Divaldi AMP-05 SE is a headphone amplifier that has unusual looks, and which – despite its small size – has really serious aspirations. This is also one of those products that may be really interesting because of more than one or two reasons. And it’s not only about the really interesting design that can be also seen as somehow distinguished. But rather more about the fact that this one particular piece of gear, in its another new version (since the AMP-05 SE is de facto development of the previous amps like the AMP-01, to which we will get soon) is a brainchild of our local Polish company. It just happens so that the Divaldi is the company that is located in Krakow and during the last few years since its inception has came up with some really interesting – and also uncanny – designs.
Obviously, the amp reviewed here is one of them, but let’s begin with the company itself. The name comes from the name of two main designers: Włodzimierz Duval and Waldemar Łuczkoś. First designs with the Divaldi name came to light in 2010 and it was the BURGUND series that consisted of amplifier, preamplifier, speakers and interesting turntable that sported two tone-arms. At the same time I would like to mention something else. Divaldi is one of the companies (and we can count them on the fingers of one hand) that got the prestigious IFDESIGN AWARD (the other one would be, for example, Fezz Audio, whose amplifiers like Titania and Silver Luna we already reviewed).
To make matters even more interesting, this award was given for the headphone amplifier AMP-01 which was actually a direct progenitor to the gear reviewed here. The award was granted to both the designer, Piotr Jagiełłowicz, and to the manufacturer as well, which in this case was the Mediam Company that is the owner of the Divaldi trademark. And it that were not enough, let’s take a look at the Divaldi current lineup. We won’t find a lot there, but those that are there indicate that this one manufacturer is really up to something. We have a few models of headphone amplifiers, AMP-01 (in the black, white and gold versions), AMP-02 (albo in black, white and gold) and the reviewed here AMP-05 SE. Meaning Special Edition. In addition to those amps we have external dedicated PSU units that also come in three colour versions. In the Divaldi’s offer we will also find two integrated amplifiers INT-01 and INT-02. They boast so many interesting design traits that this will be a subject for an entirely another story. We also have two speaker designs with a somehow cryptic names FS-01 and MS-01. What is, however, of note here is that they use the drivers from the German company ETON, what doesn’t happen very often in the loudspeakers’ world. And this is due to the fact that there drivers are not easy to implement (they are on par in this regards with the Focal’s K2 Polykevlar or new Seas Excel drivers with magnesium diaphragms). By the way – the standmount version of those speakers are actually pretty honestly prices, something around two and a half thousand Euros for a pair, and the company offers lending them for anyone interested. Ending the story of our manufacturer, I left the best for last.