Extremes

I find myself attracted to extremes in music and audio. Stockhausen; Penderecki; a Bach six-part fugue; Tupac, German lied; unaccompanied soloists; brass bands; Coltrane, Ben Webster; Cat Anderson; huge amps and massive panels; tiny DHT amps and single-driver horns; linear trackers; 12” arms; vacuum hold-down; extremely complex; extremely simple. There are truths revealed in musical and technological extremes; these truths are subjective and can’t be proven or disproven. Because we interpret sounds in our brain (we aren’t actually hearing the sound unfiltered) and try to make sense of it, all our life experiences, likes/hates, and prejudices determine how we interpret those sounds. When we go to extremes in music, interpretation, sounds (or anything else), it acts like the refiner’s fire. It brings clarity. There is music that needs triodes and horns; there is music that needs digital (yes, really); there is music that needs power, like when Jeremy Clarkson says “powwwweeerrrrrr….”. It’s difficult to build (or perform) something with state-of-the-art performance in any one area. Rarer still are components that do several things well.

After hearing so many extremes, and hearing what they can reveal, it puts to bed the idea that the huge system or the simple system is the superior approach. If you dig deep, you will usually but not always find that people who have huge systems tend to listen to huge music; and vice versa for the little system. The two systems are appropriate for the music being played. Because I am addicted to records and extremes in music, I have records that won’t get played depending on what kind of system I have assembled at that time. My D2D organ records don’t sound very good on 5-watt tube amps, Lowthers, etc.

The first time I heard one of the AirTight cartridges, I thought to myself that this was an extreme (though in a unique way). It seemed to be cleaner than any other cartridge I had heard up to that point. It combined speed, power and detail with above-average width and depth, but the thing that stood out to me was the vanishingly low distortion. Generally, low distortion comes at a price: the techniques that cancel distortion are oftentimes audible. I’ve talked with a couple of audiophiles who criticized the AirTight as being too Batman-like (kapow; bam; kerboom). I disagree. I think those who find it too fast or zingy, just prefer a more laid back sound, and there is nothing wrong with that. Or, in some cases, the cartridge is overloading their phono stage, overdriving their step-up transformer, putting too much energy into their tonearm, or driving their system into an uncomfortable area. I’ve heard the AirTight cartridges overwhelm a system. Remember “digital ready”? Well, arms and phono stages need an “Airtight (or Mysonic) ready” sticker.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

Back in September 2009, I stumbled across a reference to the Haniwa HCTR01, buried in a thread on Audiogon (referencing Stereo Sound’s 2008 rankings of cartridges). I hadn’t heard of Haniwa, so I started to dig for information. Eventually I discovered that it, like the AirTight, was an OEM offering from Mr. Matsudaira’s My Sonic Lab. Matsudaira-San’s audio history is worth noting. He is a Japanese analog to Americans like Henry Kloss, Stu Hegeman, Paul Weathers, Edgar Vilchur, David Hafler, Herb Keros, etc.. I don’t think that’s an overstatement. It’s harder to design and build transducers than amplifiers. By the way, if you don’t know these names, you should, it would be like a baseball fan not knowing who Babe Ruth is. Mr. Matsudaira has developed several different lines, including My Sonic, AirTight and Haniwa. These designs are not just a repackaging of the MySonic cartridges, but designs developed with the input of the engineers at AirTight and Haniwa.

If you think you know the Haniwa because you know the AirTight or MySonic, think again. Matsudaira developed the Haniwa HCTR01 with Renaissance-man, Dr. Tetsuo Kubo, owner/designer/president of Kubotek (Haniwa is a subsidiary of Kubotek). Dr. Kubo had different goals for the Haniwa cartridge; goals that differ significantly from the AirTight and MySonic designs. When I spoke with Dr. Kubo at RMAF ’09, he emphasized that twelve prototypes were built over a period of a few years to perfect what he wanted.

The results of the efforts are truly extreme. When used with the Haniwa phono stage (the subject of an addendum of this review), the cartridge’s VTF is from .6 to 1.0 grams, and when used with most other phono stages, VTF is from 1.0 to 1.5. The compliance is medium-high, closer to a Shure V15 than a DL103. Moving mass has been reduced as much as possible, which makes the high compliance and low tracking force possible. The line-contact stylus is connected to a boron cantilever; the windings have been reduced to such an extent that the output impedance is .8 ohms (eight tenths of one ohm—just so you know I meant what you just read), while still putting out a reasonable .35mV. The “healthy” output is made possible by the powerful magnetic circuit developed by Matsudaira-San. Fewer windings means lower impedance, lower mass, less inductance, better high-frequency extension, and according to Dr. Kubo, much less phase shift than more mundane moving coil offerings.

On paper at least, this is like having your cake and eating it, too. The promise is the tracking of the very best moving magnet, but without the high inductance that screws up high frequencies and phase. Because the Haniwa is a moving coil, it won’t be as affected by cable capacitance as a moving magnet. Looking at it differently, here is a moving coil that doesn’t have a ringing top-end, can track as good as anything, doesn’t chew up records, and doesn’t require the use of some forty-year-old tonearm with crap bearings, crap wiring, and detachable headshell. What it means for me is that there is finally a moving coil that can make the most of my SME V and Mission 774, and all the other low-mass arms that have been assigned 2nd class status because they couldn’t make a Koetsu, Lyra, etc to perform. There are many arms from the ‘70s and ‘80s that were designed for high compliance cartridges, they featured high quality bearings and good build quality, but they were just plain bad with low compliance moving coils.

The Total Experience

Opening the box and examining the contents was like looking at fine jewelry. Just the appearance of this cartridge oozes class, refinement and exclusivity. The paint is gorgeous. The pins look like they were made by a jeweler. The screws are gold plated. The box is closer to one for a pricey wristwatch. Everything is just flawless in presentation.

Mounting the Haniwa is very easy. The body is tapped to accept screws; the only way to go, in my opinion. The fit of the screws and tapped holes has the feel of aviation work. It’s close to a GH2 or GH3 fit, translating into a .001” to .0015” of clearance between screw and tapped hole. I could feel no burrs in the threads or sharp edges on the body. The radiuses on the edges were consistent; the skill required to make a cartridge body this perfect is scarce. The cantilever is protected with a plastic cover during installation. The packaging includes a high quality screwdriver and stylus tip cleaner. There are three sets of screws included. Nothing is left to chance. The plastic part in the shipping box, the part you screw the cartridge to for shipping, is shaped in a way that will prevent you from inadvertently flipping it over and damaging the cartridge. No sharp edges here either. All cartridges should be this easy to mount, should include a stylus guard, include multiple lengths of hardware, and come with foolproof packaging. After setting up 50+ cartridges, you really get aggravated with bad packaging and unfriendly mounting methods. It’s a minor thing to some users, but is evidence that Haniwa is a thoughtful company.

A Sound that matches the Numbers

For the most part, it is difficult to correlate the objective numbers of a product, such as its specifications, to the sound. Not so with the Haniwa. The first thing I noticed was that it tracked difficult records without stress and minimized the effect of vinyl deformations and damage. On passages that had previously elicited distortion from moving coils, the sound of the Haniwa was all calm and peacefulness. Indeed, it tracked like a Shure V15 or one of the top-end Audio-Technica moving magnets. But the Haniwa sounded better: more vivid, more focused, and more saturated. There were instances where the Haniwa coherently played through highly modulated cuts that sounded confused and constrained with other cartridges, MM or MC. The effect was kind of like going from an old pair of monkey coffins (JBL Century L100 comes to mind) to a panel with huge amps (something like Sanders ESL system).

On difficult records, layers of distortion were removed. Grunge was reduced to the point where many records sounded tape-like, although I wouldn’t say that I “rediscovered” my records. The records that are hard to track, ones that generate mistracking and distortion, are relatively few in my collection. I don’t buy records because they sound cool or have audiophile special effects. I buy records for the music. Most discs reproduced similarly as when played by a Lyra, ZYX, or other high quality moving coils. However, there was a cumulative effect of greater ease, more linear frequency response, faster transients, and a more stable image. You’d be struck more by the similarities, than the differences, if you were doing a blind listening test between several high-end moving coils on records of controlled quality. But put in something like The King James Version or some 12” 45rpm dance singles, and you separate the men from the boys, and man, the Haniwa is A MAN of a cartridge.

Because of the extremely low moving mass of the Haniwa, I was able to enjoy some of my old chewed-up mono jazz records with a stereo cartridge (a first). The tics and pops that usually send high-output-moving-coils, aluminum cantilevers, and Deccas among others over the edge, seem to almost be ignored by the Haniwa. You can still hear them: they are there, then they are gone, and they don’t sound like a shotgun blast. Some of the worst sounding cartridges with tics-and-pops are classic high-output moving-coils with aluminum-cantilevers and spherical-tips. All that mass shudders and shimmies after a big scratch. The extra mass of a high output MC moves the resonance frequency of the moving assembly down into a human’s range of hearing. The Haniwa just plowed on through, unfazed by trashed-out vinyl.

The highs of the Haniwa seem purer and more natural than any cartridge I’ve had in my system. Typically, the highs of a moving magnet start to roll off due to inductance. With moving coils, the combination of high mass and stiff suspension drive the resonance frequency down into audibility. The highs of the Haniwa went out into inaudibility without the perturbations or roll-off of many competitors. Something similar in performance is the Soundsmith Sussurro, but the flavor is different; I can’t think of a better word than flavor—sorry.

Where the Haniwa is in rarefied air is its bass authority and tonality that nearly blows everything else out of the water. Except for the strain gauge cartridges, and a few moving magnets, the Haniwa is the absolute baddest-ass bass player on the market. It made my CD player sound puny in comparison. Granted, this bass performance came when used with the Haniwa phono stage; see below. With the Allnic H-1500, it still had amazing bass superiority, but not to the same extent. Where the Haniwa was superior to MM and Soundsmith Strain Gauge was in the way it handled vinyl imperfections and warps. My experiments with strain gauge cartridges were scary when the vinyl had random subsonic garbage. The Haniwa had very little woofer misbehavior with warps, where the Strain Gauge looks like it will launch the woofer into your listening chair.

The only place where the Haniwa wasn’t markedly superior was in imaging. Soundstage width was marvelous, but depth/dimensionality was more down-to-earth, sounding very much like my Lyra or ZYX. It was better than my moving magnets, moving irons and strain gauges. The Haniwa was good, in an absolute way, but not at the level of a handful of cartridges known for layers of depth, like the Koetsu Coralstone; but the Coralstone has more distortion, and is slightly rolled off in comparison to the Haniwa. Both are amazingly good, but being a bit of a flat-earther, my choice is for the Haniwa.

