EQUIPMENT REVIEW

Audio Research I/50
integrated amplifier
Alan Sircom

For the longest time, Audio Research wassynonymous with brushed aluminium caseswith slimline black handles. When, several
years ago, the company shifted to larger
brushed aluminium handles and an all-black
finish option, the company’s many followers
got enraged. A few years later, when thecompany started including a black inset and push buttons
instead of toggle switches, the ARC supporters wereincandescent. So, with the arrival of the new Audio Research
I/50, its six colour options of black or silver casework andfour – often contrasting – top plates, those traditional fansshould be going thermonuclear. However, the I/50 isn’t for
the traditional Audio Research fans; it’s for a new generationof listeners, who might have little or no previous experience
with Audio Research and are just looking for a damn good
integrated valve amplifier.

Reproduced from hi-fi+ Issue 217

In fairness to Audio Research’s cognoscenti, thearrival of the I/50 appears to have been met with someencouragement. This isn’t a sovereign threat to Audio
Research’s DNA; it’s a new addition to the family, presaging
a new generation of Audio Research listeners. The amp
is seen – rightly – as a new direction without sabotaging
what’s already good about Audio Research.

The basics
While the styling is a bold departure for the brand, theI/50 is every inch an Audio Research design. It uses atrio of 6922 tubes in the preamp stage (one as input andthe other two as drivers), which feed into two matchedpairs of 6550WE power tubes to deliver 50W per channel.
The tubes are expected to give 4,000 and 2,000 hours
respectively before they need replacement and that needs
to be performed by a dealer (the power valves/tubes will

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EQUIPMENT REVIEW

Audio Research I/50

This is a very clever design as it retains many ‘retro’ cues
without being too ‘homage’ or even a pastiche.

need bias fine tuning and that requires getting into theinternals of the I/50). Controls are limited to power, source
selection, volume and mute on the top panel of the amp,
but additional functions – including balance and display
brightness – are handed off to the remote handset. The I/50
has three line and one set of balanced inputs as standard –with one of the single-ended inputs able to be configured asa home cinema pass-through input. Single-ended input one
can be replaced by a MM/MC phono module, and there isprovision for an additional DAC module that includes coaxial
and TOSlink S/PDIF and USB inputs. There are multi-way
outputs for four and eight ohm loudspeakers at the rear of
the Audio Research I/50 and a 6.25mm headphone jacksocket on the top plate. There are no preamp or tapeloop outputs.
The point of inflection between ‘engineering’ and ‘industrial’
design is the unique ‘LexieTube’ display. These stand in
front of the array of tubes, giving an elegant ‘4:3:2’ formation(rather like a football team that’s had one of its midfielders
sent off). LexieTubes stand about as tall as the 6922 tubes,
have a green dot-matrix display that shows volume andinput selection, and are reminiscent of the cold-cathode‘Nixie’ display tubes that were popular from the 1950s tothe 1970s. And that design-driven ‘retro chic’ is a big part ofwhat the I/50 is all about.

The joy of Six
You can buy your Audio Research I/50 in one of six colourways. For Audio Research traditionalists, there ‘natural’(brushed aluminium with a matching grey top-plate), while
the other five all sport black casework with either a bright
red, gold (I’d call it more a ‘creamy yellow’... but it looks
good in the flesh), white, black or blue top plate, all with acontrasting black central insert. The colour of the top plate

Reproduced from hi-fi+ Issue 217

extends to little rings around the tubes and the LexieTubes.
This is a very clever design as it retains many ‘retro’ cueswithout being too ‘homage’ or even a pastiche. You aren’tbuying a 70 year old amplifier; you’re buying a modern amp
with just the right kind of retro touches.
This speaks to a new audience; a cash-rich, time- andspace-poor group a generation or two younger than
traditional audiophiles. They want great performance
without the ‘faff’ of lots of boxes and endless demonstration
sessions. They are likely metropolitan apartment (flat)
dwellers in their 30s and 40s and the audio world has(understandably, but somewhat erroneously) largelydismissed them as ‘personal audio buyers’. The pandemic
and the post-pandemic world changed all that, and thatgeneration are looking beyond the headphone socket
now. They are still uninterested in knowing the chemicalcomposition of equipment feet, what brand of resistor isused, or the astrological star-sign of the designer, but that
doesn’t make them any less discerning, as the I/50 ablydemonstrates.

