Year-end is approaching and so is the season of goodwill – for audio goodies, “the hardware that sparked our senses and the music that stirred our souls throughout 2022,” writes editor Paul Miller in the latest Yearbook issue of Hi-Fi News. Among the year’s top picks is MBL’s N11 preamplifier & N15 mono power amplifier pairing.

“By any standards, MBL’s Noble series is a looker.” Both the N11 and N15 are relatively slender units, hand-built in Germany and immaculately finished in a choice of gloss black or white. Both are also all-analogue designs.

The N11 preamplifier sports seven inputs as standard, 5 RCA and 2 XLR, and can also be optionally specified with either a phono input or a third XLR pair. Its outputs are equally flexible: there are 7 sets across fixed and variable-level RCAs and XLRs. A ‘Unity Gain’ mode simplifies the signal path by eliminating excess gain, enabling the N11 to act as a simple buffered volume control and delivering improved transparency and resolution, with a lower noise floor and greater dynamic range.

The N15 monoblock is the most advanced of MBL’s Noble series’ amplifiers. It offers an impressive 560W/4ohms output, via its LASA (Linear Analogue Switching Amplifier) 2.0 technology, designed to deliver a homogeneous tonal balance throughout the frequency range.

“This MBL pre/power trio majors on the finer points of music-making,” writes Hi-Fi News. “The sound blends drive, focus and timbral nuance, and with a wegithy low-end comes real agility too.”

“It was a thrilling, enveloping listen, with a generosity and impact served up in equal measure.”

Find out more about the N11 / N15 pre-power duo and track down your nearest retailer at www.mbl.de

Read the review, and discover the complete list of ‘The Ultmate Hi-Fi 2022’, in the Yearbook issue of Hi-Fi News