The net result of the Haniwa’s miniscule mass, ultra low impedance, high compliance and useable output voltage is a natural ease that is head and shoulders above many competitors. Good analog tape (2-track at 15ips) is my base-line comparison. The absolute ease in the way the Haniwa presents itself is very much like tape. It compares favorably with the strengths of both high resolution digital and open reel tape.

I’ve had an embarrassing array of cartridges come through the system the last couple years. All have done something good, revealing an alternate truth to experience. All cartridges and speakers will imprint their own peculiar character on the sound. Of the Shures, Audio-Technicas, ZYX R1000 Airy3-X Silver Base & ZN, Lyra (Helikon and Dorian), Haniwa, AirTight, Soundsmith Sussurro, Decca C4e (Expert Stylus rebuild), strain gauge (Panasonic and Win), and ones I’ve heard for shorter periods like the Koetsu Coralstone, Audio Note, Allaerts, and Clearauio, [deep breath] the Haniwa comes closest to the absolute God’s-honest-truth in a cartridge. Not only did every record take on a more distinct personality of its own, but adjustments in VTA, VTF, overhang, and bias were easier to hear and understand.

But wait, there’s more…

Dr. Kubo makes a lot of noise about phase accuracy. If you look at the entire Haniwa product line, phase accuracy is a mantra. The bulk of my listening was done with the Haniwa HEQA01 phono stage. The phase accuracy of the HEQA01 is stated to be +/-1º from 20Hz to 20kHz, and +/- .2 dB accurate frequency response. I don’t have the equipment to test this claim, but the combo definitely sounded as straight and flat as any analog device I’ve used. Particularly startling was the bass performance from the combo. It was the deepest and most powerful I’ve heard, and by quite a bit. It is good enough to challenge the gold standard for analog bass, the strain gauge cartridge. I could hear/feel the size of the hall, the impact of piano hammers, the chest resonance of singers, and the gust of wind that hits the microphone from a wind instrument.

The Haniwa phono stage was designed around, and set at the factory to optimize the tracking and phase accuracy of the Haniwa cartridge. Its loading was 4 ohms, an amazingly low figure. It works because the cartridge is of very low impedance as well. It will also accept a moving magnet with 47kΩ. The unit features a “built-in demagnetizer, which can be activated while the playback, by simply pushing the Degauss Button on the panel, which shunts the circuit to release the core magnetization”. The idea of trying it while listening was too scary for me, so I muted the preamp before degaussing the cartridge. The MC input has 62dB of gain, and the MM has 36dB. Max output is 200mV.

Because I did not have another appropriate moving coil cartridge in the house, I did not use the HEQA01 with another MC, though I did try it with a few moving magnets. The results with the MM were quite good, but not earth shaking. Whatever magic it accomplished with the Haniwa moving coil was not as magical with the high output brethren. I didn’t investigate further. Bottom line is: consider it with ultra low output and low impedance moving coils, as the results were sometimes amazing, and always excellent. The attention paid to phase and frequency response allowed for the most accurate portrayal of overtones I’ve heard from any source, tape included—though I haven’t had a fully tweaked and aligned open-reel machine. From the bottom up, instruments had the most natural timbres I’ve heard outside of live music. It all locked in to create an ideal tonal balance that was true to the master tape, whether it be analog or digital.

At the top, I quoted the .6 grams of tracking force when using the Haniwa cartridge with the Haniwa phono stage. Well, I’ll be damned! A moving coil cartridge that really does track at .6 grams. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing/hearing. No, it wasn’t as good at .6 grams as it was at .9-1.1 grams, but there wasn’t the lack of focus, the jittery quality or the borderline tracking distortion I’ve heard with Shures that proclaimed .75-1.5 grams tracking (set at .75 gram). Part of the puzzle here was the SME V has good bearings, and the suspension of the Haniwa cartridge is electrically damped by the 4 ohm loading in the HEQA01.

Going completely against the established wisdom of the high-end (“high end” and wisdom is as much of an oxymoron as military intelligence), the HEQA01 uses feedback and chips. Shriek! The terror! Actually, negative feedback is applied in the bass, which probably accounts for its power. I’ve never had a problem with split active/passive phono stages. The few I’ve heard had better imaging, bass and frequency response, the stereo width (staging) was as good as I’ve heard. The channel-to-channel matching of transistors/chips/feedback have a way of throwing images way outside of both speakers while holding a good center image. As I’ve already stated, the phase and frequency response, and as a result the order and relative strengths overtones/partials, is as good as I’ve heard from any analog source. I have recently heard a very highly regarded transistor phono stage of top notch build quality (expensive parts, detached power supply, heavy and thick body parts) and it was noticeably bright in comparison to the HEQA01. If you find that you are often saying to yourself “that sure is bright”, then the HEQA01 needs to be on your list. I have a system that is slightly lean and the Haniwa phono stage noticeably improved the tonal balance.

I’d have to listen to the HEQA01 with other cartridges to make any blanket recommendations for its use without the HCTR01. With the Haniwa cartridge, it was a strong performer in almost every category. The pair didn’t have the best depth I’ve heard from other combos, though it was very good in an absolute measure.

A One Night Stand

I got the HCTR01 mounted on the last day I was using the Allnic H1500 II SE Plus phono stage (reviewed last year). For a few tantalizing hours I heard what a superior cartridge design could do with a superior RIAA design. If you read that review, you know I am a true believer of LCR phono stages. I have ingested the Kool-Aid. This pairing was amazing. The depth that I felt was slightly shallow with the HEQA01 was in the neighbor’s yard with the Allnic. The noise floor was lower than any cartridge/phono-stage pairing I’ve heard. It seemed as if my pressings were switched out with better ones. Dynamics and rhythms were the best I’ve heard from vinyl.

It makes me wonder what I’d hear with the Allnic H3000 and Ypsilon VPS-100!?!? Would I give up the ghost? I’ve heard what both of them could do with the top AirTight cartridge, and it redefined what analog can and should sound like. I have started to think of the Haniwa as an “AirTight on steroids” or “Shure V15vxmr that actually sounds as good as the numbers look”. Either way, if you are wanting to hear your records for the first time, you need to investigate the Haniwa cartridge and one of the LCR phono stages. Almost as startling is the all-Haniwa combo, but with a different set of strengths.

Where do we go from Hear, I mean, Here?

Every time I feel like analog has finally hit a wall, and can’t improve appreciably, a new wave of gear hits that seems to redefine what the state-of-the-art is. What I recommend to you would depend on what you want and what equipment you already have. For me, the high compliance of the Haniwa HCTR01 made it the first moving coil cartridge that sounded truly superb with the low mass SME V. Most other moving coils I liked had medium to low compliance and needed a massive arm for best sound. Were I using the higher mass 12” aluminum SME 312, or the 3012, or other medium- to high-mass arm, I might have decided that the Soundsmith Sussurro was the cartridge for me. Already having the SME V made the choice a breeze. I purchased the Haniwa HCTR01 and it takes pride of place in my system. At this level of performance, I can easily recommend both Haniwa pieces, in combination, or as separate pieces having different areas of excellence. They belong at the top of the heap with the new generation of analog gear: gear that is redefining our expectations of vinyl playback.

As an addendum to this review, I will be publishing an interview with Dr. Kubo. His goals and views are as unique as his designs.

The post Haniwa Audio HCTR01 Cartridge and HEQA01 Phono Equalizer Review appeared first on Dagogo.

A Smart Little Phono Stage!

The offer to review cartridges and phono stages is usually accepted with “my pleasure” as the answer. Though I have found a couple of phono stages that really rock my world, I know that there may be better units out there from unknown companies. My opinions on cartridges and phono stages are based on my years of experience, but the science doesn’t stand still. No matter how good the current state-of-the-art, eventually there will be another product to supplant it.

The tricky thing about phono stages and preamps is that the simpler, purer product is the entry-level unit, unlike the fully armed and operational battle station. There are products more complicated just to justify their asking price. The more complicated the design, the more things can go wrong. Take the Shuttle Program and compare it to the Saturn V: history will judge the Space Shuttle as a disastrous fiasco. Back to audio…. When the simpler phono stage is partnered with complementary cartridge and preamp, magic can occur.

Though I love tubes and reckon the tube is a fundamentally better amplifier than a transistor, I’m married to none of it. Having suffered through many noisy 6DJ8s, I can tell you that it is okay to sacrifice a little fidelity to get rid of the constant hissing and ringing of tubes that look and test perfect, but sound anything other than perfect. Music is why I listen, and when the equipment becomes so obtrusive that it ruins the listening experience, it’s time to look for alternatives.

If you’ve read my reviews, you will know I have tested and enjoyed some transistor units, even units with feedback and op-amps. I lost my audiophile membership as a result. You will also know that the best I have heard were tube-based units that were much more expensive than the transistor phono stages. For the readers among you who are just getting in this hobby, mixing transistor and tubes might be the fastest and most affordable path to good sound. If that sounds like you, then I have another transistor unit for you to consider: Einstein The Little Big Phono.

Ach! Why Isn’t This Standard Practice?

Cartridges used in this review included the Miyajima Shilabe and Haniwa, with the Shilabe being a better match.

Before I give you listening impressions, a little discussion on the Einstein phono stage’s architecture is worth mentioning as I think it partially explains the sound of this unit.

While other phono stages have detached power supplies, the Einstein takes it further by having two small mono units supplied by two umbilicals off the same power-supply box. Honestly, there is no reason why this shouldn’t be common practice, other than it’s more expensive to build two units instead of one. There is less interaction between the two channels, there is very little chance of the power supply transformer coupling to the signal carrying circuit (AC hum). Maybe another power supply could be employed so that both channels are mono all the way to the wall-plug. I didn’t ask Einstein about the possibility of using another power-supply and hope they will comment if it is a viable upgrade.

Besides the electrical advantages of two small mono units on power-supply umbilical cords, there are obvious system-integration advantages. Because the power-supply is feeding DC, there shouldn’t be radiated AC fields coming from the signal units. You can put these chocolate-bar sized bricks right next to, or under, your turntable. My Denon DP80 is injecting more noise than the Einstein power supply, much less the signal units. To get the best sound from your cartridge, especially a low output MC, using a short tonearm cable will help lower the equivalent-series-resistance (which generates noise on a linear scale), inductance and capacitance (which just sucks signal into oblivion). Less wire equals better sound. If subtracting from the length of your cable, keeping all other variables equal, gives worse sound, you’ve got some issues to be addressed. More wire should never equal better sound (that would violate the laws of physics).

