The marvelous sound delivered by this remarkable tubed stereo amplifier puts it in the front line, up there with the world's best amplifiers. I hesitate to say it is "the best," as such a distinction also requires very high standards of load driving, build quality, and longevity.

The massive strengths of the Defy-7 are its natural, transparent, unfailingly musical sound coupled with an astonishing ability to play loud even into such difficult loads such as the WATT 3/Puppy 2. The synergy exhibited between the WATTs and the Jadis is quite a phenomenon, though other speakers also showed the very high quality of this tubed power amplifier.

A natural, liquid sound is a top priority, of course, with a tube amplifier, but one also often has to consider compromises in accuracy and control at the frequency extremes. This is not so with the Defy-7. The subjective performance at the frequency extremes leave very little to be desired, and could not be considered compromised.