Canor Audio Virtus A3 Review by Soundrebels (English Translation)

Opinion 1

I dare say that the times when we looked at products from behind the Iron Curtain, with particular emphasis on those from across the big water – American and Japanese – with almost religious admiration, and treated ours – “Eastern Bloc” – as a necessary evil and “chocolate-like” substitutes, have long since passed. It is now easy to assemble a system from Central and Eastern European brands that not only deserves the name Hi-Fi, but also High-End. In fact, looking at the extensive list of manufacturers of all kinds of goods with audiophile provenance bearing the “made in EU” mark, it very often turns out that they were created in areas located east of the former Berlin Wall. We have Slovenian turntables Kuzma and Pear Audio, our native Sikora, electronics from Bulgarian Thrax, Romanian Rockna, Czech KR Audio, Polish “Cyrkle,” Audio Reveal, Fezz, RCM phonostages, Hungarian Qualiton, loudspeakers from Czech Xavian, Lithuanian AudioSolutions, our own ESA, Pylon, not to mention countless cable-making workshops. In short, one can pick and choose like from a basket of wild pears. And it is precisely from this group that the subject of today’s commotion comes, namely the Slovak manufactory Canor Audio, which, although it has already appeared many times in our pages, by a strange coincidence has not yet been looked at from a slightly broader perspective. Therefore, to see how far it has come, it is worth going back about a quarter of a century, when under the banner of the brand Edgar, founded in 1995, the Slovaks not only offered rustic products catching the eye with wooden inserts (TP 101 MkII), or even entire paneled fronts (SH-1, TP 305, CD1), but also operated very actively as a contractor of electronics for such external entities as, among others, Pavel Dudek (DPA), Vincent, or Pro-Ject. Then came the year 2007, precisely December 1, when, forced by claims of an older entity bearing the same name, the designation was changed to Canor and wood was abandoned in favor of decidedly more hi-tech aluminum. That is, sticking to the facts and not particularly trying to bend them to fit our narrative, it is worth mentioning that while the tube integrated Canor TP-105 VR still somewhat resembled the drawer of an elegant secretary with its front appearance, its successor TP-106 VR, and the CD-2 VR player added to the pair, forcefully opened the doors of 21st-century design, boasting aluminum-acrylic front panels and inaugurating a new chapter in the history of Slovak Hi-Fi and High-End. Am I exaggerating? Well, to all doubters I warmly recommend a small retrospective and a return to our test of the Hyperion P1 preamplifier and Virtus M1 monoblocks, which clearly proved that our southern neighbors are increasingly boldly pushing into the “Champions League,” tempting not only with the aforementioned attractive design and high-quality sound, but also with relatively reasonable prices, which in audiophile realities is by no means standard.

This time, thanks to the courtesy of Rafko from Białystok, we had the opportunity to deal with a decidedly more compact and at the same time even more affordable proposition, namely the hybrid model Canor Audio Virtus A3, defined as an “integrated all-in-one amplifier,” the test of which we warmly invite you to read.

At first glance the A3 does not particularly stand out from its contemporary siblings, but believe me, it can easily be considered a harbinger of perhaps not so much a revolution, but a clear evolution in the domain of aesthetics and ergonomics in the Slovak portfolio. Let us start, however, with the general impression and the recognizability resulting from the company’s unified design. It cannot be denied that the Virtus A3 looks like a full-blooded, thoroughbred Canor and has no intention of denying it. We therefore have a classic, rectangular body made of solid plates with a thick brushed aluminum front across which runs a strip of blackened acrylic. It is precisely in its center that a novel multifunctional knob surrounded by an amber halo has been placed, in whose “face” a colorful touchscreen, straight from a modern smartwatch, is embedded. With it we can power on/off the amplifier, select the source, read the parameters of the reproduced signal, or follow the work of digital “wipers” monitoring the delivered power. For me, a design wonder, honey and nuts, leaving far behind, for example, Pathos’s use of a volume indicator embedded in a knob. Bravo! And the animation of the tubes warming up simply steals the show.

The left flank is occupied by the model designation and a duo of headphone outputs – balanced 4-pin XLR and classic unbalanced 6.3mm jack. The right side is assigned to an extremely legible orange LED display informing about the selected source and volume level.

