AUDIOLAB 7000A Amplifier and 7000CDT CD Transport > AV Forums Review
The 7000A arrives on the market with one of the most thorough and comprehensive feature sets on the market and balances this with truly outstanding performance. It's not the best Audiolab amp but it is the best value. The matching CDT offers a genuinely pleasurable user experience that will work superbly in a variety of setups.
Conclusion
So as to stave off any doubt, the 7000A is not better than the 9000A. That is a formidable bit of kit that justifies its asking price and every piece of effusive prose here doesn’t change that. This truth doesn’t alter the fact that, at nine hundred pounds less, the 7000A is mind blowingly good. Comparisons with Rega’s Elex Mk4 are also slightly irrelevant; the Rega is still fundamentally designed around having source equipment attached to it which, together with the higher price, means it is still realistically the best out and out amp you can buy under two grand. I am pretty sure Audiolab will accept this and be comfortable with it
This is because it’s how close the 7000A runs it while doing so much that’s notable. While you consider affordable streaming transports, Audiolab’s CD transports and a host of other equipment you might already have can be connected to the 7000A, it simply cracks on with being a truly superlative bit of kit. Even if you do buy the Rega, if you’re looking for CD playback, there’s a more than reasonable chance you might find yourself looking at the 7000CDT to connect to it anyway. Audiolab’s decision making process on the specification of its devices has left it likely to wind up winning regardless of outcome. The result pound for pound is one of the most outstanding product duos on the market today and an unquestionable Best Buy.
- Ed Selley, AV Forums May 24, 2023