Swiss high-end hi-fi firm Goldmund has unveiled its latest premium pre-amplifier, the Mimesis Statement.
The analogue pre-amp was unveiled at the firm’s Geneva headquarters at a press event attended by What Hi-Fi?.
Featuring a three-box design that mixes a cover glass display and metal-coated front-panel controls for the amp section with two power supply boxes, at first glance the Statement continues Goldmund’s hard-edged, minimalist design philosophy.
However, Goldmund COO Gaspar Baldunciel told us the pre-amp is otherwise completely new and the result of vast R&D investment, with nearly every part being either proprietary to, or newly developed by, the firm.
For starters, the Statement is the first from Goldmund to feature a dual-mono power supply, with one box dedicated to feeding either the left or right channel.
Goldmund head of engineering, Dr Mehran Erza, clarified that every part of the power supply has been custom-designed by the internal team, with the aim of helping minimise noise and interference.
Despite housing the amplification electronics in one box, the firm has also taken a different approach with the pre-amp section’s design, working to isolate and separate the left and right channels as much as possible. This includes physically separating them with a custom “unique heat dissipation component” on the board.
“[For the amplification] if you see the main board, you’ll see things for controlling [things like] input/output selections, displays, volume. But everything relating to the sound and the signals will not go through the main board,” he explained.
“They’re going into the dedicated audio boards [on top], which are separated into the left and right channels, which each has its own power supply. Everything is separated to reduce crosstalk and interference. And again, the circuitry we’ve developed for that is not something you will find anywhere else.”
This, according to Goldmund, means the Statement can deliver a wide-bandwidth signal – 0.2Hz-1.5 MHz (±3 dB) – with low distortion.
He added that he believes the design is more elegant and less problematic for the end user than a four-box design.
Connectivity-wise, the Statement features three balanced XLR and seven single-ended RCA line-level inputs. For outputs, you will find three balanced XLR and three RCA connections.
Goldmund confirmed the amp has been tuned to deliver “a pure” listening experience that lets the original recording “pass through with minimal alteration”.
Sadly, the firm hasn’t confirmed pricing for the Mimesis Statement. But given its place in the range and recommended matching with the firm’s latest Telos 9800 power amp, we're expecting it to be a lot.
The step-down pre-amp, the Mimesis Reference, is around £145,000, and the partnering monoblocs are around £350,000 each, so we suspect the Statement is going to be at least £250,000.
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