This article discusses Leak Audio’s Stereo 230 Integrated Amplifer, Stereo 130 Integrated Amplifier, and CDT CD transport. We will cover all of the technologies and features that make these models a great addition to any system that focuses on sound quality, with looks harkening back to the glory days of Hi-FI. These give you the classic looks people love and features that take advantage of today's technology.

Company History

Harold Joseph Leak founded the seminal H. J. LEAK & CO Ltd in 1934. Based in London, England, they specialize in high-quality audio components. Engineer Ted Ashley joined Harold to develop and become a leader in high-performance but affordable amplifier technology, loudspeakers, pickups, and turntables. Leak underwent some changes as they were involved with wartime production and saw their plant destroyed by bombing, but they stayed the course and set up a new plant at the newly built Westway factory estate, Brunel Road, London.

In the 1950s, Leak built amplifiers like the TL/1 and the TL/2, the standard amplifiers used by the BBC. They continued to innovate and produce new turntables, tuners, and amplifier products at their time's forefront of design and technology. Through the '60s and '70s, Leak stayed at the top of its game, producing some of its most sought-after audio products. After years of success, the globalization of the audio market in the late 1970s and 1980s was a challenging time for Leak. They lost their founder, Harold Joseph Leak, in 1989 after years of a happy retirement. Eventually, they closed their operations, demolishing the plant in 1996. In 2020, on the 113th anniversary of the founder's birthday, The IAG Group proudly announced the return of Harold Joseph Leak. This new Leak retains the timeless classic looks that Leak products have always had, blending in today’s technology and connections to make these products fully capable and compatible with all the high-tech ways we enjoy music today.

Features and Technology

The Look Of Yesterday

Many people appreciate the classic look of audio components. We get it. Years of all-black, plain components have made people long for a more visually appealing option. However, the vintage components found on the used market usually require capacitor replacement and fine-tuning after years of use. Even after replacing these parts, you are still using electronics that are 50 to 60 years old; therefore, while still functional, the other parts generally do not reach their full potential. Leak has taken the classic look that many are looking for and added the technology and reliability of a new component. And you get a full 3-year warranty!

Leak has given these new products a classic vibe that harkens back to the glory days of Hi-Fi while also offering today’s options and technologies. The Stereo 230 Integrated Amplifier gets a walnut-wrapped case that beautifully showcases a classic vibe. One of the cool things that Leak has done with their Stereo 130 and CDT CD transport models is offering them both wood-wrapped casework in a beautiful Walnut or an all-metal case finish. This allows users to choose a late 60s or early 70s look when audio products are wrapped in wood. Or you can choose an all-metal casework with a late 70s and early 80s look. Heck, even the knobs are changed with each look for a more authentic effect! Whichever look you choose, you will have the same fit and finish, and technology allows you to merge old-school looks with new-school technology perfectly.

Leak wanted these new models to have a vintage look and, more importantly, a simple layout, which is appreciated. This is the same simple control layout that Leak Products did back in the day. The front panel has a simple but great-feeling volume control, Input control, Bass and Treble controls, balance control, and a direct button for tone control bypass, keeping things clean and easy to operate. This allows users to have easy front panel control. The remote is also full-featured and controls the amplifier and the Leak CDT transport. The Stereo 130 and 230 also have a fully capable headphone jack that has its own dedicated amplifier section that can power most easier-to-drive full-sized headphones.

Today’s Features and Capabilities

The back panel is also ultra-clean and well-marked for connections. The Stereo 230 and Stereo 130 have a moving magnet phono input powered by an internal JFET phono stage, two auxiliary RCA inputs, a preamp output, and high-quality binding posts. The digital inputs include coax, two Toslink(Stereo 130) and HDMI ARC(Stereo 230), a USB port for computer audio, and an update port for firmware updates. The HDMI ARC on the Stereo 230 is worth noting as it will allow you to use the Stereo 230 as a high-quality audio option for television use. This is an excellent option, as many use their high-end two-channel system to bring clarity and focus to their movies and television. Users who plan on using their system with movies and TV should consider splurging the extra price for the 230 as it has HDMI-ARC capability and more power for dynamic movie soundtracks. For users with an older TV or without the HDMI ARC connection, the Toslink port on the back of the TV will connect to these amplifiers as well for audio.