The Little Big Phono

(Where digital gets the George Armstrong Custer treatment)
Compared to the other transistor phono stages I’ve used the last few years, the little Einstein seems to be the most accurate (the white-lab-coat textbook meaning of accuracy). In terms of low levels of distortion, flat frequency response and transparency, the Einstein compares favorably. It just has no noise—none—no noise at all, even when the volume was cranked. Maybe my combination of equipment and my setup was accidentally perfect (serendipity). By comparison, the little Jasmine LP2.0 SE phono stage ($639), in both stock and modified versions, was very susceptible to magnetic fields, light switches and machinery in other rooms, and seemed to have a small amount of pink noise in the noise floor.

Comparing the Einstein to a tube phono stage is a little unfair: I’ve never heard tubes as quiet as good transistors. Not that people buy tube equipment for its low noise and perfect accuracy.

The little MCP2 phono stage from The Soundsmith ($699.95), powered by an unassuming wall-wart, was not as quiet as the Einstein. Where The Little Big Phono maintains constantly low noise, the noise from the Soundsmith seems to be integrated into the music, if that is making any sense to you. It’s as if the Soundsmith, and quite a few others I must add, have noise that rides the signal, where the Einstein maintains the noise-floor regardless of signal. With the Haniwa HEQA01 phono stage ($4,000), it sounds incredibly quiet, especially with less complex music; but when the distortion shows up, it rises in level almost exponentially, which isn’t as bad as it sounds if you have vanishingly low noise to start with. The point is, the Einstein is extremely quiet and doesn’t “hide” noise inside the music. I never heard noise or distortion from the Einstein in the way I know it sounds. Is there some kind of distortion? There has to be, but I can’t hear it as such.

Bass from the Einstein is impressive, though not as powerful as the gut-whomping bass of the Haniwa HEQA01. It stands comparison to the majority of well known units. Against a tube stage, the Einstein will usually give better depth and volume. Dynamics, something that goes hand-in-hand with good bass and low noise levels, are first rate. I will caution you that proper cartridge loading and the input impedance of the preamp (or amp if going passive) will greatly impact bass and dynamics. If the Einstein sounds limp and bright, you have a bad match somewhere.

When it comes to stereo staging, this Einstein is definitely number ein. Really bad joke, I know. It’s as good as any tube unit I’ve heard in outside-the-box imaging, while still placing a good center image. I’ve always believed the strength of transistor units is the soundstage width. The thing really going for a transistor is that if the maker matched devices for transconductance and gain, it will be better matched, channel-to-channel, than all but the best tube units, and when the tubes age, you lose the balance. Actually, other than units providing for fixed bias and channel balancing (balance control), a tube unit is going to have unmatched channels, it’s the price for not using feedback. I can’t say that the Einstein is “way better” than every tube stage I’ve heard, but it definitely did the cool stereo effects better than the tube stages I know. If spectacular sound-staging is your thing, you should give the Einstein eine listen. Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

The downside to transistor units, one aspect I’ve heard with every transistor piece I’ve used, is a shallower, not-as-deep image. It’s above average with the Einstein, but can’t compete with the Ypsilon, Allnic, Aesthetix Io, etc.. Is it bad or severely lacking? Heavens no! If you incorporated the Einstein into a system with good tube amp and preamp and your cartridge had good depth, you would probably have a very balanced image, depth versus width. It’s just a general weakness I hear with transistor phono stages, and it’s definitely not a figment of my imagination.

As I said before, the Einstein’s transparency and frequency response are very good. Bass artifacts from big venues could be felt, the flavor of individual cymbals came through. The RIAA deemphasis of the Einstein must be very good: there aren’t peaks and dips that I could hear. Whatever circuit is being used and I don’t have a clue, the signal path is clean. Also, the power supply must do a first-class job of filtering out noise. I could hear detail, from top to bottom, with ease. Compared to a classic 12ax7 phono stage, the Einstein would mop the floor with it. Come to think of it, the little Einstein had superior transparency than an Aesthetix Io, the fully hopped up version with all NOS European and US military tubes. The transparency was close to a LCR unit, though the sound of the Einstein and an LCR are very different.

Flexibility is rather so-so. Unless I missed something obvious, the only thing you can change with the Einstein is loading, accomplished with the customary RCA plug (male jack with loading resistor built in). You do give up some features with the Einstein, but the music benefits, especially if the music has complex layers. It’s like a Lotus, which doesn’t have a lot of room, a big boot (trunk), doesn’t go off-road, isn’t a grand-tourer, but sure can run rings around most cars. The hyper-pure signal path will be what the doctor ordered for some listeners, as long as their cartridge and preamp are good matches.

Zwei Daumen hoch für Einstein
(two hotdogs, hold the relish)

Constantine doesn’t like reviewers comparing units, preferring that I tell the reader how the unit sounds. The problem is that some pieces don’t have much sound to describe. The Little Big Phono definitely fits that description. When I first hooked up the unit, it was cold, with no break-in hours, and I thought it was a good unit but not special. As it broke in and filled out, it got much better. What really tells me the Little Big Phono is excellent is the big step backwards when I took it out of the system. I immediately missed what I wasn’t hearing. The low noise and low distortion of the Einstein is something that is not heard, and only heard when you switch to a lesser unit. It’s a good sign that the Little Big Phono is doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing—amplifying small signals into bigger ones faithfully. That sounds easy. But, as you know, it’s not. It’s the biggest, most complex designs, the ones that try to be all things to all people, which fail most miserably.

The $3,900 price point is a competitive one, and there are plenty of good choices out there. However, because the Einstein is simple and utilitarian, it hits above its weight, to use a boxing metaphor. It “sounds more expensive” than $3,900, comparing favorably to more expensive competition. If you don’t need your audio equipment to be an extension of your manhood, or to show how much money you can blow on entertainment, or to exist as a visual work of art (more than an aural one), you might find that the Little Big Phono a Little investment that pays off Big.

The post Einstein Audio The Little Big Phono Preamplifier Review appeared first on Dagogo.

The Company

In my review of their speaker cable I said, Auditorium 23 was not “founded”, in the common sense of the word. Rather, it just sort of came into being through the principals’ enjoyment of music in the early 80s. They started with a journey into the past where they learned much about what they were looking for in reproducing music. It became evident to them just how much had been sacrificed on the altar of cost-efficient production, of analytical measuring, and of blind trust in the alleged advantages of modern materials.

The problem was, to say so was considered heresy in the technical-minded Germany and most of the western world. Consequently, in Auditorium 23’s early days, the road for them in Germany was very difficult. They were among the first in Germany to use 300B amplifiers with very efficient and not-so-modern loudspeaker designs. Then they discovered Ken Shindo’s tube amplifiers and brought them to Europe. According to their website, all of these things came too soon for the German market as the company began in the early 80s. It was very difficult to find a truly musical high-efficiency loudspeaker, so Auditorium 23 began to build their own.

Auditorium 23 only makes a few products, but they are a varied group of exceptional products. Currently, they are making the wonderful-sounding and hard-to-obtain Solovox loudspeakers. Last time I checked, the waiting list was over eight months. One of their most revered products is this step-up transformer they make for the Shindo SPU cartridge and other low impedance, low output cartridges. Auditorium 23 says that experiences over many years suggest that very specialized designed transformers with special attention to impedance, voltage, and acceleration produce the best sound. The stated goal was to give more importance, and more impact to the recorded music.

It seems to be agreed by everyone I know that has heard the Homage T1, that it is a step-up transformer of rare quality. It is made for cartridges with low impedance and low output, in particular the Shindo version of the classic Ortofon SPU. It worked beautifully in my system with the Miyabi Standard, the Miyabi 47, and the Benz Micro Ebony TR. I compared it to step-up transformers of the highest reputation including the built-in transformers in my Shindo Masseto, and the Audio Note SN-8.

It is my experience that most step-up transformers are quite sensitive to positioning or hum will occur, but I did not find this to be the case with the Homage. I did not even find it necessary to ground it or the tonearm. There was absolutely no hum with it sitting only a few inches behind my preamp. I had five MC cartridges on hand, but only the Benz Micro Ebony TR, the Miyabi Standard, and the Miyabi 47 were really ideal matches for the Homage T1. The EMT TMD 25N mono and the Allnic Verito Z both sounded very good with it but are at their best with the standard Auditorium 23 SUT that only cost $995.

Listening

For this review I used the Homage with my Miyabi Standard cartridge, but it had the same effect on all three of the low output, low impedance cartridges. Music played through the Homage is unbelievable open, dynamically alive, and simply sounds more like music. In comparison to the competitors like the Masseto’s built in transformer or the AN-S8, instruments and voices through the Homage have more of a physical realism, it’s more vivid, expressive, and alive.

Midrange

This is where the Homage allows reproduced music to simply come alive. This is something that most good SUTs do fairly well, but not to this extent, and head amps don’t even get in the game. Voices sounded oh-so-very human and beautiful. The Homage does an even more amazing job of keeping MC cartridge from ringing than the Audio Note AN-S8. Listening to “My Guitar Weeps for Me” from the Beatles album Love, I was so caught up in how beautiful the guitar sounded that I had to go back and listen to it again and take some notes. The Homage is incredible at letting you hear different layers and timbres of music.

Treble

I find the treble of the Homage very extended and natural sounding. It passes my treble test with flying colors. My treble test is simple, does the treble draw attention to itself? If the treble is lacking I’ll always wonder why the music doesn’t sparkle with life, and if it’s too much it draws attention to itself. While I found the treble near perfect, I should mention that the Audio Note AN-S8 did have more sparkle and the top-end was a little more emphasized. I don’t know if you can say which one is more accurate without the context of the system they are used in.

Bass

The bass and lower midrange are where I was really shocked at the substantial improvement that both the Auditorium 23 Homage T1 and the Audio Note AN-S8 brought. The Homage has an incredible way with drums, and basses. It allows you to hear this air and warmth of music without even the slightest hint of boom, looseness, or hangover. I loved how it gives you quick fast attacks followed by beautiful full decay that lets you hear different layers of the timber of the instruments. Simply put, it allows the instruments that fall in the bass and lower midrange to sound more alive, more real, and much more exciting than any other way I have played vinyl.

