“When compared to the big boys—costly gear from Boulder, Ypsilon, and so forth—the VTL isn’t some kind of giant-slayer. But the comparison isn’t fair, or to put it another way, it’s only enlightening in showing that gear in th TP-2.5i’s price range comes tantalizingly close to achieving the performance of far more elaborate designs with separate power supplies and the like.”

Jacob Heilbrunn, The Absolute Sound

Editors Choice Award 2020.

“Spending time with these VTL amplifiers, it is easy to understand how and why the company has quietly but confidently established itself as the go-to option for versatile, high-powered tube amps. The TL-6.5 and S-200 don’t just tick the boxes – they own this turf!”

Roy Gregory, hifi+

“VTL’s linestage is the best one it has produced. Its transient fidelity, dynamic power, enormous soundstage, and sheer grip are mesmerizing. Like its predecessors, the 7.5 features an ingenious “clean” and “dirty” box to prevent the signal from becoming contaminated by noisy parts. But there the similarities end. The Series III version of the 7.5, which features a host of upgraded parts and improved circuit design, has conquered the slight bit of electronic grain that the Series II version displayed.”

The Absolute Sound

“VTL’s latest TL-5.5 Series II Signature has been seriously improved using technologies found in the flagship TL-7.5 Reference Series III  and TL-6.5 Signature Series II. But those are linestage-only hybrid designs; the 5.5 is all-tube with a fine optional phonostage. It delivers an impressive sense of the musicians’ presence, with seamless bottom-to-top tonal coherence, dynamic push, and resolution that create a thrilling sense of aliveness and of the music-making process.”

Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound

“The standard against which the competition is measured”

“When it comes to high-powered tube amps, today it is VTL that set the standard against which the competition is measured. Look a little closer at their products and it is not hard to understand why; listen and it becomes more obvious still.”

“t’s this ability to get the right amount of energy in the right place at the right time that makes these amps such natural musical communicators and places them firmly ahead of the competition.”

Roy Gregory, hifi+

Vacuum-Tube Chameleon

“Beyond its outstanding sound and sonic flexibility, I’m highly taken by this amp because it does what I firmly believe is the most important thing our gear should do, which is to present music as a cohesive and engaging whole. Or, to borrow from the German—gesamtkunstwerk, a total, all-embracing work of art.”

Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound