Audio-Technica unveils the NARUKAMI series: HPA-KG NARU headphone amplifier/pre-amplifier, pursue the purity of sound.


The debut NARUKAMI series- HPA-KG NARU

Encompassing the blessings of nature, it presents the myriad of expressions within sound.

To convey Audio-Technica's enduring commitment to analog audio, we began contemplating what breakthroughs could be achieved as we approached our 60th anniversary. Ultimately, we decided to create a “鳴神 NARUKAMI” high-end series that embodies the culmination of our existing technologies, showcasing Audio-Technica's drive to innovate, even after six decades.

“鳴神 NARUKAMI” In traditional Japanese culture, NARUKAMI is the god of thunder, who manifests the power of nature through his thunderous drumming. NARUKAMI is often depicted as striking drums to produce lightning and thunder like an incomparable musical feast. Therefore, we chose this name to express the power and vitality of sound, as well as our reverence for nature. In addition, we also want to convey our understanding and creation of sound with this name. We believe that sound is a medium that can convey the life force and emotion of all things, an art that can touch people’s hearts and souls. Therefore, we hope that through this first model of the NARUKAMI series, the HPA-KG NARU headphone amplifier / pre-amplifier, people can experience the details and emotions of sound and music more vividly, and enjoy the pleasure and joy that music brings through refined and natural listening.

To realize our idea, we spared no effort in designing and producing this headphone amplifier with high-quality performance and sound. We used carefully selected and customized parts and materials, along with unique design concepts, to capture the myriad of expressions within sound.

The HPA-KG NARU amplifier/pre-amplifier offers the following features:

• The exterior is made of the rare Japanese KUROGAKI wood, which grew over 200-years to reach maturity. KUROGAKI is a type of persimmon wood that has the black patterns inside. It can only be found in the ancient trees that are over a hundred years old. Because of its mystique, and Zen-like patterns, KUROGAKI has been cherished by nobles and literati throughout history.

• Traditional garden landscaping emphasizes harmony with space and nature, encapsulating it within the confines of a garden. The concept of the amplifier draws inspiration from this idea, fusing elements of dry landscape gardens (karesansui) and traditional Japanese tatami rooms. It aims to embody the diverse expressions of nature that Audio-Technica seek to present through this amplifier.

• The metal mesh cover, which features the traditional “Ayasugi” pattern element, adds an artistic touch to the design, while additionally serving a practical purpose of protecting the vacuum tube and output transformer.

• It employs a fully balanced drive design. The four ECC83S tubes in the front stage amplify the signal using a "Shunt Regulated Push-Pull" circuit design known as SRPP, providing strong drive to the four TA-300B tubes in the rear stage. This design achieves a refined amplifier circuitry.

• Custom-made Lundahl Amorphous Core Silver Wire Output Transformer LL2765AgAM, offering extremely low magnetic hysteresis loss, high saturation magnetic flux density, and excellent frequency response.

• It features a luxurious configuration: four circuits, each consisting of a balanced arrangement for the left and right channels. The current supplied to the left and right audio signal circuits is sourced from dedicated power transformers, ensuring stable and pure current delivery. This design achieves high separation and low noise, resulting in transparent and rich sound quality.

• It also serves as a preamplifier with preamp output functionality. It can drive power amplifiers using the signal from the output transformer driven by TA-300B vacuum tubes, making it suitable for use as a preamplifier for speakers, and achieving more diversified listening methods.

• Selectable Headphone Output Impedance. The headphone matching circuit of the Lundahl output transformer offers three native impedance positions, allows users to choose the appropriate impedance based on the characteristics of their headphones and the desired sound quality.

• It features a convenient volume-balance control knob, allowing the users to adjust the volume balance between the left and right channels according to their individual preferences, and requirements.

• AW-KG NARU

The limited edition "AW-KG NARU" headphones, are crafted with housings also made from KUROGAKI and featured the special tuning to deliver exceptional sound quality. Additionally, these headphones come with a dedicated and specially tuned headphone cable, allowing you to fully maximize their potential when paired with the HPA-KG NARU Headphone Amplifier.

Please visit https://www.audio-technica.co.jp/narukami/en.html for more details.