Soundstage, Imaging, and Scale

Like I said in the review of the Audio Note S8, this is the last place I had really expected to hear much difference between SUTs, but the Homage T1 gives you even more weight and scale than the S8. This weight and scale makes recorded music sound more like music.

Comparison

I was just wrapping up the review of Audio Note’s superb $8,600 S8 step-up transformer when the Homage T1 arrived, so I had a few days to compare them toe-to-toe. I also had on hand the Auditorium 23 Standard which sells for $995. The Auditorium 23 Standard step-up device was designed for use with the Denon 103 cartridges. I use it with my EMT TMD 25N mono cartridge and it works beautifully. I also compared it to my Shindo Masseto ($12,000) preamp’s own amorphous-core step-up transformers designed by Ken Shindo. He has them custom wound in Sweden. They have a 1.1 ohm input resistance and work great with really low output, low impedance MC cartridges.

There is really no comparison between the Masseto’s built-in transformers and the Homage T1. The built-in is excellent but it just does not have the weight, boldness, or ability to reveal the layers of sound and texture of timbre in the music that the Homage T1 has.

In the toe-to-toe comparison with the S8, it’s a different story. The Homage T1 is wound with high quality copper compared to the vast amount of silver used in the AN-S8. I said in the review of the S8 that this difference may sum up the differences I hear as well. The S8 is slightly more lush in the mid-bass and lower midrange. It is also has more sparkle in the treble area, whether this is a plus or minus will be system dependent, but what isn’t? The Homage is fuller, bolder sounding and significantly more exciting to listen to through my Teresonic Ingenium Silver speakers. I can understand if you chose the S8s sound, but for me the Homage T1 is more emotionally involving and just sounds more like real music.

Conclusion

There’s no way that the Auditorium 23 Homage T1 SUT could ever be called inexpensive, but it is the best SUT for low output, low impedance moving coils I have ever heard and it cost nearly $4,000 less than the Audio Note S8, so let us at least say it’s a good deal. One last word: If you use a low output, low impedance moving coil, don’t dare listen to this thing if there is no way you can afford one.

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If you want a to hear your mono recordings sound better than you ever dreamed without spending a fortune, there is nothing on the market like the combination of the Miyajima Premium BE Mono (reviewed recently) for $1,250 paired with the Robyatt Audio’s AK Mono Step-up transformer (“SUT”) for $650.00. The SUT is custom made in Brooklyn NY to Robin Wyatt’s specification.

It’s just a big hunk of copper with RCA connectors. Still, I love the way it looks.

Let’s begin with the midrange and treble because these are what make or break it for me with any component. The good news is this is an area in which the AK Mono is simply sublime. The midrange does not stand out in any of the audiophile ways, yet the Miyajima cartridge sounded more complete and more realistic using the AK Mono in my system than it did with even the Auditorium 23 basic SUT. The AK Mono allows the Miyajima cartridge to get the body and color of instruments and voices so right. This is something that most SUTs do fairly well, but Robin’s AK Mono does it better than most; head amps I’ve heard don’t even get in the game.

Robin did an amazing job of matching the AK Mono with the Miyajima. The cartridge never rings even the slightest amount within this combination. The AK Mono allowed my system to play strings with such realism that I was completely drawn into the performances. It allowed the top-end of the Miyajima to be open, sweet, and just plain beautiful to listen to. It allowed the music to come to life in a way that just sparkled with musical realism.

The AK Mono improved the bass and lower midrange over other SUTs I tried with the Miyajima cartridge. It reproduced drums, acoustical and electric basses with good impact and a fundamental rightness.

Conclusion: The Importance of Matching SUTs and Moving Coils

I don’t know of anything that drives home the importance of matching SUTs and Moving Coil cartridges more so than this combo. I own the Auditorium 23 Homage T1, a $5,000 SUT that is by far the best SUT I have ever heard with the Shindo SPU or the Miyabi Standard, but the T1 doesn’t match with the Miyajima. The cartridge sounded slow and sluggish with it. I also own an Auditorium 23 standard SUT that is made to match with the Denon 103, and it also matches the EMT cartridges very nicely. I previously thought the Auditorium 23 standard SUT matched the Miyajima but the match with the AK Mono SUT is far better.

What we should never forget is that a moving coil cartridge and SUT should be thought of as a single performer. This isn’t just subjectively so: It is measurable, predictable, and very audible. So there is no such thing as a “best” SUT. This is why I opted to buy my Shindo Giscours without a built-in SUT, to allow me to have two inputs with which to match a stereo cartridge with its best SUT, and a mono cartridge with its best SUT.

The combination of the Miyajima Premium BE Mono and Robyatt Audio AK Mono SUT is one of the two best ways to listen to mono records I know of, the other being the far more expensive EMT mono cartridge and Homage T1 transformer. I would be hard pressed to say which sounds best.

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Introduction

For many years I was one of those equipment owners who was driven by owning the latest and greatest equipment. Strangely enough, about the time that I passed the age of 55 and started to think about grandchildren and retirement, I became somewhat less obsessed with the equipment I owned and more focused on listening to music. Now, once I purchase a piece of equipment, it typically stays in my system for an extended period. About two years ago, I began hearing good things about the Ypsilon VPS-100 phonostage and MC16 step-up transformer. While I was intrigued, I was never able to build up sufficient enthusiasm to borrow one for audition. Recently, a good friend whose life partner is in the hospital for an extended stay offered to loan me his Ypsilon gear for an extended audition. Again, I can’t say that I was terribly enthusiastic but he kept pushing. Finally, I gave in. My basis for comparison was limited to units which I had owned in the past, most notably several Audio Research tubed units, a hot-rodded Vendetta Research SCP-2T, a Carl Thompson/ Bob Crump/ John Curl Blowtorch and most recently an Einstein The Turntable’s Choice. Each of these in its time was excellent and each, at least to my ears, was an improvement over its predecessors.

Description

The VPS 100 is a moving magnet valve phono stage which uses passive RIAA equalization incorporating inductors, capacitors and resistors (LCR) in conjunction with two stages of gain. The RIAA network is driven by a custom transformer which is wound in-house. The LCR networks are most commonly used and based on double T filter networks. One T filter forms the 50-500 Hz poles and the second T filter forms the 2123 Hz pole. In the VPS-100, the 2123 Hz pole is formed by an air core inductor with practically no stray capacitance at the first gain stage, and the 50-500 Hz poles are formed in high signal level directly at the output of the second gain stage. So, this is a split RIAA design using two gain stages based on the SIEMENS C3g tube which is very reliable supposedly and specified for 10,000 hours of use.

The power supply uses a 6CA4 tube rectifier and a choke filter. The heaters for the tubes are AC in the second stage and DC passive-regulated for the first stage. The construction uses no printed circuit boards and is point-to-point silver wired using Ypsilon’s proprietary extruded and annealed to-spec silver wire. Special attention is paid to mechanically decouple the first gain stage and 2123 pole coils using a specially designed decoupling system.

The MC16 moving coil step up transformer is used to amplify the low-level output signal coming from your moving coil cartridge to bring it up to the appropriate level to drive the VPS-100. The MC16 uses large size single C core double coil transformers with Ypsilon’s proprietary amorphous core material. Ypsilon developed special winding techniques in order to minimize inter-winding capacitance and maintain wide frequency response. The transformers are shielded with mu-metal and are potted in 10 mm thick soft iron nickel coated enclosures providing immunity to outside magnetic fields and quiet noise free performance. A range of transformers is available to accommodate different cartridges.

System and Listening

The primary source for playing records was a Rockport Sirius turntable with an Ortofon A90 cartridge; a Lurne record clamp was used in addition to the Rockport’s integral vacuum hold-down. Cabling from the turntable to the MC16 was the superb Nordost Odin dedicated phono cable, and from the MC16 to the VPS-100 was the Odin interconnect. The Odin cables were a key to achieving optimal performance from the gear, as was a Jorma Prime power cord. The records played included Steely Dan’s Everything Must Go (Reprise), Anita O’Day’s Big Band Sessions (Verve), Debussy’s Jeux (Columbia SAX F-993) French blue label, the Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 (DGG 139040) tulip pressing, Paul Metheny’s Group life (talking) (Geffen Records) and Weather Report’s Mysterious Traveler (Columbia 1970’s pressing).

The first disk to make it onto the playlist, the Steely Dan, highlighted what were to be some common themes that ran through all the listening sessions for the next two weeks. In comparison to the Einstein, the Ypsilon sounded somewhat softer and sweeter in the treble but without a loss of either detail or air. What was actually missing was edge and a subtle distortion product from mistracking prior to the Ypsilon. Each instrument/ voice was nicely separated from others in the mix. The midrange was harmonically complex and rich. I heard an euphonic warmth to the baritone saxophone that sounds very real. The perspective on the sax is interesting. With the Einstein, the emphasis is on the clicks and clacks of the keys opening and closing; with the Ypsilon those are certainly present but the focus is on the vibrating reed. The snares bloom. You can tell that the heads are tuned tight but you hear not only the head but also the cavity below. With voice, you hear the tonality rather than focusing on the spittle hitting the mike. With the voices, you can better differentiate among the individual voices singing the harmony even though the harmony is dense as is usually the case with Donald Fagin’s arrangements. The soundstage is wider and better integrated. What you really notice is that instruments and voices are more evenly spread across the stage with less of a tendency to buch together. While there is no loss of detail at the frequency extremes, the Ypsilon causes one to focus on the midrange and upper midrange.

The Anita O”Day was also a good test of the Ypsilon. The Jimmy Guiffre arrangements such as “A Lover is Blue” are uniquely voiced. The flute, trombone, bass clarinet, guitar and drums sounded completely integrated, yet clearly delineated. Anita O’Day’s vocal inflections, of which she has many, were clearly enunciated scat singing. Pitch was spot on with a lot of leaps, jumps and unusual rhythms. This was as sexy as I have ever heard her voice on my system. The best thing about the Ypsilon is that with software like this Bob Ludwig remaster, you can frequently fool yourself into forgetting that you are listening to a record.

At this point it was time to take off the gloves and start pulling out the big guns. The first of these was the French Blue label Columbia SAX recording of Cluyten conducting Debussy’s Jeux. Again, there was somewhat less air than on the Einstein. Perhaps this is more a matter of emphasis. Surface noise is certainly less obtrusive, but there is no feeling that you are losing any detail. It is just easier to ignore the noise. Sonics were absolutely spectacular! It is easy for massed strings to become edgy at high listening levels. This was clearly not the case here; however, there was great liquidity. Again, in comparison to the Einstein, the sound was less mechanical and it was far easier to focus on the music.