Analysis Paralysis
So let’s get the downsides out of the way first. If amultiplicity of colour options give you a touch of ‘analysis
paralysis’, remember these are not interchangeable colourways; what you buy today is what you live with. Also, if you
are expecting to use the I/50 as a platform for upgrading, orto drive difficult loudspeaker loads at high volumes you arelooking in the wrong direction. That’s not what the Audio
Research I/50 is about.
Instead, what this is about is a breath of fresh air in
the often stuffy halls of audiophilia. Partner this with adecent turntable and a streamer of some sort (or maybea laptop if you opt for the DAC) and hook it to some good

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Audio Research I/50

While the Audio Research sounds great with bands where the survivors hate one
another (Pink Floyd, The Eagles), that’s not what its demographic is going to play.

loudspeakers (it was designed with Wilson Audio SabrinaXin mind), and you have a system that doesn’t make you
look to the next upgrade or hyper-scrutinise your music.
It just sticks a smile on your face. Sure, it’s a fun machine
and the first listening sessions could be a protracted dance
through your music collection. But people often complainthat once that honeymoon period is done, the equipment
tends to sit unused. That just won’t happen with the I/50;
it’s so musically engaging and fun, it will be the centrepieceof your music listening for years to come.
It seems inappropriate to play Old Git Music through theI/50. While the Audio Research sounds great with bands
where the survivors hate one another (Pink Floyd, TheEagles), that’s not what its demographic is going to play;instead, I played For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver [4AD]and Post To Wire by Richmond Fontaine [El Cortez]. Theseindie folk/Americana master-works from the later 2000s
are far more likely to get airtime through the I/50 and theysound wonderful, if a little gloomy (as they should).
I made the mistake of turning the I/50 off at what I
thought was the end of a session and immediately regretted
it. I wanted to play some more Stormzy (I’d played Heavy
Is The Head and wanted to try the more downbeat ThisIs What I Mean album). The I/50 gives you a three-minutetime-out between power-ups (and a 50 second countdown
from cold). Those three minutes were like an hour’s wait, sokeen was I to start playing again. That’s what the I/50 does
so well and how it makes you feel.
There are two key points defining what makes the I/50
sound so good; a lifelike vocal projection and articulation
and a soundstage that is as holographic and inviting as
the recording and speakers allow. These are perhaps thereason the Audio Research of old is in very safe hands inthe shape of the I/50; these a key performance aspectsof most Audio Research products and are echoed here.
I’d even go so far as to suggest the reduction of thatcharacteristic brightness and slight forward presentation ofmodern Audio Research designs makes the I/50 universallyattractive.

Research I/50. Yes, some of that comes down to the clarity,
articulation and staging of the amp, its unforced dynamics
and excellent overall tonal balance that is a perfect foil forthe kind of loudspeakers a 50W amp that costs below£6,000 might partner.
I got the negatives out of the way early here, but there
is another negative; no matter how good I make thissound, it’s understatement. Even if I filed copy that was soenthusiastic and rosy it read like fan fiction, it would still beplaying down the I/50. Sure, some of that is entailed within
the whole ‘new markets’ concept that I think is both theright new direction for the brand and, in a wider context,
the whole audio industry. But if Audio Research just madeanother nice amp in a new box, it would be good... but itwouldn’t be I/50 good.
It’s probably no surprise that I’m deeply impressed by
the Audio Research I/50 integrated amp. It’s an amplifierthat anyone could live with and enjoy. Sure, there’s a lot
more upmarket amplifier designs around, but many of them
are just ‘more’ not ‘better’. The I/50 does ‘better’ superbly
and that it combines good looks and a sound that is easy tolike and extremely easy to live with all results in an amplifierthat is as important as it is sonically great. I’m going tostruggle to give this one back!

Technical specifications
Power Output 50 watts continuous from 20Hz to 20kHz
total harmonic distortion @1kHz typically below 0.1% at1 watt
Power Bandwidth (-3dB points) 10Hz to 22kHz
Frequency Response (-3dB points at 1 watt) 7Hz to 30kHz
Input Sensitivity 1.25V RMS for rated output.
Input Impedance 100K ohms Balanced, 48K ohms Single
Ended
Output Polarity Non-inverting. Balanced input pin 2+ (IEC-268)
Output Taps 8 ohms, 4 ohms
Tubes Required 2 matched pair 6550WE; 3–6922
Dimensions (W×H×D) 42×18×34cm
Weight 18.1kg

A Storm(zy) is brewing
I realised that broken Stormzy session defined what makes
the Audio Research I/50 so alluring. He’s not universally
popular in the Sircom household. So, imagine my surprisewhen I heard ‘Vossy Bop’ being played by my wife. She’s
never been ‘into’ Stormzy (she’s more into Burial and LethalBizzle) but started to enjoy his music through the Audio

Reproduced from hi-fi+ Issue 217Price £5,750, phono module £898
Manufacturer Audio Researchwww.audioresearch.com
UK distributor Absolute Sounds
www.absolutesounds.com  +44(0)20 8971 3909

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