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Chord Electronics Étude
The multi-award winning Chord Electronics Choral family of products has never sounded so good. Welcome Étude to the table, a 150w Class AB stereo power amplifier featuring the first fundamentally new topology since Chord Electronics’ inception in 1989, using highly advanced technologies seen within the aerospace industry.
The Choral Étude has been designed to both compliment and exploit the full potential of the multi-award winning DAVE DAC, which has preamp functionality, and the brand new topology has even faster power delivery than exiting designs, offering unrivalled dynamics, life-like delivery of transient information, plus effortless control over loudspeaker drive units.
The design for Étude is based upon multi-feedback and dual feed-forward error-correction amplifier technology that intelligently adjusts and compensates the individual linearity of the 250-watt lateral structure high-power proprietary MOSFETs. Internally there are three individual high frequency switch mode power supply units, one for each active power rail and a final for the auxiliary rails. When paired with advanced internal shielding, active cooled plenum chamber design, and custom Chord Electronics MOSFETs, you have Étude, an world class extremely fast crystal clear amplifier.
Although the amplifier is conservatively rated at 150W into 4Ω, if you run Étude in bridged mono mode you can increase this to 300W into 4Ω.
Weight: 3.45kg
Other accessories & custom options
Precision machined from a solid block of aircraft grade aluminium, a work of art on its own, the Ensemble Stand is irrefutably the most satisfying way to display your Choral system components or stack.
Key Features
Class AB Sliding Bias
HF Switch Mode Power Supply
Chord MOSFET Construction
Fully Balanced Circuitry
Fan Cooled
Stereo Balanced XLR Inputs
Stereo Unbalanced RCA Inputs
Solid Aluminium Chassis
Bridgeable to 300w - 4Ω
Included Accessories
Étude Quickstart guide
Safety instructions
10A Mains IEC cable
WATT RECOMMENDS
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Professional Reviews 87/100
Nicely Roasted
Sound Quality
88/100
Build Quality
87/100
Value for Money
85/100
Highly polished and technically assured, the Étude brings a compact, refined presentation that feels built for revealing systems. Audiophilepure describes it as a highly advanced match for Chord’s top-tier chain, suggesting effortless control and coherence that lets the rest of the system shine rather than dominate the sound.
What Reviewers Are Saying
Pros
Highly refined and technically advanced presentation that complements revealing high-end systems.
Feels musically cohesive and controlled, with the amplifier getting out of the way of the wider setup.
Compact form factor paired with premium engineering and styling.
&
Cons
The review excerpt offers limited direct listening detail, so specific claims about bass, imaging, and dynamics are not well documented.
Its premium positioning and rarity mean value is not strongly argued in the available review.
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 88/100
Reviewers portray the Étude as highly capable and very polished, with one describing it as a system where the rest of the setup almost becomes a given. The available listening comments are brief, but they point to a highly accomplished amplifier that sounds technically advanced and musically seamless.
Transparency Resolution
88/100
The review language suggests a very clear, highly developed presentation, calling the amplifier technologically advanced and implying it belongs in a system that simply 'works' at a high level. There is little explicit talk of detail retrieval or low-level nuance, so the praise is suggestive rather than richly descriptive.
Tonal Balance Musicality
88/100
The reviewer implies strong musical ease and coherence, saying it may be one of those systems where the choice of cable and loudspeakers is the main remaining variable. That points to a smooth, unforced presentation, although the review does not spend much time on tone color or warmth.
Dynamics
88/100
The amplifier is described as part of a system that feels essentially complete, which suggests effortless control and no obvious strain. However, the excerpt does not give direct comments about slam, current delivery, or difficult-load performance, so the dynamic praise remains fairly general.
Soundstage Imaging
88/100
There is no detailed discussion of depth, width, or imaging precision in the supplied excerpt, but the overall impression is of a highly cohesive and convincing amplifier. The evidence is too thin for more specific claims about spatial presentation.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
87/100
The review explicitly links the Étude with 'equal degrees of technological advancement and styling,' which supports strong engineering execution and a well-finished product. The specs also show balanced and unbalanced inputs, but the review itself says little about long-term durability, thermal behavior, or internal construction beyond that broadly positive impression.
Value for Money
85/100
The supplied review does not directly discuss price, affordability, or whether the Étude is a bargain relative to rivals. Given the asking price and rarity, there is no clear value praise in the excerpt, so it reads as a premium purchase whose worth is not argued in the review text.
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Verified Dealers
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Authorized dealers for Chord Electronics Étude
- Absoulute Audio plus Video — in-store — Aiken, South Carolina, United States (website)
- In Living Stereo — in-store — New York City, New York, United States (website)
- The Music Room — online and in-store — Erie, Colorado, United States (website)
- 110Hz — online and in-store — Kielce, Województwo świętokrzyskie, Poland (website)
- Accent On Music — in-store — Mount Kisco, New York, United States (website)
- Acoustic Designs Inc. — in-store — Scottsdale, Arizona, United States (website)
- Acoustic Sounds — online and in-store — Salina, Kansas, United States (website)
- Acoustic Streams — in-store — Lower Drift, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Acoustica — online and in-store — Chester, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Ajasom — in-store — Amadora, Lisboa, Portugal (website)
and 200 more verified dealers