A glance at the rear panel and … it becomes clear why the Slovaks mention the A3 in the context of “everything-mania.” But step by step. Along the side edges space has been allocated for single, fairly standard speaker terminals, between which all kinds of interfaces are grouped into logically arranged sections. Thus, on the left we have representatives of the analog domain, namely RCA inputs for the phonostage with the obligatory ground terminal, two pairs of RCA line inputs and the same set of XLRs. Next we encounter a duo of variable RCA and XLR outputs and trigger interfaces. Right at the top edge is the main switch, integrated with the fuse compartment and IEC socket, which on the one hand makes it easier to connect the cable while standing in front of the amplifier, but on the other, once such a wire is applied, noticeably hinders access to the digital section located along the bottom edge, with a USB-C socket (!?), a pair of coaxials, a pair of opticals and a single AES/EBU. And while in terms of ergonomics I allow myself criticism of the evidently conflicting placement of the power socket and digital section, although initially I also wanted to mark down the rather unexpected USB-C socket at this price level, I then recalled a conversation with Canor’s representative Ivan Bošnovič during Rafko’s anniversary and everything became clear. The point is that the Slovaks are aiming not only at experienced audiophiles, but also at youth entering the world of high-quality sound, and as is well known this generation, usually untainted by audiophilia nervosa, does not possess drawers or even wardrobes of various cables. Instead, they have a smartphone glued to their hand. In short, they do not have a “printer” USB cable, but they surely have a USB-C cable in several options of length, thickness and color. So at the beginning it should suffice, and if not, the brand’s distributor, namely Rafko, also did his homework and with the appearance of the Virtus A3 on store shelves (and the upcoming delivery of the Verto D4S DAC) prepared his own compatible Melodika cabling from the Purple series – MDUAC (<200PLN/2m).As for the innards and general technical parameters, as I mentioned at the outset we are dealing with an integrated hybrid design of dual mono topology with fully independent, multi-stage, regulated power supplies for each channel. The analog section is fully balanced and realized by discrete symmetrical gain stages at the input equipped with double matched JFET transistors and a pair of E88CC tubes. At the output we find a set of class AB transistors mounted on large heatsinks supported by a heat pump and slow-speed coolers, which (the transistors, not the cooling) are capable of delivering 2 x 100W at 8Ω and 2 x 150W at 4Ω load. With similar care the digital section has been refined, where a pair of ESS 9038 chips work and the USB input is galvanically isolated. It is also worth mentioning that the headphone output, usually treated stepmotherly, in the case of Canor includes a fully symmetrical, balanced module based on discrete elements. As if that were not enough, the phonostage is also fully “discrete” and supports not only MM cartridges but also MC!Moving on to the sonic qualities of our guest today, let me begin by announcing a small denial of the opinion of the “well‑wishers” that hybrids combine the disadvantages of both technologies they use, namely tube distortions with transistor lack of musicality. Just a few bars of the ballad Meant to Be from Testament’s album Para Bellum are enough to understand that the Canor Audio Virtus A3 may combine many elements in its sound, but none of them is a flaw or weakness. Especially when one does not stop at a single track of the aforementioned shredders. It turns out that the Slovak integrated can not only deliver solid punch at the bottom offering descent, control and energy adequate to the declared power, but also fiercely bite with a fiery top brimming with guitar riffs. Without excessive rounding, softening or sweetening. In fact, for a design that has tubes on board, Canor plays surprisingly briskly and vitally, making not only heavy rock but also calmer repertoire cause the blood to circulate more vigorously in our veins. Do not worry, however, that the A3 in any way speeds up the tempo or introduces unnecessary underlying nervousness into recordings, because nothing of the sort happens, and the aforementioned briskness and vitality result from the extraordinary care of the Slovak amplifier for proper dynamics of reproduced