The Edge NL10 is very fast, and lets you hear micro- dynamic contrasts better than any amp I've ever heard. It allows you to listen deep into the music, and hear things you've never heard. Indeed, many high-end amps I've had lately didn't even reproduce these contrasts and micro-dynamics. But the truly remarkable thing about the NL10 is how grain free, liquid, and full bodied the midrange is. This is the only solidstate amp I've owned that I can honestly say reproduces music in ways very similar to the best tube amps, while still keeping all the advantages of solidstate. I have owned and auditioned solidstate amps in the past that pretend to be tube amps by making the midrange more robust and full bodied, but less transparent in the process. I truly disdain this when I hear it. My allegiance is really towards tube amps, my last being a Wyetech Topaz and ASL Hurricanes modified by Israel Blume. But because of current hungry speakers, I bought the Edge. I now have very efficient speakers (97db), and surprisingly, the Edge works equally well with them.
The Edge is very transparent, but in a natural way that is totally unfatiguing and amazingly detailed. Speed is excellent at all frequencies. Cymbals have the right amount of attack and decay, guitar strings and bass sound natural without a thickening of the notes and overemphasis on sounds that are incidental to the playing of the instrument, such as fingers sliding off the strings (a phenomenon I have found in the best SETs), but not part of the music itself. Human breaths in vocals sounds right, without becoming too obvious (a fault I noted in the Joule Electra OTL). The wetness of the breath is still there, and the Edge is the only solidstate amp I've heard to date that can reproduce it.
For bass speed, I would use the example of the Waterworld soundtrack, where the solo bass drums are used in the opening title. When the drums hit their lowest notes, the lowest note of the drum can sometimes linger into the next, higher note. The Edge keeps each note clean, without any exageration of the decay of the instrument.
I read a comment in the Audiogon Discussion Forums about the Edge amps having a "bite". The NL10 does, until you have about 200 hours on it, but really sounds great after 500. After that, this amp is completely free of electronic artifacts, and an absolute joy to listen to. The amps I would consider from here would possibly be the Tenor OTLs, which I heard at the 2003 CES.
