In this review, we check out the Alto amplifier by Chord Electronics. This is their studio speaker and headphone amplifier made available for the audiophile market. It sells for €3.999 Euro or $4,320 USD.
Disclaimer: Chord Electronics provided the Alto for this review in exchange for my honest opinion. Headfonia and Chord Electronics are not related in any way.
Chord Electronics
Chord Electronics is an English manufacturer of amplifiers, digital to analogue converters, upscalers and streamers. They have been active for many years already and are best known in our space of audio for their ground-breaking Hugo FPGA loaded DAC and of course for their massively popular Mojo. A cigarette pack sized DAC/Amp that surpasses every competitor with its incredible performance.
The Chief Designer and Managing Director John Franks started out in aviation electronics before he later on founded Chord Electronics. According to the interview we did with him a couple of years ago, he was greatly influenced by that time, because no mistake was allowed without a perfect fix, no workarounds are accepted. This also is the philosophy of Chord Electronics.
Don’t accept anything but the very best possible. That is why their designs are considered segment leaders. Up to today, Chord Electronics has brought us a lot of gear which was loved all around the globe. Their Mojo has to be one of the most sold items ever.
A few years into the history of Chord Electronics, John Franks got in touch with Rob Watts, who had a great reputation in digital design. Rob Watts has worked with Chord Electronics on all DAC and DAC/amp designs over the past 20 years. That includes their ultimate DAC – DAVE, as well as the super popular Hugo range.
Their most popular product in our world might be the Mojo 2 though, which we reviewed in the past for you.
In today’s feature, we will look at the Chord Alto. An amplifier that originated in Chord’s professional business side. Due to the high demand, it is finally also available for us regular folk.
Chord Alto
The Chord Alto is a very compact professional-grade amplifier for near-field speakers and headphones. It was originally strictly intended for the pro-audio market, but the request from the consumer side never ebbed down. After a while Chord Electronics decided to release the Alto to the general public.
Alto can easily drive up to four pairs of headphones at once. It is also designed to power a pair of smaller, presumably bookshelf, speakers. Its rated output power into 4 Ohms is 50 Watts. Which should be more than sufficient for most stand-mount loudspeakers. The headphone outputs are rated at 2.2 Watts into 100 Ohms.
This little amp should drive even the most demanding headphones on the market. Though we all know that raw power only gets you so far. More important is the implementation.
Here, Chord Electronics have trickled down their highly appraised Ultima technology from their absolute high-end amplifiers. Chord also implemented their dual feed-forward error correction in Alto.
The Alto features two sets of analogue inputs on its rear-end. You can connect your sources via the XLR or RCA inputs. Speakers can be connected with banana plugs only, as the connectors sit flush with the casing. An extra pair of XLRs can be used as an output, either as line-level passthrough or volume adjustable as pre-amplifier.
On the front of the unit, you will find four headphone sockets. Two 6.3mm and a single set of 3.5mm as well as 4.4mm outputs. It is the first time that Chord Electronics uses a balanced headphone connection, although the amp’s design itself is not balanced.
Alto is available for 3,000 GBP, €3.999 Euro or $4,320 USD throughout Chord Electronics’ retail channels.
Package
The package in which the Alto came will be familiar to anyone who bought a Hugo TT2 or other table-top gear of Chord Electronics. In it the Alto is securely placed together with a power cord, the switching voltage 12V power supply, an infra-red remote control, branded batteries and a quick-start guide.
To connect the Alto to a source you will still need to get a pair of RCA or XLR cables. Personally, I can strongly recommend the AudioQuest Black Beauty interconnects. They are a fantastic choice.
A more detailed manual can be found on Chord’s website.
The review continues on page two! Click here or use the jumps below.
Vjekoslav
Hello!
Nice review of that beautiful amp.
Consider to buy it although I am wondering if it be ok for my Blumenhofer Tempesta 20 speakers. Floorstanders, 92dB sensitivity and not aimed as a close listening but ‘normal’ listening position, 2 – 3 meters distance. Room is 25met².
Should it be okay for mostly jazz listening and not on high levels?
Thx!
Felix
Hi Vjekoslav,
many thanks for your comment. Much appreciated!
I quickly checked out the spec sheet of the Blumenhofer and don’t think you should have any problems with the Alto. Definitely give it an audition and consideration. The Alto is a fantastic amplifier and mega compact. 🙂
Michael
What about a comparison with the headphone output of the TT2 alone?