and no particular emphasis of any specific part of the audible bandwidth. Simply add the presence and common liquidity of valve amps to premium transistors and you begin to understand what kind of rare refinement the Cha’am could deliver.


The Orpheus Labs monos connected to the Wyred4Sound STP-SE excel at driving difficult loads and exhibit a particular very comfortable treble sweetness. By comparison the Cha’am delivered a superior 3D soundstage and added a sort of natural elegance. Like most vacuum tubes amplifiers, the Cha’am offered better results on the unbalanced than XLR inputs. Nevertheless the latter was more than passable and never suggested that Emillé had added a balanced input merely to justify the elevated price of the Cha’am. Quite the contrary. The XLR input was designed with extreme accuracy and I can easily recommend it for people like me who run a fully balanced system. The Cha’am clearly is a no-concession amplifier whose accuracy is amazing for such a young company (I refer to Emillé Labs of course, not parent company Kwang Woo Electronics).


The few competitors or comparable references in this field I’d evoke are by VAC and Octave. I’d peg the Cha’am at the crossroads of an Octave V80 integrated and VAC Phi Beta, all excellent but unfortunately not within reach of everyone. Exiting the happy few high-end sphere of integrated amps, the overall results I enjoyed with the Cha’am seemed equivalent to my impressions of the CAT JL2 power amp. While I have insufficient experience with the latter to make a precise comparison, during my time with the Korean I honestly thought I dealt with more or less this class of product. What is the value of reaching beyond the Emillé?

Everyone knows how further improvements with such expensive gear are always moderate in relation to the extra costs involved. That’s why it’s difficult to award this type of product.

To verify where exactly the Cha’am belongs on the 'fair return on investment' scale, I compared it directly to another integrated pentode amp of the same power output. I asked a friend to bring his KT90 challenger costing about half, the Graaf GM-50B. After three hours of settling in, we gave the chance to the elegant Italian.


The Cha’am had been playing for three hours in the high-end stratosphere so we hardly noticed the Graaf flying at 200 feet. There’s no sense to even begin a comparison as the Korean did substantially better in all aspects of the high-end game. This was another confirmation that the Cha’am is definitely no five-digit joke. It still represents clear and true sonic value.



Playing classical music gave a good idea of its stunning transient and imaging abilities. I also enjoyed the quality of timbres, in particular of piano and strings. The alliance of harmonic purity, image focus and transient attack made for an extraordinary performer capable of casting a soundstage of extreme clarity, tonal neutrality and high resolution. Listening to Vivaldi’s Late Violin Concertos [Carmignola/Marcon – Sony] was a true pleasure. I especially enjoyed the high resolution, liveliness and most of all the clear localisation of each member of the Venice Baroque Orchestra. Of course Andrea Marcon’s group performs with smaller numbers than traditional baroque orchestras but having such a clear sonic image of an ensemble in your own listening room is still very impressive.


While each instrument could be precisely located and heard at each moment as a distinct entity, they also blended to maintain overall ensemble coherence and fluidity. The harpsichord, so often a sonic disaster with this type of recording, was truly balanced. Timbre and metallic attacks were realistic. Carmignola’s violin shone with a huge expressive palette yet there was no undue emphasis on the maestro’s instrument as I might have feared with a vacuum tube machine.


Remaining on the classical shore with the fourth Bavouzet recording of Debussy [Complete Works for Piano, Vol. 4], my Korean loaner proved its great sense of equilibrium and neutrality. In the Debussian panorama of skilled and distinguished pianists, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is one of the closest to the composer’s spirit, playing the various pieces with intelligence and respect. The utter clarity in the game of this French pianist unravels the subtle treasures hidden in the impressionist’s repertoire. Considering this approach to Debussy’s piano masterpieces, the more transparent your system is, the more you are able to understand just at what level these late scores really are pure gems of early 1900’s music. The quality of tone plus the precision of attacks and decays were quite a vista on the composer’s programmatic style.


Because Debussy is anything but not precise, his "Reflets dans l’eau" (reflections on the water) were perfectly depicted by a wave-like opening followed by wind-swept arpeggios underpinned by chromatic chords. The Cha’am delivered these rapid details and subtle impressionistic images with amazing purity and accuracy.


Just as Bavouzet avoids getting prettier than his playing should, the Korean amplifier gave me the sensation of freedom from any tube gloss - and great respect for the recording. The Cha’am really unravels a high degree of detail when given a high-caliber front end. It goes about its job without any artificial brightness which is unfortunately quite common with push-pull tube circuits.