Canor Virtus A3 – a Hybrid Integrated "Dual Mono" Amplifier

Canor Audio has introduced the hybrid integrated amplifier Canor Virtus A3. The model uses the "dual mono" topology, a vacuum tube preamplifier on a pair of E88CC tubes, is equipped with a built-in digital-to-analog converter, a phono preamplifier and has a 1.3-inch touch LCD screen.

Canor Virtus A3 provides an output power of 2 x 100 W when working on a load with a nominal impedance of 8 ohms and 2 x 150 W for a load of 4 ohms. The power amplifier uses differential feedback, which reads the output audio signal at both the positive and negative terminals of the speakers to ensure maximum linearity. The input stage of the vacuum tube amplifier is fully differentially controlled with both analog and digital signal paths, resulting in an ultra-low distortion of less than 0.0002%.

The Canor Virtus A3 has a fully balanced signal path implemented using discrete circuits, with no integrated IC-based OAMPS in the direct signal path. Input signal selection is performed using electromagnetic relays feeding symmetrical discrete Class A JFET buffers with zero feedback. The output signal of these buffers drives a differential analog step attenuator, providing precise channel matching - the design is DC-coupled and uses DC servo technology, eliminating the need for AC coupling capacitors.

The Canor Virtus A3 amplifier is equipped with a high-quality discrete phono preamplifier that supports both MM and MC cartridges. The USB input has galvanic isolation, supports PCM format up to 32/768 and DSD up to DSD512. Digital-to-analog signal conversion is implemented on two modern chips from ESS Technology. Canor Virtus A3 is offered in Europe at a price of just under 6,000 euros.