The amplifier sections of the Stereo 130 and 230 are class A/B designs with low distortion (0.003%) and good power output. The Stereo 130 is rated at 45 watts per channel at 8 ohms and 65 watts at 4 ohms. This is enough power for most listeners with speakers with sensitivity ratings of 88dB or higher. The stereo 230 gets a bump to 75 watts into 8 ohms and 115 watts into 4 ohms. This ups the power and allows larger stand-mount or floor-standing speakers to join the party. Choose the model for your room size and speakers needs, and you should be fine. If you have questions about room or speaker matching, please contact our experts at Audio Advice, as we have been providing quality audio advice for over 40 years.

Leak wanted these new integrated amplifiers to have a digital section worthy of a product at this level. So, Leak chose to use ESS Labs DACs in the Stereo 230 and 130. The Stereo 130 has a very well-regarded ES9018K2M chip, an excellent and high-spec DAC chip. The Stereo 230 gets the even better-spec ES9038Q2M chip. These chips offer outstanding capabilities and distortion that measure lower than any amplifier or speaker on the planet. They are both in the Sabre 32-bit family of ESS chips, so they will be fully capable of converting any audio from PCM 44.1kHZ to 192kHz(Toslink and Coax) and 384kHz(USB) and DSD 64,128, and 256. The Stereo 230 with its slightly more capable DAC chip allows PCM up to 768kHz and DSD512. This means that about any music format available today will play on these amplifiers in full quality. This gives these amplifiers more capability without adding components or the workarounds needed for vintage gear to play today’s music files. Vintage gear was designed before digital audio was adopted, so they do not have the proper input to support it. With these Leak amplifiers, you get the look you are after and have all the connections needed for today’s music formats. And if you don’t currently have a streamer for your music, you can play music through TV apps to get you going until you find the streamer you want.

For convenience in today’s wireless world, Leak put A2DP capable Bluetooth on the Stereo 130 and 230 amplifiers. They feature SBC and APT X capabilities, allowing most products to connect to these amplifiers. While we wish we could have seen some of the new codecs like APT X Adaptive or LDAC come into play here, we are glad LEAK added this capability for users who want to stream music conveniently from other devices like phones or tablets.

For Physical Media Fans

Fans with an extensive CD collection or those getting back into CDs after a long hiatus will love the addition of the Leak CDT CD transport. The CDT is explicitly built for the Stereo 130,230 amplifiers and offers coax and Toslink outputs to connect to them. No DACs or other circuitry are in these transports, as the amplifiers already have the DAC section.

This dedicated CD transport has an electromagnetically devoted shielded enclosure guaranteeing no disruptions. A dedicated power supply and temperature-compensated crystal oscillator ensure the power is super clean and steady and that the digital signals are timed precisely for the DAC. If you have never heard CD playback from a dedicated transport, you must! They provide better electrical isolation and music signal integrity than most CD players and can give you the ultimate CD playback when paired with a great DAC.

The USB input on the front panel is for portable storage media. You can take a flash drive or portable hard drive and connect it to the transport and play back files in WAV, MP3, AAC, or WMA format. We wish they would have added FLAC capability since many store their files that way, but this ability is still a worthy option and will make many happy. But the coolest thing about the CDT transport is that you can also choose between the wood-sided walnut finish or the more modern metal-sided finish. So, just like with the Stereo 130 and 230, you can decide how “vintage” you want to go!

Performance

We were excited to get the Leak products in, and unboxing and setup were easy. Just connect the components and speakers, and you are running. Even the CD transport is easily connected with a simple digital coax cable and power. One of the combinations our staff has been talking about since we got the Leak products in was with Wharfedale speakers. So, for our testing, we decided to hire the excellent Wharfedale Super Linton for speaker duties, and we are glad we did!