Another warhorse for demonstration purposes is the DGG Prokofiev Sympmony No. 5 conducted by Karajan. DGG is notorious for their congested, bloated, multi-miked, almost Phil Spectorish wall of sound approach to the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra. However, Karajan’s Prokofiev’s 5th is one of the most powerful renditions of this twentieth century warhorse, so it was with some curiosity that I looked forward to hearing how well the Odin/ Ypsilon combination would penetrate the engineering fog. I am not going to tell you that the result was audio euphoria but I quickly got caught up in the musical argument and left the technicolor presentation behind.

My last two selections for comparative purposes were life (talking) by the Pat Metheny Group and Mysterious Traveler by Weather Report. The really nice thing about the set up in the life (talking) is that it is so easy to forget about the medium or the system on which you are listening and instead just focus on the music. The Weather Report album is one of Columbia’s overly bright pressings from the mid 1970’s and is at times quite saturated. This time, textures were very clear and clean. The music was all there and intensely involving, even if the brightness was never quite tamed. Nonetheless, the listening experience was quite satisfying for the first time.

Conclusions

The Ypsilon VPS-100 is far superior to any other phonostage, tube or solid-state, which I have auditioned by a rather significant margin. I think that I can best communicate this by comparing it to my previous reference, the Einstein Turntable’s Choice. In comparison, The VPS-100: (1) is better able to recreate the space of the recording venue or in some cases the lack of any spatial cues, (2 ) is particularly good in differentiating among different drum heads, (3) highs are clearer and more distinct without any hint of stridency, (4) imaging is better with excellent focus and specificity, particularly when used in combination with the equally superb Odin tone arm cable, (5) dynamics in the mids are better, but the real achievement is that dynamics are consistent throughout the frequency range with no particular frequency band singled out, (6) bass is astonishing in its power and ability to plum the depths and (7) macro dynamics are somewhat better but the Ypsilon truly shines with respect to micro dynamics.

So far my only nits with the unit are that in combination with the MC16 transformer, gain is somewhat less than with the Einstein and the unit is susceptible to hum unless all cables are optimally grounded. Properly grounded, this is an exceptionally quiet unit.

The VPS-100 has punch, definition and subterranean extension in the bottom octaves combined with transparency, speed and limitless extension at the top while never slighting the midrange. It can be improved somewhat by judicious choice of power cord and the use of Finite Element Cerabases underneath it.

I hope that my enthusiasm comes through. In the end, I bought the review sample.

The post Ypsilon VPS 100 Tube Phono Preamplifier & MC16 Step Up Transformer Review appeared first on Dagogo.

The current state of the music and consumer electronics industry is pretty much total chaos. I stopped keeping tabs on which digital format was “best,” or which digital connection was “best,” or the infighting between factions (rearranging the deck chairs). I’ve probably missed entire formats after I stopped caring about “state of the art” hardware and software. Not that analog didn’t have growing pains, false starts, and odd detours. It’s true that learning the history of the analog disk can be confusing, especially if you are a true collector. There are archivist, mastering engineers, musicologists and collectors who will get into long arguments about some bit of minutiae. But it’s not like you can’t play a 1950 Columbia LP with a 2011 Koetsu. Regardless of who recorded it, mastered it, or pressed it, analog will continue to do its intended job for the foreseeable future. The technological basis for the analog disk is superior to digital. With one turntable, and one cartridge, you can play every disk-shaped record ever made (the cylinder is a different story). You can get dozens of styli for moving magnets that will satisfy every possible scenario of groove size and condition. When we can’t figure out how to play a CD in 100 years, the analog disk will still be viable media. With such clever marketing as “download included,” we have rendered a silver disk irrelevant. If I can put it in a MP3 player or music server, I don’t need to put a disk in a player. And, when I really want to enjoy it, I’ll put it on the turntable.

Besides the official history of audio, according to the guys with the money, there are hundreds of stories that are forgotten, sitting in the back of trade publications from before your parents were born. But it matters little. Those guys are mostly dead. What we are left with is an amazing legacy of recorded sound that evolved, changed, and occasionally improved, to the present day. With so many recordings, so many people mastering and pressing records, a certain amount of confusion can be expected. If it were left up to the high end dealers, you would have a really expensive rig that sounds great with expensive audiophile reissues, but not so good on everything else. Well, there are buyers like that, but many of us find records at thrift stores, garage sales, eBay and from friends and relatives. How do you get the most from your records? What do you do if it sounds bad? Throw it away because it sounds bad, or try to figure out why it sounds bad in the first place? Does it really sound bad, or are we forgetting something? For those of us who are interested, there are solutions.

The subjects of this review are so inexpensive that I fear most people would assume they are “junky”. It’s a mantra worth repeating in every review: Just because it’s cheap, doesn’t mean it’s junk; just because it’s expensive, doesn’t mean it’s good. Non sequitur (it does not follow). The Rek-O-Kut Professional Moving Magnet Preamp mk II, and Re-Equalizer II weren’t built with audiophiles in mind, though the designer did not purposefully take short cuts, or build a unit with low quality the goal. You won’t find input and output jacks that could double as grape-shot, or face-plates that weigh more than the fully stuffed circuit boards. What you will find is pragmatic engineering, with carefully chosen circuits and parts.

Between The Lines

While I completely embrace antique technologies, and believe that some pieces were designed to be as good as they could possibly be, I don’t deny that more recent developments can offer solutions that equal or better a classic design. Modern vinyl formulations are very good; regulated power supplies are quiet; exotic tonearms and cartridges can be miraculously revealing, and (gasp) transistors can sound really good (which really isn’t a modern technology—being proposed in 1925). Considering the asking price of the Rek-O-Kut Professional Moving Magnet Preamp mk II (or PMMPii), it was a good idea to use transistors. By its very nature, tube equipment is more expensive to build, and a cheap tube design will probably suck because of shortcuts.

The PMMPii does have respectable numbers for a budget piece:

*Highly accurate RIAA record compensation.
*Includes 39 inch 43 pF/ft interconnect cable.
*Input matched to most high-quality pickups.
*6 Hz subsonic filter to cut ultra low rumble.
*Includes cable for computer soundcard.
*High-quality, gold-plated RCA jacks.
*Discrete component design.
*Power: 120 VAC/60 Hz.
*Low hum steel case.

There are some measurements on Esoteric Sound’s page that compare the noise and RIAA accuracy of their little black box against a rebuilt McIntosh tube unit, and a later transistor model. If you look at the charts, it would give you the impression that the Rek-O-Kut is “as good as” the two McIntosh units. To some extent, I disagree. The PMMPii is better than the Mac tube unit, based on my experiences. The McIntosh C20 uses the 12ax7 as the phono tube. All of the golden era 12ax7 phono stages I’ve heard have relatively poor low-level resolution, poor dynamics, high levels of spurious noise, sluggish bass, and a gelatinous soundstage. The measurements don’t tell the whole truth, to the detriment of Esoteric Sound. It’s interesting that the noise figure of the PMMPii is similar to a restored McIntosh C20. I’ve had several tube McIntosh pieces and none had a noise floor as low as the PMMPii. I’m at a loss to explain why they would have similar noise figures, unless the test equipment or setup was somehow limited.

You might say I’m venturing out on a limb with the following statement, but I will stand by it: This little preamp is better than most “classic” 12ax7-based phono stages I’ve heard. Over the years, I’ve listened to, worked on, built, rebuilt, tweaked, tweaked, tweaked some more, and got rid of every 12ax7 phono stage that came through the system. I think the biggest problems with those designs are the tube itself, such as low current, high plate resistance and higher noise. The circuit components are no better: high resistances are used, which create several types of noise, some of which are endemic to all resistors, regardless of how much you spend.

I’ve seen audiophiles do just about everything possible with a 12ax7 to get detail, dynamics, sound-staging, etc, but be frustrated with the results. The strength it has in gain, it gives up in noise and distortion. You might imagine that the lower gain of the 6dj8 puts it at a disadvantage to the higher gain 12ax7 , but that’s not always the case. It has plenty of useable gain because the high tranconductance and lower plate resistance means less noise, better dynamics, better drive, etc.. I’ve had good luck using medium output moving coils with phono stages using the 6dj8 (and variants). Then there was the rediscovery of industrial tubes, like the 417a, E810f, d3a, etc.. A carefully selected 12at7 with a constant-current-source load would be better than a 12ax7. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t waste your time restoring or modifying a Dynaco PAS when you could have better sound with the PMMPmk.2, which costs less than one NOS Telefunken 12ax7. It has none of the golden ooze, or noise, of a “classic” tube unit, while largely avoiding the sterile sound that is the trademark of hyper-fi transistor units.

So, even though the PMMPii doesn’t present itself as an audiophile component, Esoteric Sound took time to compare it to units specifically marketed to audiophiles (the two McIntosh units). If you read between the lines, Esoteric Sound is implying that it’s good enough for an audiophile. The marketing literature does say “designed for both home as well as broadcast and studio applications”, and I believe it. The output impedance is 600 ohms, the standard for professional work. That means it can drive extremely long cables and any preamp or amp you could produce. Where some tube phono stages would be compromised driving a transistor preamp, the PMMPii can drive anything, outside of something that is a very poor design, or broken.

I won’t tell you anything about the insides other than it is all discrete, and Mike at Esoteric Sounds says it was “tweaked forever.” There is no superfluous stuff here, and not much of anything that the traditional audiophile would see in a pricey unit. That doesn’t mean anything, though. Most of the expensive capacitors are made on the same equipment, using the same techniques and materials that make the “cheap” capacitors. Mike’s goal was to make a good, clean phono stage, which can be used both by archivists and regular music lovers, and the result was the PMMPii.

I’m not going to blab on and on about how this phono stage is a revelation, and kills phono stages costing thousands. The sound is very good. There are better sounding units, and they are all significantly more expensive. To compare it to a relevant “rival,” by price-point, I tried listening to the little NAD phono stage. The NAD can’t touch the Rek-O-Kut. The NAD was borderline unlistenable at times, where the Rek-O-Kut provided pleasurable listening.

The PMMPmk2 is fundamentally honest, with very low distortion. Background noise was totally absent in my system. At 11 o’clock I could hear some 60Hz buzz, but it was so far down as to be irrelevant. Not to mention that the 60Hz might have been in the preamp, or induced by poor component placement, or by cable dressing, or even the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune… Bass is very tight and relatively deep, not thuddy or overripe. Records with good soundstage width were served well, though depth was a little shallow.

