High Fidelity Reviews the Crescendo CHORUS

Special thanks to Dr. Wojciech Pacuła for the thoughtful deep dive.

A sincere thank you to Wojciech Pacuła at High Fidelity for his review of the Crescendo CHORUS. High Fidelity is one of the most respected audio publications in Europe and a founding member of the Association of International Audiophile Publications, and Wojciech tests with real rigour, in this case a blind A/B comparison within his reference system against a far larger and far more costly amplifier. For a compact power amplifier from a young company to be examined at that level, and to be received the way it was, is something we do not take for granted.

What stayed with him first was the scale. He described the CHORUS as powerful, clear, expansive, and resonant all at once, a unit he called practically desktop sized that "doesn't sound that way at all." He praised its ability to differentiate tonal nuance, the quality that he said makes recordings "come alive from within," and he was especially warm about vocals, describing them as rich and beautifully rendered within a silky, fluid, deeply coherent whole. When he switched the pair into bridged mono, his note was simply, "wow," as the sound opened up, cleaned up, and gained energy without ever turning bright.

In the spirit of an honest review, Wojciech was also clear about the CHORUS's character, and we would rather share that than gloss over it. In stereo he heard a gentle, rounded attack rather than the last word in incisive detail, and he felt the very lowest bass, while deep and full, is not as tightly gripped as a large traditional amplifier several times the size. His own conclusion is the important part: bridged mono sharpens the attack and cleans up the low end considerably, while the stereo voicing keeps a smoothness and a touch of tube-like romanticism that many listeners will actively prefer. In other words, the CHORUS gives you two honest characters to choose from, and neither hides the music.

Wojciech's full review is a rich, thoughtful read, and it goes far deeper into the listening than we will here.

Read the full review: Wojciech Pacuła on High Fidelity

🎶 Designing dreams, yours specifically.

Credit: Dr. WOJCIEHCH PACUŁA

Chief Editor @ High Fidelity

Crescendo CHORUS

$994.00

Buy Now