We started our listening in our test room with the smaller Stereo 130 and CDT transport powering the Super Lintons. While the Stereo 130 is the smaller of the two amplifiers, it surprised us with its capability. We could see someone being thrilled with this combination for smaller rooms or lower listening levels.

We started our evaluation with the CD version of Norah Jones's Come Away With Me. Both the Leak Stereo 130 and Wharfedale Super Linton have neutral characteristics that work well together. The vocals were clean and transparent, letting us hear Norah’s voice in its pure glory. The midrange was gloriously neutral, allowing every instrument to showcase its ability and not showing any favorites concerning frequency. The bass was tight and controlled, allowing the detail of the bass guitar to fully fill the room. The treble was detailed and smooth, enabling long listening sessions but not missing any detail. The CDT CD transport showed its ability to work with the Stereo 130 to create the seamless and natural quality we heard. Now we know why our staff here at Audio Advice love this combination so much. It really does sound like these components and speakers were made for each other.

Moving on to the Stereo 230, we noticed the same sound character with just a touch more bass and effortlessness. This is to be expected; the added power will undoubtedly make the amplifier work less with the Super Lintons. We heard the same great combination with the Super Lintons, just with a little more volume and capability on tap for larger rooms and slightly more detail due to the better DAC. In their price class, this combination is formidable to beat if neutrality and natural sound reproduction are your goals. Beautiful music just poured from this system with every track we played.

Moving on, we decided to add a streamer to see how the internal DACs would sound streaming music. So, we added the HiFI Rose RS250A Streamer to the mix. This excellent high-end streamer is priced within reach for most people shopping for Leak's new products, but packs so much ability it is truly amazing. The RS250A has its own ESS Sabre DAC inside it, but we used the DACs inside the Leak amplifiers to show what they could do.

Playing Popa Chubby’s new album I Love Freddy King is an effort put together by some of the top blues legends of our time. It's an album with a great cause and even better music. We played tracks from that album and were met with excellent neutrality and balance. The many guitars on this album came through the Leak, Wharfedale system perfectly and showcased how a neutral system can let the instruments shine. Fender guitars sounded like Fenders, with their snappy treble and bright and nimble midrange. And Gibson’s sounded like Gibsons, with their meatier humbucking pickups and hardier low end. This is important to blues music lovers as some are guitar players who will hear the difference. The bass was detailed and punchy from both amplifiers, and the treble was excellent (the treble on this album was a little underwhelming, so we took that into account). The Stereo 130 with its ES9018K2M DAC did excellently, while the Stereo 230 with its ES9038Q2M and more power was slightly more transparent and capable. But to be sure, both amplifiers allowed the Wharfedale Super Linton to do their thing with the utmost ability.

We also tested the Stereo 230's headphone jack and thought it sounded great! While hardcore headphone enthusiasts will still want their own dedicated amplifier, the Leak produced great sound and drove all of the easier-to-drive headphones we tried.

Like our sales staff here at Audio Advice, the Leak/Wharfedale combination was a true winner in its price class. As a system, it can hang with much more expensive gear in many areas. With the vintage vibe coming from both the speakers and amplifiers, you get a total vintage package that performs well above its price class.

Conclusion

We enjoyed our time with the Leak Stereo 130, 230, and CDT CD Transport. In their respective price classes, they perform excellently. This allows users to enjoy the vintage vibe they always wanted without paying the price in performance or putting up with authentic vintage gear with its limitations and old parts that can fail. We feel Leak Audio is a great company offering something that most audio companies don’t: an actual vintage-inspired product that performs equally with their contemporary-looking competition. If you are looking for vintage-inspired electronics but don’t want the hassles or limited performance of actual vintage pieces, Leak has your answer! If you are in the market for a new integrated amplifier or CD Transport and want to see if Leak is the right brand for you, give us here at Audio Advice a call, email, or chat on our website, and we can discuss how these products can fit in your system.

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