There are limitations to the unit. It doesn’t have crushing dynamic impact of bigger/badder transistor relatives. Though the bass is tight, the bottom octave was a tad soft. The unit includes a subsonic filter, starting appreciably below what would normally be considered “audible” bass. Is it causing a slight rolling near the audible range? As much as I’d like to find out, it’s a trivial issue. It’s possibly a power supply or capacitor thing. On a couple tracks, loud passages were a bit compressed. I noticed occasional brightness in bells, cymbals and loud brass. It’s very possible that it was the Shure making “noise,” but I didn’t have a better moving magnet on hand to double check. The PMMPmk2 didn’t have the high gain necessary for my moving coils. Besides, it makes more sense to partner this phono stage with a Shure V15 than a fiddly $5K moving coil. The Rek-O-Kut doesn’t have the microscopic resolving power of extremely sophisticated transistor units, especially the balanced ones.

There isn’t the three-dimensionality and depth of finer tube units. However it does a good job of placing images outside the speakers, and better than most tube units it seems. In tube units, unless parts are carefully matched, including the tubes, the ability to cast images outside the speakers is greatly diminished; this is easier to accomplish with transistor units. It doesn’t sound sterile or lugubrious, the two possible extremes in phono stage characters. The vestigial power supply is probably a limiting factor (and probably the capacitors, too). It would be a rewarding experiment to replace the wall-wart with batteries, and then replace the capacitors with Muse, Cerafine or other high performance capacitors. Or it might be a waste of time. If I get around to it……..

Tickets for three to an amusement park? Twelve extra value meals? A bottle of cologne? One tank of gas? Music can be enjoyed, and for only $70. Considering you will use this phono stage longer than a day-pass to an amusement part, that it doesn’t give you heart disease, and that you don’t have to stand in line, it seems that the Rek-O-Kut is a better use of your money.

Re-Equalizer II: Oh! So That’s What They Meant!

The other half of this story is the Re-Equalizer II and what it can do for the record collector. Most casual record collectors don’t have the needed styli (line contact, truncated elliptical, spherical, etc.), cartridges (stereo, mono, high compliance, low compliance), or specialized phono preamps to hear what tens of millions of records should sound like. Played back with a moving-coil, in a high resolution system, a 60-year-old mono LP can sound like a 747 crashing into a light bulb factory. To understand what’s going on, you have to familiarize yourself with the history of the LP, and the disks that came before the LP.

Way before the advent of the LP, almost all disks were cut with varying amounts of bass attenuation that would be corrected when playing back the record. The reason for this was that unattenuated bass would cause the cutter head to cut into adjacent groove walls, destroying the lacquer. The cutter heads were “constant velocity”* devices, meaning that without some kind of EQ, treble grooves would be increasingly tiny and bass grooves would be increasingly large. When the “long playing” record was proposed by Columbia (here in the US), they came up with a playback curve that allowed storing a lot of music on one side, and that minimized the effect of surface defects and wear/tear. On playback, the consumer’s electronics would cut treble and boost bass. Because you are cutting the boosted treble to get it in proper proportion to the bass, you are also reducing the high frequency noise that comes from pressing defects, damage and mistracking. Creating a precedence that would continue to the digital age, RCA proposed a competing EQ curve for its new 45rpm, a curve which RCA based on earlier curves. They had proposed the 45 rpm format that was basically a miniaturized 78 (the LP was something much more radical in approach, which allowed an entire symphony to be recorded on one disk). The result was that the 33rpm LP and the 45rpm EP had different playback curves.

*The difference between constant velocity and constant amplitude can be understood when you think of how fast a stylus must move when playing 20,000 Hz versus 20 Hz. The stylus has to switch directions 1,000 times more often at 20KHz than at 20 Hz, which means the stylus is moving much faster to cut or reproduce treble. Hence the importance placed on low mass styli, cantilevers, iron, coils, etc If a cutter is a constant velocity device, the rate of travel of the cutting stylus must always be the same, whether it is going back and forth at 20 Hz or 20KHz. The consequence is that for a stylus to move as fast at 20 Hz, when compared to 20KHz, the distance traveled by the stylus must be many times larger to keep going the same speed. If the distance traveled by the stylus were to be limited somehow, the stylus would travel slower at low frequencies. This wasn’t possible (the cutting head is not a constant amplitude device), so the only workable solution was to reduce the bass so that the amount of distance traveled by the stylus would be similar to the highs, allowing the cutter to cut more narrow grooves, and the playback stylus to more easily reproduce the signal. If that explanation isn’t that clear, it’s because I’m not a physicist. It took me a long time to understand the difference between constant amplitude and constant velocity.

If it were just two different curves, then there wouldn’t be much of an issue. Unfortunately, when including the various practices going back to the days of Edison, there are over 100 different playback curves used by various record manufacturers. Some kind of standard had to be set so that everyone was on the same page. Though many had legitimate claim to having the “best” curve, only one would be standardized, which happened to be very close to the RCA curve – not hard to understand why if you realize how powerful RCA was at the time. After the RIAA adopted the standard, all equipment manufacturers adopted the new curve into their designs and it would eventually be the only playback curve offered. So what to do with the old records? After the adoption of the RIAA standard, several manufacturers continued to include the various curves, notable examples of which are the McIntosh C8 and Harman-Kardon Citation I. These multi-curve units had many more capacitors, resistors and switches, so they were usually the most expensive preamps offered. Gradually, the multi-curve units died out completely. The solution, for most people, was to hunt down a Citation I, or similar, restore it, and use it for playing back the various odd-ball records in their collection.

One weakness of those older units was that the switching and parts needed to accomplish multiple curves caused poorer performance. Subjecting a tiny signal to dozens of contacts, solder joints and stray capacitances created a lot of noise and distortion. One possible solution, one employed by a number of archivists, is to amplify the signal to line level, but without any EQ at all. The resulting signal is recorded to a digital file where various EQ curves can be applied to find, objectively and subjectively, the best curve for that recording. Well, that all seems like a lot of work for a regular record collector, not to mention that many of us don’t want our precious analog signals sliced and diced and converted to digital, another source of distortion.

The solution from Esoteric Sound, the Re-Equalizer, one that seems to adopt “best practices,” is to apply a corrective filter after your pre-existing phono stage. If your phono stage does an adequate job of doing the RIAA curve, the Re-Equalizer will reshape the signal into various curves by using a set of selectable filters. The result is that you can have audiophile sound from your audiophile pressings, and by flipping a switch, you can play back just about any record by adjusting the knobs on the RE-EQ. The Re-Equalizer sums to mono, which is not a problem for most listeners. However, there are stereo records cut with non-RIAA curves, not to mention that some detail is lost when summing a stereo signal to mono, because the two coils of a stereo cartridge are slightly out of phase with each other, causing the signal to partially smear or cancel out, something a true mono cartridge will not do. Esoteric does offer a price break for people wanting two units for stereo. That would also allow you to select the inside or outside groove of a mono record when using a stereo cartridge, something done by most archivists, who pick the quieter of the two channels, and use it as the basis for their work.

Some Important Info:

Re-Equalizer Features

* Supplied with eleven page manual including recommended compensation settings for any vintage record – including acoustics. This is the most extensively researched chart ever produced.
* In “BYPASS” mode, signal is hard-wired input to output – no compromise to any audiophile unit
* Passive equalization design & film capacitors assure low TIM and transparent sound.
* High input impedance for use with both tube or solid-state amplifier outputs.
* Accurate record compensation from any source using your preamp.
* Connects to hifi systems like any ordinary graphic equalizer.
* Works with phono, tape recorder outputs – any source.
* 8 settings of Turnover and 8 settings of Rolloff.
* Gold-plated RCA connectors.

Playing a record with the wrong EQ is the worst of possible fates, regardless of what an extra box does to the signal, whether it is another set of interconnects, more RCA jacks, solder, wire, PCB, switches, resistors, capacitors, or active devices. The resulting deviation from flatness can be much worse than modern cartridges and speakers. Some records will sound extraordinarily bright, others very dark, and the overtone structure of real instruments will be knocked out of whack. One instrument can be mistaken for a different instrument, details can be rendered inaudible, and relative prominence of a musician in the mix (like a soloist) can be lost. If you are primarily a record collector, what distortions are introduced by the inner workings of the Re-Equalizer are far outweighed by hearing the records played back with the correct equalization. When bypassed (Re-Eq switched out of the circuit), I heard no noise or veiling with the Shure V15iii. When in-circuit, I did hear just a bit of opacity, which is the result of more gain stages, resistors and capacitors. A high-end moving coil’s signal will be slightly compromised, even when the Re-Eq is bypassed, just because of the extra jacks and switch. So, you might look into a second arm/table, or another arm if you have a plinth that allows for it. What route you choose depends on whether you are a collector or an audiophile.

Hearing old vinyl played back correctly for the first time can be revelatory. Many of my mono records are not RIAA, so every record can be an adventure in EQ tweaking. After a while, you get faster at finding the right curve and you become aware of trends from certain labels and even certain countries. One possible solution is to print some address labels and keep track of which settings you preferred (put them on protective outer plastic sleeves). In daily use, I never felt like I was being robbed of information or suffering extra distortion. I was able to hear, for the first time, what the mastering engineer intended on records that had sounded dreadful without compensation. Just remember that it isn’t an exact science. The tapes and transcription disks used to master old vinyl were also subject to EQ errors (both need EQ). The EQ preemphasis introduced in the mastering process could have been poorly implemented (wrong values, bad parts quality and even poor design). Some of the records will be in “the crack,” like the singer who can’t find a key that is comfortable, being somewhere on the piano that doesn’t exist (the crack between two piano keys). Pick whatever sounds most natural, the curve that makes it sound real. That is what a good mastering engineer or archivist would do.

There are buyers who only purchase audiophile reissues, so the Re-Equalizer probably won’t be useful in those systems. It’s a shame to say, but it’s not expensive enough for a lot of audiophiles to take it seriously. Well, you should. The assumption that “if it’s cheap, it must sound cheap” is moronic. I’ve heard $100 moving magnets sound better than $1,500 moving coils. If you buy lots of used vinyl, the money for the RE-EQ is well spent. Maybe we can get a gold plated version for audiophiles, just so they will buy it.

