NEODIO TMA integrated amplifier

by Laurent Thorin

With the TMA, whose meaning is “The Minimalist Amplifier”, Neodio wishes to extend its message on anti-obsolescence by offering an amplifier designed and built to last and to be easily repaired. As the name suggests, it only offers the basic functions, but really, do we really need anything else?

During the interview he gave us a few months ago, Stéphane Even made no secret of his desire to move towards more reasoned consumption, concerned with natural resources, relying on sustainable products.
The TMA integrated amplifier is therefore the first electronic product part of its “Blue Program”, the aim of which is to offer products that are still very efficient but more affordable, and even more durable.

In the development of the TMA, everything has been done to guarantee the best durability of the product. It is guaranteed for 10 years to the first owner and has been designed so that it is easily repairable and possibly upgradeable in the future.
To do this, the designer simplified everything that could be and returned to the essence of what an amplifier should be: a machine faithful to the music, capable of satisfying its owner for many years.
Consequently, everything that is not absolutely essential to these specifications has been purely and simply deleted. The TMA has neither remote control nor display; just a switch, a source selector and a volume control.

This cosmetic economy has made it possible to focus efforts on design and manufacturing quality. It draws on 20 years of cumulative experience in the development of amplifiers, digital sources, cables and accessories. However, it took three years to develop the TMA. Because behind its apparent simplicity, many essential details have been developed in terms of electronics, mechanics and wiring.
The manufacturing quality is based on French and European subcontractors selected for the care they take in their work. The mechanical parts, the electronic card, the assembly and the packaging are carried out in France. The transformer is made in Spain.

The chassis, mechanically welded for good rigidity, uses a non-conductive rear face in 6mm PMMA. This provides mechanical decoupling and reduces the electrical coupling between the different connectors (mains – HP – inputs). The chassis rests on three feet machined from Delrin, another important detail. The two rotary knobs are machined from solid aluminum. On the scale, the TMA weighs a respectable 14 kg.

The TMA uses a classic three-stage architecture with a high feedback rate. Counter-reaction is a very effective technique provided you are interested in the practical details of its implementation.

The output is entrusted to special MOS transistors for audio with high current capacity (16 A). The driver stage power supply is separate from the power supply and incorporates shunt type regulation. The greatest care was taken to avoid electromagnetic coupling. The components used were chosen following numerous listening tests and based on experience acquired with the brand’s CD players. The TMA also has overload and short-circuit protection which has the advantage of protecting the amplifier as well as the speakers.

The power supply uses a low-noise, low-loss 300 VA toroidal transformer followed by several rectifier bridges and capacitive filtering totaling 44,000 uF, a very comfortable value for a 2 x 80 W amplifier. It only uses Vishay capacitors 105 °C.

The layout of the printed circuit is deliberately “ventilated” in order to make it readable and to allow easier repairs in the future. According to the brand, an experienced technician, even without the electronic diagram, should be able to repair this amplifier in 30 years.

The choice fell on components guaranteeing the best sound quality and good durability, as evidenced by the RCA inputs with high quality insulated and gold-plated plugs, the nickel-plated speaker jacks with high current capacity and low mass and the speaker cabling made with the new Neodio Fractal 8 wire (eight insulated copper strands twisted in a pseudo-random manner and covered with cotton).

USE

It’s hard to get simpler and more direct than this new amplifier. In the box, you will only find him! No remote control, because it requires circuits which could degrade the sound and incidentally increase the price of the device. No power cord either, because at this level of quality, the manufacturer believes that you should certainly have one of good quality. If this is not the case, it will direct you to one of its two PC2, P5 or P70 models which are not too expensive. No phono input either, because there are plenty of them on the market, of excellent quality, even at very affordable prices. For connections, you will only find RCA and female banana plugs, but of indisputable quality. On the other hand, the device comes with excellent quality Andelle Rain feet, which will give it excellent seating and good insulation from external vibrations. So to summarize: less, but better!

THE SOUND

Stéphane Even’s achievements are interesting because his research scope is generally broader than average. This means that he is keen to explore all the components of an audio device. He ventures onto sometimes very surprising tracks deserted by his competitors. This is why this device sounds particularly satisfying. The first few minutes are enough to form a fairly exhaustive opinion of his behavior. And the future will show us that it will evolve relatively little thereafter. This is to say that the TMA is an easy amp that is easy to handle and provides intuitive and liberated sound reproduction. In his company, most musical messages are enjoyed with relish. Whether you listen to black disc, high-resolution digital audio files or compact discs, your enjoyment level will always be high. He expresses his power of seduction first of all with a full and relatively dense sound balance. The stamps have a nice thickness and a natural color. Nothing particularly demonstrative or flirtatious, but a real personality linked to quality resolving power. The TMA is precise, both on small signals which it processes carefully and whose nuances it respects, but above all in its ability to reproduce energy flows very well. In our eyes, this is his greatest quality: an innate ability to never transcribe a smooth and monotonous message. On the contrary, the records play with a very wide variety of intensity. The TMA does not seek to make something systematically beautiful. On the other hand, he is very good at offering us an in-depth vision of each recording, clearly highlighting its specific characteristics. Which means that you never get bored in his company. It does justice to the variety of your disco, by offering a unique and unique perspective to each of your records. We appreciated its ability to easily power a large number of speakers, even in a large room. We also liked its very beautiful bass quality, at once deep, tense and muscular. Finally, like all good amplifiers, it manages to recreate a very beautiful three-dimensional space which occupies the listening room with conviction.

OUR CONCLUSION

We really appreciated the approach of the Neodio designer. The anti-obsolescence, timeless and completely repairable side is very attractive. The TMA is an excellent integrated amplifier offered at a very reasonable price considering its performance. It is carefully built in France, and this too must be emphasized. We don’t know if this is the best amplifier Neodio has offered since its creation, but what we can tell you is that it’s our favorite!

• ORIGIN: France
• PRICE: €4,590
• DIMENSIONS: 445 x 390 x 130 mm
• WEIGHT: 14 kg
• POWER: 2 x 80 W/8 ohms with current protection
• SENSITIVITY: 440 mV