recordings, not only on the macro scale, as in the just‑cited Testament album, but also micro, as in the excellent Possibilities by Herbie Hancock or the equally refined Charlie Watts Meets The Danish Radio Big Band by Charlie Watts, where almost mere presence is enough to, if not sway the whole body or a leg, then at least tap the rhythm drumming fingers on the armrest of the chair. Here one does not need to “crank up” the amplifier to unknown levels of volume, because the full energy load dormant in the source material is released even at almost evening‑night doses of decibels. If anyone dares to doubt it, I warmly recommend listening to FrauContraBass. Of course, I quietly count on you taking into account the fact that during tests I used AudioSolutions Figaro L2 paper‑cone speakers, very friendly to such narrative and capable of presenting such nuances. How it will be with Jacek’s aluminum‑porcelain‑diamond Gauders I do not know, but soon you will be able to find out. Returning to the point and the issue of not excessive saturation of the midrange, I just want to clarify that the middle of the band is excellently communicative and tangible, but precisely of “not excessive saturation.” This means that on the one hand we get great differentiation of the input both in terms of quality and content, so we can perfectly hear the differences between the rasp of Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen and at the same time the caramel sweetness of Queen Latifah’s vocal (Trav’lin’ Light), thanks to the ability to render proper articulation and “truthfulness” of sibilants it is not so soporifically sticky and uniform. Similar observations I made on Soul on Soul by Paloma Dineli Chesky, where Canor suggestively showed the claw and “throaty feistiness” of the highly talented daughter of David (yes, the one from Chesky Records and HDtracks). Adding to this the freedom and naturalness of decays and avoiding too quick extinguishing of reverberations swirling under the vaults, we get a suggestively “airy” presentation with precisely placed phantom sources and reliably rendered gradation of planes.Finally a few words about the DAC, phonostage and headphone amplifier. As for the converter section, due to the incompatible, that is consistent with the manufacturer’s “youthful” assumptions, USB‑C port I was forced to give up my regular ZenSati Zorro USB cable in favor of a wire of little audiophile provenance usually used for photo tethering, so it is worth taking this detail into account. Nevertheless, even on such a “prosthesis” the sound of the A3 was hard to consider in any way impaired or defective. The tonal balance was simply shifted slightly downward, the top band slightly rounded and the midrange pushed half a step forward. As a result Canor became more humane for not particularly reference recordings, shifting listeners’ attention from resolution to pleasant musicality. I had a similar impression after switching to the built‑in phonostage, which simply did its job offering, I assume, the expected analog density and “magic” for most recipients. Fortunately Canor did not play everything in one manner and could show differences both between aesthetics and quality of production and the pressings themselves, while not feeling obliged to react too ecstatically to all sorts of crackles collected by the groove‑tracking needle. Of course it is beyond doubt that it can be better, but if someone wonders how much extra one has to pay for that better, I recommend checking how much Gryphon asks for expansion cards. Generally, if one does not have a “loose 5” thousand PLN, it is rather not worth trying to find free‑standing alternatives because at most it will be different and not necessarily better. Meanwhile the headphone output, at least on not very demanding Meze, sounded in a way similar to the speaker outputs, so it offered plenty of joy and energy with infectious motorics causing rhythmic head‑bobbing.In summary of today’s meeting I can only state that the Canor team succeeded with the titular Virtus A3. It is well equipped, pleasant to use, of uncommon beauty and simply plays well. And if one only remembers that first we plug into its digital section and apply the power cable at the very end, then there is no need to complain about the debatable location of the power socket. One only needs to also remember to arrange in advance a sensible cable with a USB‑C end, or simply order such – Melodika MDUAC together with the amplifier – and forget about the subject.-Marcin Olszewski