Buy More Records

To give you an idea of what you are missing, I will recount my shellac “road to Damascus.” Thinking all 78 rpm disks sucked and were good only for shooting skeet, a record collector buddy said “why don’t you listen to this one.” This record was BN 543, Thelonious Monk – ‘Round Midnight b/w Well, You Needn’t, a mint 10” 78 rpm Blue Note from 1947. Yea, verily I say unto thee that I did heareth ambience, the tapping of the foot, and nuance of music, which is the breath of life. No crackle and no hiss to be heard. Get the hence evil noise! The thing which clinchethed the argument was comparing the LP reissue, cutteth from 78 master to 33 lacquer. Verily, I say unto thee, that the extremely expensive LP was much worse than the meek and gentle 78. Hosanna on highest!

I’m very enthusiastic about what both these units can do. The prices aren’t only affordable, they are downright cheap (especially the phono stage). Sound quality, while using both units, was always good and, with the RE-EQ, sometimes better than my reference setup. Summing to mono, then finding the correct EQ, turned some dogs into winners. If you buy lots of used vinyl, especially mono, and if you have a high output cartridge, then you might find a place in your system for both of these units. You certainly can’t complain about the asking price. For people who are interested in exploring and enjoying music, both these components can satisfy, and leave money for more records.

The post Rek-O-Kut Professional Phono Preamplifier mk II & Re-Equalizer II Review appeared first on Dagogo.

Initial Encounter

I must confess at the outset that my audio purchasing decisions are not always based upon elaborate research or listening tests. Aesthetics alone are often times enough to entice me to pull the trigger. The DaVinci Grandezza tonearm is a good example, the McIntosh C1000 Tube preamp is another. At audio shows, I will make an effort to avoid going in the Burmester room because God forbid, I should be impulsive with such audio jewellery there would be serious damage to my bank account. It could be from a photo in a magazine, or a display unit at the CES, but once I have set my eyes on something, there will be a lusting voice inside me akin to what happened to Smeagol: “We wants it. We needs it. Must have the precious!” Unfortunately, this voice has on more than one occasion led to buyer’s remorse because not every purchase worked out perfectly. Fortunately, with the Rossner and Sohn Canofer-S phono preamp, that was not the case.

I came upon the Rossner and Sohn phono stage by accident, at fellow reviewer Lawrence Lock’s home in 2006. We were indulging ourselves with fine wine and classical music well into the wee hours of the morning, unwinding after a tough, long week. At 3 A.M., Lawrence offered to show me something which he had bought but never got around to removing from its box. He said he fell in love with the unit during its inaugural debut in Asia and bought it on the spot. I was comforted to know that I wasn’t the only impulsive buyer in town. He opened the box and, lo and behold, it contained the Rossner & Sohn Canofer-S phono preamp.

The Canofer-S is nearly the same size as a preamplifier: about 17 inches wide, 10 ½ inches deep and 4 ½ inches tall. The outboard transformer is housed in an extruded aluminum chassis and is connected to the main unit with a custom 7-pin connector. The unit itself has a 8mm thick hand machined face plate in a satin aluminum finish with a 4” acrylic logo in the top left corner that lights up in blue when the unit is switched on.

“The juice,” said LL,“ is housed inside the unit.” He proceeded to remove the top cover and was I ever impressed with what I saw.

On the right side, the main circuit board is encased in a “frozen butter”-like substance and suspended in mid-air within the chassis. It is held suspended by four rubber bands tied to four solid aluminum columns. On the left, you have four humongous capacitors that are bigger than size-D batteries, two of which are Mundorf Supremes, the others Mundorf Silver and Oils. These are also suspended in mid-air like the main circuit board. All of the Mundorf capacitors are rated for 1,200V so even the word “overkill” is somewhat an understatement here.

It was love at first sight. Smeagol’s voice was already creeping into my head. I wanted one of these right away, before I even heard it. If it wasn’t because of the time zone difference, I would have called the Rossner company right away as having to wait six hours was a very long time for me. The next morning I picked up the phone and called Christoph Rossner, owner and designer, in Germany, and was told there was no dealer serving Canada at the time but he offered to ship a unit to me right away. This was the beginning to a friendship with one of the most enthusiastic analog equipment designers who I have ever met. As I hung up the phone, I said to myself “This better turn out to be good because my wallet felt a nasty pinch.” The MSRP has now been set at $7,200 by the Canadian North American distributor Excel Stereo.

The History behind the Company

The Rossner and Sohn name, although not well known in North America, is actually quite renowned in Europe. According to Christoph, the Rossner name can be traced back five generations. The Rossner and Sohn precision engineering and machining business was founded by Christoph’s grandfather in 1965, but their tradition of machine building and engineering dates back to 1865 where Christoph’s great-great-great-grand-father was the first royal leader/user of steam engines in Bavaria.

Christoph’s audiophile journey started at the early age of five years young. He was fascinated by his father’s record collection which he grew up with, and he has been listening to analog equipment ever since. Christoph grew up with the music of Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac, Santana , Rolling Stones, Booker T., and “good old” Beethoven and Vivaldi. At seven years old, Christoph was playing the trumpet and at 14, he picked up the guitar and played in a blues / rock band.

With his family’s precision engineering and machining background, Christoph began his own journey of finding the best sound by building his own analog equipment. In 1999, Rossner and Sohn released their first commercial turntable. The latest special custom-made turntable is called “The Mott” (The Mother of Turntable). The rotating platter itself weighs 232 kg, and the combined unit weighs over 325 kg. Two versions of “The Mott” are available, one with oil bearing and manual adjustment (48,000€), and the full version with automatic pneumatic adjustment and air bearing (135,000€) In 2008, Rossner and Sohn won the Image Hi Fi Award for the Si 1.2 tonearm.

The Technical Details

According to Christoph, the Canofer-S phono was the result of four years of research and development, and was released in 2004. In his own words, he wanted to design a unit suitable for analog “freaks like himself,” and by freakishness he meant the need to satisfy his demand for the utmost flexibility in terms of gain and resistance loading selection. This is exactly what the Canofer-S will give you. On the front panel of the Canofer-S, you will find three rotary turn dials labeled RESISTOR, GAIN, and INCREASE. Rather than having to mess around with low quality computer grade dip switches under the hood, the Canofer-S allows you to adjust the resistance loading, gain and low frequency sensitivity on the fly, all readily accessible from the front panel. All three dials are made of chrome plated, machined solid metal. The letterings on the front panels are indented into the aluminum before a layer of black paint covers the indentation. They do not rub off easily.

The knobs include an inlay made from cobalt blue Murano Glass and they are hand polished

The RESISTOR dial allows you to optimize loading for your cartridge with 24 different settings, from 22 Ohm all the way up to 75k Ohm. The GAIN dial allows you to adjust gain from 40 dB up to 60 dB in 24 step increments. This is all very confusing at first because the owner’s menu does not explain which position correspond to which loading or gain setting choice. And to complicate things further, the menu does not fully explain what the Increase dial is to be used for. If you do the math, with 24 positions on each rotary dial, the possible combinations comes out to 13,842! With five cartridges on hand, does this mean I have to experiment with 69,210 combinations? According to Christoph, the actual number of combinations is 1,800 per cartridge rather than 13,842. But regardless, the thought of having to fiddle around with any more than 10 combination is enough to give me a headache.

Rather than messing around with all those possible combinations for each of the cartridges, I decided to contact Christoph for detailed instructions. Over the course of three weeks, we must have exchanged over thirty emails and phone calls, which not only increased my understanding of analog as a whole, but also greatly enhanced our friendship. He walked me through the entire process and according to Christoph, the resistor values are withheld on purpose, as users are encouraged to experiment with the dials and let their ears be the final judge of dial positions as opposed to a calculated number. But for those of you, who like me want to begin with doing things by the book or to avoid 13,842 possible combinations, here’s a short cut to audio nirvana, i.e., the “Gain & Loading table”:

RESISTOR (from Left to Right, in Ω or kOhm): 22 Ω – 33 – 47 – 75 – 130 – 220 – 330- 470 – 680 – 820 – 1.0 kΩ – 1.2 – 1.5 – 2.2 – 3.0 – 4.7- 6 – 8 – 10 – 15 – 22 – 47 – 75

Gain (from Left to Right, , in Ω or kOhm): 18 – 22-27 – 33 – 39-47 – 56 – 68-82 – 100 – 120-150 – 180 – 220-270 – 330 – 390-470 – 560-680 – 820 well as 1 – 1.2 to 1.5 kΩ, which essentailly corresponds to a gain of 60db on the far left down to 40 db on the far right.

The INCREASE dial on the far right of the front panel does require a bit more explanation. According to Christoph, the INCREASE dial is not an equalizer or a subsonic filter. Under no circumstances would he affect the purity of the signal through an equalizer as it would be a violation of his design principles. Turning the INCREASE dial to the “+” direction will not necessarily increase bass performance, and vice versa for the “-“ direction.

Rather, the INCREASE dial is designed to allow user to fine-tune the unit’s “sensitivity” to the unwanted resonant frequencies generated by the cartridge’s cantilever should you happen to have a tonearm that was improperly matched with the cartridge’s compliance value. As you may recall, the cantilever of every cartridge will generate unwanted resonant frequencies. This resonant frequency is dependent on the compliance of the cartridge, the weight of the tonearm, the VTF (Vertical tracking force), and the weight of the cartridge. The goal is to match your cartridge with the right tonearm so that the resultant resonant frequency will fall below the human hearing range, but not so low that it becomes affected by natural external vibrations. The ideal range is between 8 Hz and 12 Hz, but if you happen to have a tonearm/cartridge mismatch, the INCREASE dial on the Canofer-S will allow you to adjust the unit’s sensitivity to these unwanted frequencies.

As far as I know, the Canofer-S is the only phono stage that allows you to compensate for mismatched tonearm and cartridge compliance. Christoph should be commended for his meticulous attention to detail which is the mark of a true perfectionist!

At the end of many listening sessions, I was unable to detect any significant change in low frequencies by changing the dial on the five cartridge/tonearm combination that I tried with the unit. Detectable changes, if any, were very small. I suppose I can conclude that all my cartridges are properly matched with my tonearms. So I left the dial at the centre position. With the INCREASE dial taken out of the equation, it left me with 576 combinations rather than 13,842.

Finding the right combination for the remaining two dials was pretty straight forward. Of the five cartridges I tried with the unit, four required the highest or the second highest gain settings. The exception was the Kondo I/O-M cartridge which has an output of 0.12mv and required the use of a Kondo Step-up transformer. With each cartridge, I simply played a couple of LPs that I was familiar with and it became apparent very quickly which GAIN setting should be utilized. With the GAIN set at levels below 58dB, it simply wasn’t enough to drive for any of the cartridges. However, once you have found the proper gain setting, you’ll know it and nothing else will sound right. With proper gain, a few things happened: The overall presentation went from flat and boring to being dynamically charged. The holographic image solidified, instruments went from a faint haze to actual life size reproductions with weight and balance. The most noticeable difference was with the bass dynamics which exhibited more control and oomph. You will also notice that you will not need to crank up the volume too much to achieve the same level of detail.

