Today, Marcus reviews the Chord Electronics Alto, a new Pro Audio series integrated headphone and speaker amplifier with ULTIMA technology. It is priced at £3000 and currently at $4320 in the USA.
Disclaimer: I purchased this sample, and it does not have to be returned. Headfonics is an independent website with no affiliate links or status. I thank the team at Chord Electronics for their support.
Click here to read more about the Chord Electronics products previously reviewed on Headfonics.
This article follows our current scoring guidelines, which you can read in more detail here.
The Chord Electronics Alto is a compact yet seriously heavy-hitting and pleasingly resolving headphone amplifier.
It has the chops to handle anything you throw at it, and combined with the right DAC choice, more sensitive IEMs are also possible.
UK’s Chord Electronics has been involved in the pro audio scene for decades. However, it is only recently that they announced a specific Professional series sub-brand with the Alto as their lead product last year.
The Alto is an integrated speaker and headphone amplifier priced at £3000 in the UK and currently $4320 in the US. It was initially marketed to the Pro-Audio sector last year but has now been made available to the wider audiophile community, which includes you and me.
As a headphone amplifier, the Alto is a compact, higher-powered performer with a neutral and very transparent sound signature. It can drive just about any headphone out there, and not just one either. There are options to drive up to four headphones simultaneously without losing headroom.
Fellow reviewers and studio pros will be licking their lips at that kind of flexible headphone monitoring.
However, now that it’s entering the wider audiophile market where most will use one headphone at a time, how will it fare against beefy competitors such as the Ferrum OOR and XI Audio’s Formula S? I found out in my full review below.
Features
The Chord Electronics Alto is a desktop-sized integrated Class AB headphone and speaker amplifier. At a high level, it has a similar topology to the Anni, which is part of Chord’s Qutest stackable component system range.
This includes dual-feed forward error-correction amplifier technology, which is a form of MOFSET-based amplification combined with Chord’s high-end ULTIMA circuit technology.
The result is almost like a self-monitoring amplification system whereby you have two distinct amplifiers: the main one to feed the signal and generate the power, and the second for error correction, which is normally known as the feed-forward amplifier.
Error correction normally targets key indicators such as distortion and audible noise floors with varying levels of output load or demand to create a clean and consistent output signal. In theory, that should keep the THD target percentage relatively consistent with or without a load.
Like most of Chord’s amps, the Alto is primarily a single-ended design, but this time around, we do have pseudo-balanced output options such as 4.4mm for headphone users and analog 3-pin XLR I/O on the rear panel.
That means the power output is consistent with every Alto PO, be it 6.35mm or 4.4mm, with a rating of 2250 mW into 100 Ω or roughly 7000 mW into a 32Ω load down to 750 mW for 300Ω.
That should cover just about every demanding planar or high impedance headphone out there.
Though we will not cover it in this review, the speaker output is rated 50 W into 4 Ω, which some might consider modest. For demanding speaker setups, I would recommend the 100W TTOBY.
Design
There is no mistaking the Alto for anything other than a Chord-designed product. A sturdy chassis, with minimalist, almost industrial-like design language, complete with legacy iconography and the classic Orb/color control system.
It’s a compact little guy, quite solid for its size at 2kg, but smaller than the Hugo TT2. So, while it can stack easily on top of these desktop series units, it’s not a harmonious integration.
At 215 mm x 200 mm x 57 mm and 2 kg in weight, the Alto dimensions are more substantial than the lower-end Anni, though its plated and folded chassis panel design is perhaps a more traditional approach than the single billet engineering of the Qutest series.
Screws are everywhere but it feels it is part of the approach rather than a flaw. No more so than the ring of 6 screws predominantly surrounding the central power orb.
It is hard not to miss them visually, though, thankfully, they are recessed and flush with the panels, so they will not catch your hands when moving the unit around.
The Alto will give off a bit of heat, which is to be expected for something with this level of output grunt. Thankfully, the Alto is properly (and stylishly) vented with L-shaped grid patterns on the top and bottom panels.
Got to love the new volume dial with its ‘half-eaten’ apple aesthetic. That recess fits a finger or thumb perfectly, making it very easy to grip and move without slipping. The only critique I have here is a wish for volume level markers for accurate adjustment, but I guess you can use the recess as a rough guide.
I/O
The Alto has quite a busy but very clearly laid out interface for such a compact size. The front has no less than four headphone outputs, including 4.4mm, 3.5mm, and two 6.35mm options, which can all run simultaneously.
The rear panel includes options for a 3-pin XLR-based pre-amp output, speaker ports, and RCA and 3-pin XLR line input. The Alto rear panel is completed with a DC12V 4-pin socket for a fairly hefty external 80-250V AC auto-switching power brick rather than an internal PSU.
Intriguingly, there is a 12V out just above it, which, if following the Qutest series application, could mean there will be future stackable products in this range that can daisy chain with the Alto for power, thereby reducing the number of power bricks required to run them.
Controls
There are two ways to control the Alto: direct or manually via the classic orb system on the front panel or the supplied remote control.
I found myself using the remote control a lot more unless I was beside the Alto for critical listening. The functionality and labeling on the remote control are more intuitive, especially for first-time Chord product users.
The Orb system can be a steeper learning curve for newbies, though it’s not as complex as their DAC or DAC/Amp units, which have quite a wider range of color applications.
The controls on the panel consist of a central large orb for power on and off, and an input and output orb on either side. The Alto has 3 output options covering speakers, headphones, and pre-amp output, and two input options to cycle between RCA and XLR.
You also have access to a line-level bypass on the input side (XLR only) to allow you to pass the signal down to another (Daisy-chained) amplifier, though this option is not available on the remote control.
You have to long-press the input option manually to gain access, no doubt a security feature considering how much power you are routing in this manner.
Chord has supplied a quick cheat sheet inside the box and a more detailed explanation of what each orb selector does in the main manual (Q-code-generated link to PDF). If you do not wish to use the remote, I advise reading the sheet or manual first.
Packaging & Accessories
The Alto packaging is very HiFi and thus distinctly unremarkable. View it as a classic brown box with excellent protection for shipping, but that is about it. Pack it into storage once the unit is unwrapped from its plastic sealed bag and the accessories are out.
Inside, you get a very large and thick-cabled external 80-250 V AC auto-switching power supply, meaning the Alto will work on any country’s voltage standards, though the plug will be country-specific.
For the accompanying remote control, you get a set of Chord-branded AAA batteries so it will work right out of the box without having to use or buy your own.
Aside from that, you get a small cheat sheet for the orb control color scheme, a safety manual, and a Q-code for downloading the main user manual.
Things I would have liked to have seen included? For the price, a set of 1m RCA cables would have been a reasonable inclusion, so you have everything you need to connect the Alto to your system right away.
Click on page 2 below for my sound impressions and recommended pairings.