System used during the test

– CD/DAC: Vitus Audio SCD-025 Mk.II + 2 x Quantum Science Audio (QSA) Blue fuse
– File player: Lumïn U2 Mini + Farad Super3 + Farad DC Level 2 copper cable + Omicron Magic Dream Classic; I-O Data Soundgenic HDL-RA4TB
– Turntable: Denon DP-3000NE + Denon DL-103R
– Phono preamplifier: Tellurium Q Iridium MM/MC Phono Pre Amp
– Digital source selector: Audio Authority 1177
– Integrated amplifier: Vitus Audio RI-101 MkII + Quantum Science Audio (QSA) Violet fuse
– Loudspeakers: AudioSolutions Figaro L2 + Solid Tech Feet of Balance + ZenSati Angel jumpers
– IC RCA: Furutech FA-13S; phono NEO d+ RCA Class B Stereo + Ground (1m)
– IC XLR: Vermöuth Audio Reference; Furutech DAS-4.1; WK Audio TheRed XLR
– Digital IC: Fadel art DigiLitz; Harmonic Technology Cyberlink Copper; Apogee Wyde Eye; Monster Cable Interlink LightSpeed 200
– USB cables: Wireworld Starlight; Vermöuth Audio Reference USB; ZenSati Zorro
– Speaker cables: WK Audio TheRed Speakers mkII + SHUBI Custom Acoustic Stands MMS-1
– Power cables: Esprit Audio Alpha; Furutech FP-3TS762 / FI-28R / FI-E38R; Organic Audio Power + Furutech CF-080 Damping Ring; Furutech Evolution II Power; 3 x WK Audio TheRed Power
– Power strip: Furutech e-TP60ER + Furutech FP-3TS762 / Fi-50 NCF(R) / FI-50M NCF(R)
– Wall power socket: Furutech FT-SWS-D (R) NCF
– Switch: QSA Red + Silent Angel S28 feet + Farad Super6 power supply + Farad DC Level 2 copper cable
– Ethernet cables: In-akustik CAT6 Premium II; Audiomica Laboratory Anort Consequence, Artoc Ultra Reference, Arago Excellence; Furutech LAN-8 NCF; Next Level Tech NxLT Lan Flame
– Anti-vibration platform: Franc Audio Accessories Wood Block Slim Platform
– Rack: Solid Tech Radius Duo 3
– Acoustic panels: Vicoustic Flat Panel VMT

Opinion 2
When I say that every adept of advanced audio knows the Slovak Canor, if I am mistaken, it is really by a minimal percentage. And only because most of this group will certainly be new recruits to our hobby. The rest of the audio freak population surely at least recognizes the mentioned hero. And even if not from their own personal experience, then at least from reading our tests of several offerings under this trademark. And it must be admitted that there were quite a few of them. And what is important, in most cases these were encounters with Music with a capital “M,” since many of the devices use electron tubes in their innards. Not to mold something boring, but to give music a touch of beauty, which is why they are most often successfully constructed hybrids. And surely no one will be surprised by the fact that today’s design can also boast glass bulbs in its electrical circuits. And we will be dealing with a very compact unit in terms of size, additionally able to boast considerable multifunctionality – on board we find not only the amplification section, but also a D/A converter, phonostage and, equally important, an interestingly designed integrated amplifier Canor Audio Virtus A3, distributed by Rafko in Białystok.

As can be seen in the photos, the Slovak in terms of size is a medium‑sized design. However, anyone who thinks that it is the same in spirit is mistaken. Not at all. This is evidenced by the rich set of functions mentioned in the introduction (of course apart from being an integrated amplifier): a digital‑to‑analog converter and a phono preamplifier. For the purpose of ennobling the sound, electron tubes are used. The whole is complemented by the fact of a designer look with an excellently presented multifunctional knob that both rotates to amplify the signal and touch‑controls the selection of inputs on the rear connection panel. And the most interesting thing is that it has one more cool function. It is about the display in its center of power output meters. Yes, it is a gadget, but what an ingenious one, and let us not kid ourselves, it greatly raises the level of the device’s visual reception. Of course, on the front panel apart from this knob we also find, oriented on its left flank, two types of headphone sockets, and on the right a large, therefore readable from afar, pictogram display using an orange shade. As for the back of the described integrated, realizing a large equipment offer it provides the user with a set of speaker outputs, 2 RCA inputs and two XLRs in the analog domain, one input for the phonostage, a full set of digital inputs – USB‑C, 2 x Coax, 2 x Optical, AES/EBU, as well as the standard IEC power input together with fuse socket and main switch. Naturally, it is obvious that the set includes a remote control not overloaded with functions but ensuring full operation.

Well, we already have a few interesting general pieces of information behind us, so now it is time for a similar package of data, this time however in a probably more interesting topic for you, namely the sound offer of the Canor Virtus A3. And I must say with pleasure that these will be very optimistic pieces of information. Additionally, their weight is raised by the fact of a very moderate pricing of such a function‑rich and visually excellent amplifier at a level below 30 thousand PLN. If this happens, it is really rare. What do I mean? First of all, not only a musical presentation, because the tube allows achieving such a state without special effort, but at the same time a very even delivery of the whole, since while honoring good essentiality of the message, the music in no range bore signs of overheating. Yes, it was dense – especially in the middle of the band, but at the same time in the lower parts with appropriate contour, and at the top with nice breath and shine. Naturally, this last band did not go its own way, which might on a short term seem nice, but would cause detachment from reality, instead offering good shine of the music all the time, its amount depending on the demand of the listened material. Thanks to this, tangibility and good focusing of phantom sources unfolding within the confines of my listening room came out excellently.

