Imagine a luxury ocean liner competing in America’s Cup. And winning.
The Pathos InPol Heritage MKII Integrated Amplifier is a big amplifier. Measuring nearly 2’ deep and weighing in at over 170 lbs., you might be led to believe that all that bulk is about delivering brute force. Power with a capital Umph! But brute force can also convey a lumbering slowness, with any sense of agility traded in for heft.
But the Pathos InPol Heritage MKII is a finely nuanced and delicate dancer, light on its footers, capable of resolving the finest fine grained detail with a SET-like delicacy that belies its size. Umph!
The Pathos InPol Heritage is a fully-balanced, dual mono, pure Class A integrated amplifier with a tube input stage and the company’s latest generation double-InPol output stage. InPol stands for Inseguitore Pompa Lineare (Linear Pump Follower) and this technology is the beating heart of the Heritage MKII amp and while I’d like to offer an easy gulp of a description, it’s simply not doable. I recommend watching this video from Upscale Audio on the Pathos InPol Legacy amp for a detailed walk through a similar circuit.
You can see the tube input stage that features two Sovtek 6H30 (outside) and two Tung Sol ECC803S (inside) the latter feeding the InPol MOSFET based output stage. Frequency response is rated at 2Hz – 200KHz (± 0.5db) so plenty of swing.
From Pathos:
In this way the signal is entrusted to the valves and becomes a true copy of the original, with all the quality, purity and harmonic content of the original.
This technology allows an increase in the theoretical output in pure Class A of between 25% and 50% together with a low output impedance which is fundamental for the damping factor, and further improved by the double InPol.
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Its generous 80-watts of InPol power will drive any type of loudspeaker between 4 and 8 Ohms…
And I’ll highlight between 4 and 8 Ohms since there are speakers out there that dip below, some well below, 4 Ohms so if you believe what you read in manuals and specs, you’ll want to avoid pairing the Heritage MKII with those types of power sucking vampire speakers.
Inputs include 5x single-ended RCA and 2x balanced XLR with both RCA and XLR Pre Outs with adjustable Gain and Phase and two pair of speaker binding posts. The review unit did not come with the optional HiDac Mk2 board installed but you can see the associated digital inputs that include USB, Coax, and Toslink. Those Ethernet and USB Type-A inputs have been phased out on new production units so just pretend they’re not there.
As you can see, there’s a lot going on inside the Heritage MKII which determined its overall size (the MKII version actually added about 5.5” to the depth of the original Heritage model). While I wouldn’t call the layout jam-packed, it stands in stark contrast to some hifi components where the chassis contains more air than parts.
And speaking of show, any object that offers a unique design will, according to human nature, be divisive and the Pathos’ looks with the company branded heatsinks running down either side and the mix of materials—matte metallic black chassis with a strip of Padouk wood on the bottom of the front panel, blue-lit VU meters, and those 4 honking red super capacitors peaking out up top—will please some people all of the time. I found that I grew more enamored of the Heritage MKII’s looks the more time I spent living with it and in some ways was reminded of Fritz Lang’s masterpiece Metropolis. Never a bad thing. In terms of build quality, the Pathos amp is above reproach.
Front panel controls are minimal with the aforementioned blue lit meters, a very nice large circular knob that moves up or down, with a twist 30° right or left, the 100-step relay-based balanced volume control. On that strip of Padouk sit two tiny silver buttons for power and input selection. The included aluminum remote offers these same functions while adding mute and access to the menu functions for brightness (VRF and LED), Gain (0 to +12dB), Balance, Phase, and reset to factory default settings.
Pathos was founded in 1994 by Gaetano Zanini, Gianni Borinato, and Paolo Andriolo in the northeast Italian city of Vicenza where the company’s factory remains to this day wherein they make every Pathos product by hand using either in-house material, all of the metal and wood work is done there, or parts sourced from local Italian companies.
The Pathos InPol Heritage MKII spent all of its time on Barn’s A-Side, it’s not the kind of amp you want to move around, driving the recently reviewed Canton Reference 2 (review), the also recently reviewed Gauder Akustik Capello 100 (review), and the Barn resident DeVore Fidelity O/96 (review). Front end duties were handled by the Barn’s Grimm MU1 (review)/totaldac d1-unity (review) combo all wired with cables from AudioQuest (see full system and Barn details). And I’ll cut to one chase—the Pathos amp drove ‘em all with ease and flair. Élan, even.
I’ve come to realize that some Class A amps and I love the sounds of acoustic instruments. The former’s love is exhibited by a kind of sparkling vitality imparted to the sound of strings, horns, pianos, and other real things that makes them come alive once they leave the speaker. While I love this too, I also love the music they make.
With Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s new album The Purple Bird just days away, I’ve been getting my Billy fix listening through a bunch of old favorites and Beware from 2009 is one. Backed by a full band playing “classic country sound”, the album opens with a solo six string strum joined by the band then Billy on vocals and then the backing singers and with the Pathos amp driving the Gauder Capello 100 speakers that strum delivered a nice rich jolt of resounding goodness into the Barn with just the right amount of wood, weight, and singing strings. The Capello 100s excel at live-like dynamics with tactile impact and the Heritage MKII lit them up with whole milk rich vibrancy. And when things get dense with electric guitar, fiddle, lap steel, bass, cornet, banjo, accordion, and more this amp/speaker pairing with the able assistance offered by the Grimm/totaldac combo laid out the whole classic country sound in such a compelling manner I thought I smelled dry hay and dried up Lone Star beer.
Tamsin Elliott & Tarek Elazhary’s 2023 debut release So Far We Have Come is a lovely blend of east meets west.
