Brontë was to be a range. So it started off as an Amplifier and CD player. That’s how it would stay till we finally put CD players to rest a decade and a half later. The Bronte CD player shared a lot with the more expensive Byron, but fundamentally the difference was the internal DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) which took the data from the actual spinning Disc and turned it into something us humans can hear and sometimes bear to listen to. Thankfully in our and most peoples’ opinion the Bronte CD player made most well recorded CDs not only bearable but an absolute Aural pleasure.
The amplifier in the set was the unique marker in this range. As digital amplifier that operated, performed and therefore accepted by the hifi cognoscenti as on par with if not better than many of its price peers it heralded a new dawn in audio amplification technology. Audio amplifier technology in the decades to follow would host a range of technologies, each holding advantage in some areas of performance and specification. Mostly, however, they sit alongside each other as equals in audio performance ability with choice left mainly to taste.
The Bronte sisters, as we refer to them, were to go forward an accumulate numerous awards and acclaim. Reviewers and customers alike were more than kind in their praise. Awards would come from as far flung places as Japan and Russia whilst at home even Gramophone Magazine were lusting as 2002 set the pace.