What I just articulated was perfectly confirmed by probably my most favorite album by Tomasz Stańko *Lontano*. Its general calm encoded in its DNA was excellently emphasized by the aesthetics of the sound of the evaluated amplification section. The overall saturation of the presentation successfully made plastic – because it did not thicken – the pleasantly received delivery of such instruments as double bass and piano. And the strong lower range not only promoted the work of the drummer’s big kettle drum, but also allowed the mentioned piano to obtain appropriate support during the playing of a series of lowest chord passages. The music flowed seemingly slowly, yet thanks to the good application of electron tubes, their charming vibration of the midrange made it phenomenally alive. The effect in the positive sense was quite surprising, because this type of music is very capricious and when the designer during the design of the device crosses the thin line between the charm of presentation and over‑interpretation of this aspect, boredom simply blows from the speakers. Here such an effect was not present. Instead there was, admittedly juicy, but still pulling me into the whirl of events, drive.

-Jacek Pazio

System used during the test:

– CD player: Gryphon Ethos
– Streamer: Lumin U2 Mini + QSA Red-Silver switch
– Line preamplifier: Gryphon Audio Commander
– Power amplifier: Gryphon Audio APEX Stereo
– Loudspeakers: Gauder Akustik Berlina RC-11 Black Edition
– Speaker cables: Furutech Nanoflux-NCF Speaker Cable
– IC RCA: Hijiri Million “Kiwami”, Vermouth Audio Reference
– XLR: Hijiri Million “Kiwami”, Furutech DAS-4.1, Furutech Project V1
– Digital IC: Furutech Project V1 D XLR
– LAN cable: NxLT LAN FLAME
– USB cable: ZenSati Silenzio
– Power cables: Hijiri Takumi Maestro, Furutech Project-V1, Furutech DPS-4.1 + FI-E50 NCF(R)/ FI-50(R),
Furutech Evolution II, Hijiri Nagomi, Vermouth Audio Reference Power Cord, Acrolink 8N-PC8100 Performante, ZenSati Angel

Accessories:
– Fuses: Quantum Science Audio Red, QSA Silver, Synergistic Research Orange
– Anti-vibration platform: Solid Tech
– Power accessories: Harmonix AC Enacom Improved for 100-240V
– Power strip: Power Base High End, Furutech NCF Power Vault-E
– Acoustic panels: Artnovion

Analog chain:
– Turntable: SME 60
– Cartridge: My Sonic Lab Signature Diamond
– Phono preamplifier: RCM Audio The Big Phono
– Record clamp: Omicron Luxury Clamp
– Record centering device: DS Audio ES-001
– Reel-to-reel tape recorder: Studer A80

Technical specifications

– Output power: 2 x 100W / 8 Ω, 2 x 150W / 4 Ω
– Headphone output voltage: 500 mW / 30 Ω, 70 mW / 300 Ω (unbalanced – 6.3 mm jack);
500 mW / 30 Ω, 270 mW / 300 Ω (balanced – 4‑pin XLR)
– Gain: 34.5 dB
– Input sensitivity: 550 mV
– Phono preamplifier gain: MM 40 dB, MM 46 dB, MC 60 dB, MC 66 dB
– Damping factor: 180 / 4 Ω, 380 / 8 Ω
– Frequency response: 10 – 35,000 Hz (± 0.5 dB / 5 W)
– Input impedance: 50 kΩ
– Analog inputs: 1 pair RCA (phono), 2 pairs RCA, 2 pairs XLR
– Analog outputs (variable): 1 pair RCA, 1 pair XLR
– Digital inputs: 2 x COAX, 2 x OPT, USB‑C, AES/EBU
– DAC used: 2 x ESS 9038 (Dual Mono)
– Supported digital signals: PCM up to 768 kHz / 32 bits, DSD up to DSD512
– Tubes used: 2 x E88CC
– THD distortion: < 0.005 % / 1 kHz, 5 W; < 0.008 % / 1 kHz, 1 W – Signal‑to‑noise ratio: > 90 dB (20 Hz – 20 kHz)
– Dimensions (W x H x D): 435 x 130 x 460 mm
– Weight: 18 kg