From the liner notes:
Tamsin explains that “the title of our debut album was born out of a conversation about the progress that has been made in women’s rights in Egypt and the UK. We see how much has changed, and yet how far we have to go – and this echoes across ecological crises, geopolitical tensions, racism and societal disconnection. So Far We Have Come also reflects the distance and barriers we have overcome to create this work together.”
Tamsin is based in the UK and contributes lever harp, piano accordion, quartertone accordion, flute, voice, synths, and field recordings while Elazhary is from Egypt and plays Oud while also adding vocals and field recordings. The duo are joined by a host of musicians playing guitar, fiddle, clarinet, bass clarinet, viola, and percussion and as you might expect, this combination combined to play English dance tunes and pieces from Arabic classical and folk traditions makes for a rich and heady stew. Not to mention simply lovely music.
I let the DeVore O/96 / Pathos combo have their way with So Far We Have Come and the combined qualities of harmonic richness and rightness with dynamics as fast as these fine musicians had to offer lifted my spirits well beyond the roof. The instrumental track “Taqasim Nahawand” features Tamsin on harp and her skillful playing and its sounds nearly overflowed the Barn (and me) with beauty. Every bit of pluck and strum resounding in space, mine and the recording’s, planting me firmly in the moment with nary another care in the world for its 1:38 minute duration. Breathtaking.
But man cannot live on beauty alone, right?, so I cued up Tricky’s 2020 EP 20, 20 that features his complete bag of tricks along with Marta and Anika singing along. This is bold, bumpy music, the kind of music the Canton Ref 2s were made for and the Pathos provided convincing energy and drive coupled with its superb sense of snap and rich voice.
I also let the review Soulution 331 integrated amp (more info) have a crack and the costlier Swiss amp (costlier by about $25k) did a better job at delivering low end grip and slam. The Soulution amp also excels at recreating a dimensional sound image, second to the Riviera gear I’ve had here including the Levante integrated (review), that comparatively makes the Pathos feel less spacious, less airy. I’ll also share that the recently reviewed Luxman L-505Z integrated (review) offered a very muscular sound with a bit more brute authority down low as compared to the Pathos but it doesn’t have its purity or harmonic richness.
Sonny Sharrock’s 1986 classic Guitar is a mind-bending exposition on what one (super)man can do with 6 strings, effects, overdubs, and Bill Laswell behind the console. I happen to be a full blown Sonny Sharrock fan from his work with Peter Brotzmann & Co’s Last Exit to Sharrock’s debut Black Woman that included Linda Sharrock on vocals and Milford Graves on percussion (that’s one helluva ride). Here on Guitar, Sharrock coaxes more sounds from 6 strings than Jimi, it almost hurts to type that, sounding as if no one told him about the limits most other players play within. Tones and of equal or greater importance overtones, harmonics, feedback and effects all play starring roles and the Pathos amp was perfectly in step while offering a truly stunning recreation of all those varied and complex voices with sustain going on for days eventually trailing off into the dark recesses of the Barn. It’s this kind of sonic rightness that turns reproduction into magic in air and the Heritage MK II is a skilled magic maker.
If I have a soft spot for Bonnie “Prince” Billy, my spot for Bon Iver is even bigger. He recently gave us a tasty treat, albeit brief, with last year’s Sable,.
I am afraid of changing
And when it comes the time to check and rearrange shit
There are things behind things behind things
And there are rings within rings within rings
There are so many things behind things behind things, don’t you think? It kills me, not literally, when I see people comment about amplifiers and suggest that they should all sound the same. And it kills me, not literally, because that is real life denial right there, which is perfectly OK in the privacy of one’s own thoughts, but I’ll be damned if these sour simpleminded pusses are going to rain on everyone else’s parade. The fact of the matter is hifi gear sounds different because people make it for other people to listen to music through. If your idea of a good time is slapping on a blindfold and listening to sounds, you’re practicing the wrong kind of magic. Here’s the trick—you want to keep the wonder and beauty, not make it disappear.
Back to Bon Iver, Justin Vernon’s voice is so distinct hearing it is like seeing an old friend and it’s full range sorrow is on full display on Sable, and with the Pathos driving the DeVore O/96 well into the darkness of night, it felt as if Justin and I were in the same place at the same time with any barriers wiped away by the life-like rich beauty of things behind things behind things.
The ability to make listening to music on the hifi magical is not something you can find on a spec sheet. In my experience it’s not even found in the performance of a single component. Rather, it’s a careful combination of things curated by their owner to transform something many people use as background while doing other things into the most important thing. The Pathos InPol Heritage MKII Integrated Amplifier has got the kind of character in looks, performance, and company history to be an essential part of your magic-making story.
Pathos InPol Heritage MKII Integrated Amplifier
Price: $18,995, w/HiDac Mk2 board $19,754
Company Website: Pathos Acoustics
US Distributor Website: Harmonia Distribution
Specifications
Type: Pure class A, double INPOL technology, fully balanced digital bias/gain set technology
Tubes: 2 x ECC803S Tung-Sol, 2 X 6H30 Sovtek
Output power: 2 x 80 W @ 8 ohm
Frequency response: 2 Hz – 200 kHz ± 0.5 db
Max input voltage: 10 VRMS
Input sensitivity: 780 mVRMS
Input impedance: 20,000 ohm
Volume regulator: Purely resistive relays
THD: 0.1% @ 80 W
S/N Ratio: > 100 dB
Gain: 33 db unbalanced, 39 db balanced
Analog inputs: 2 x XLR, 4 x RCA line inputs
Digital inputs (only with optional HiDac Mk2 board): 1 x USB B , 1 x S/PDIF coaxial, 1 x S/PDIF optical
Outputs: 1 x pre out RCA, 1 x pre out XLR. Four levels of output gain, phase selection
Dimensions (WDH): 18″ x 27.3″ X 9.1″
Net Weight: 80Kg / 176 lbs.