The RESISTANCE dial was not difficult to use either. If one is concerned about doing things by the book, the correct setting is usually around 10x-20x the internal impedance of the cartridge. So for example, if your cartridge has an internal impedance of 10 ohms, the proper setting should be about 100-200 ohms. Personally, I ignore the numbers all together and adjust the setting through repeated listening. Basically, I throw a CD into the tray and play the same piece on vinyl, paying close attention to the high frequency presentation, while comparing it to the CD source which is used as a reference. If the dial is loaded down too much, such as with a setting which corresponds to the far left, the sound will become grey, lifeless and rolled off, with vocals becoming muffled. If loaded too high, the sound will become thin, bright and with the high frequencies exaggerated.

My own experiment tells me the optimal setting will fall within one to two dial positions. It did not take more than half an hour to find the optimal setting for each cartridge. The best part with the Canofer-S is that everything can be adjusted on the fly without having to turn off the unit or fiddle around with tiny internal dip switches. So, at the end you are really only playing with one-two settings on the RESISTANCE and GAIN dials rather than 13,842 possible combinations which is, in fact, somewhat misleading. The workings of the three rotary dials was much simpler to use than I initially thought.

Cartridge
Output
Gain Setting
Resistance Setting
Clearaudio Goldfinger
0.8 mV
58 dB or 2 positions from left
220~330 ohm
My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent BC
0.3 mV
60 dB or far left position
130 ohm
ZYX Universe Copper
0.24 mV
60 dB or far left position
130 ohm
Kondo IO-M + Kondo SUT
0.12mV
44 dB or a few setps from far right

47k ohm
Lyra Olympos
0.3 mV
60 dB or far left position
130~220 ohm

I also noticed that the unit that I first saw at Lawrence Lock’s home has three sets of RCA connectors, but my unit only came with two. They are WBT terminals labelled INPUT and OUTPUT. According to Christoph, he had initially designed the unit with two inputs in mind, but after a full year of experimenting with different input switches, he was unable to find any switches that do not adversely affect the input signal. Because the switch must be placed in front of signal amplification, it will be handing the exceedingly small incoming signal directly from the cartridge, so any additional switch will degrade the sound quality. For this reason, the Canofer-S is only fitted with one input. The third set of inputs on Lawrence’s unit were actually a set of dummies that were not connected internally.

Lawrence Lock’s unit with three RCAs, and my unit with only two

Peeking under the hood, I was pleased to see that all three of the front panel control dials are not made of low quality carbon film potentiometers, but actually high quality 24-step rotary switches made by ELMA, similar to the ones used in the high quality DACT (Danish Audio Connect) stepped attenuators. According to Christoph, rotary switches of the highest quality must be utilized because they carry the signal path; computer grade dip switches are simply unable to achieve the low level of distortion which he demands. Each of the contact points on the ELMA 24-step rotary switch is gold plated and the plating covers 90% of the surface area of the PCB, making it virtually immune to oxidation. Oxidation, said Christoph, is the primary source of signal degradation and must be avoided like the plague.

The Canofer-S has no ON/OFF switch on the front panel, it’s instead found on the external power supply unit. The power supply unit houses two vacuum sealed transformer units with separate coils, which reduces cross interference between channels to undetectable levels. Each of the separate power supply units powers two completely separate amplification modules, which are encased in a proprietary polyurethane resin custom designed for Rossner and Sohn by a company called Elalta, which in turn specializes in the development and manufacture of specialized epoxy materials. The resin has been rigorously tested for micro sonic resonance, temperature control, corrosion, as well as vibrational properties. As mentioned before, the entire encasement is suspended in mid-air inside the chassis.

So what makes the Canofer-S so special?

I must admit, my decision to purchase the Rossner & Sohn unit was a rather hasty one, brought on by all the “overkill” engineering that I saw. However, I am very critical with every piece of equipment that ends up in my living room. I have had a fair number of phono stages over the past decade, and the Rossner and Sohn Canofer-S was one of the few that I have decided to keep. The following are my reasons for my decision. I have three stringent criteria for phono stages but unfortunately very few phono stages on the market will meet all three requirements.

First and foremost, is quietness. The Canofer-S is the quietest phono preamp that I have owned , including the battery powered Sutherland PhD and ASR Exclusive battery powered unit. At 60 dB of gain, the Canofer-S is also much quieter than the FM Acoustic 122 Mk II, despite that fact that the FM Acoustic has a gain of only 56 dB. It is also quieter than the Ensemble Fonobrio which I also own, even when it’s set at the lowest MC gain setting. Without any signal, you will have a hard time determining whether the Canofer-S is actually turned on or not. Without a record playing, I could detect no hum, white noise, FM signal, or any type of buzzing even with the preamp’s volume dial set at 50%. This is almost unbeatable!

When the Canofer-S was initially launched in 2004, there was a battery-powered option available as an add-on. However, the AC powered unit was so quiet that Christoph decided to stop offering the battery option because it simply wasn’t necessary.

To me, quietness is a basic requirement for a high-end phono stage because it translates into a low noise floor when music is being played, which in turn results in a pitch black background, allowing the listener to distinguish between notes and instrument separation. There are numerous recordings where hum, noise or buzz will distract from the melody and the tempo of the music. The “Overture” in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a prime example of a recording that requires an absolutely pitch black background. Although unassociated with the performance of the play, the Overture is a romantic composition which prepares the listener for the eventual grand opening of the performance. The EMI recording with Andre Previn conducting the London Symphony Orchestra [ASD 3377] is one of my favourite renditions of this performance. The faint fluttering of the strings in the opening sequence is not loud, but has an intensity which prepares the listener for the grand opening. A phono stage with a pitch black background allows every minute detail of the instrument to be presented so that it can capture the emotion of the moment. Any type of hum, buzzing or white noise generated by a noisy phono stage would be as distracting as a fly buzzing around a couple about to engage in their first kiss. The same can be said of the opening sequence in Ravel’s Bolero, again conducted by Andre Previn on EMI [ASD 3912], which requires utmost silence to building the atmospheric tension, setting the tone for the melody which repeats itself over and over again, but is orchestrated differently each time with greater intensity. I must admit, it was precisely this noise requirement that prevented me from keeping some very fine tube phono stages, such as the Manley Steelhead or the Aesthestix Rhea. The only tube phono stage that met my noise requirement was the Kondo M7, but even this is barely acceptable in terms of noise level.

But “Quietness,” one may suggest, is not difficult to achieve in solid-state phono stages, and I have tried many of them in my system. However, what sets the Canofer-S apart from the rest is its ability to maintain a fine balance between delivering the most minute details without ever sounding bright, edgy, grainy or forward, which is typical of many solid-state units.

With the right cartridge/phono stage combination, music is rendered with a silky smoothness on the top-end, combined with relaxed sense of fluidness without ever sacrificing dynamic range when explosive dynamism is called for. If there are details embedded in a recording, the Canofer-S will extract them. I can recall many high quality recordings such as Delibes’ Sylvia on DECCA [SXL6635/6], or Ibert’s Escales (Ports of Call) on Mercury [SR90313], where a lesser phono stage would emerge as the bottleneck of the system either by muddling through complex passages, or by sacrificing low-level details. Not so for the Canofer-S, it always kept up with the best of phono cartridges, while keeping the music performance intact by preserving every minute detail embedded in the recording.

According to Christoph, one of the main reasons the Canofer-S has such high resolution is his commitment to using as few gain stages in the circuit as possible. In order to achieve 60 dB of gain, many phono stages require the use of two, or sometimes three gain stages. But with every added gain stage, one injects more distortion into the signal path which some designers will address by introducing negative feedback into the circuitry. The Canofer-S has the rare ability to deliver 60 dB of gain utilizing a single gain stage, while delivering only 0.001% distortion at 100Hz, 1kHz, and 20kHz at 200mv, all without the use of negative feedback. Combine this with Christoph’s ingenious “mid-air” suspended design for the internal components, the result is a phono preamp with some of the lowest distortion figures on the market.

The fact that the Canofer-S is able to achieve 60 dB with a single gain stage is quite an accomplishment, but at the same time the lack of a second gain stage can be a challenge for some cartridges. Whether or not the Canofer-S will provide enough gain for one’s setup will depend on the output of the cartridge, as well as the input impedance of the preamp. With 60 dB of gain, the Canofer-S is sitting right at the border line so some combinations may run into the issue with the lack of gain. I wish I could tell you a specific number, but unfortunately with analog, you never know until you try.

As with every phono stage in the market, the Canofer-S works better with some cartridges than others. The advantage of having multiple cartridges on hand is that it allows me to become acquainted with the sonic characteristic of the unit, and learn how it changes with a different cartridge. It is not a matter of one cartridge being better than the other, but a matter of finding the right sonic combination.

Trying different cartridges with the Canofer-S
Turntable # 1: JC Verdier La Plantine Vintage & Teres Reference Motor
Turntable # 2: TW Raven AC
Tonearm No. 1: Reed 2P with Ebony Armwand
Tonearm No. 2: DaVinci Grandezza with Ebony Armwand
Tonearm No. 3: Durand Talea
Tonearm No. 4: Schroeder Reference 12`with Ebony Armwand
Cartridge No.1: My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent BC
Cartridge No.2: Kondo IO-M
Cartridge No.3: Clearaudio Goldfinger
Cartridge No.4: Lyra Olympos
Cartridge No.5: ZYX Universe

Listening Notes

The first cartridge mated with the Canofer-S was the My Sonic Lab Ultra eminent BC. Unfortunately, despite having an output of 0.3 mv, the Canofer-S did not have enough gain to drive this cartridge to a satisfactory level; the music simply lacked dynamics. For reasons unknown to me, the next cartridge I tried, though having an even lower output, worked marvellously with the Canofer-S, which goes to show once again that with analog, you cannot always believe the numbers.

With the ZYX Universe (Copper Coil, 0.24mv), I was mesmerized by the unit’s ability to retrieve microscopic information on virtually all recordings. Be it Heifetz’s Scottish Fantasy on Living Stereo [LSC-2603], or Michael Rabin’s Meditation on his famous Magic Bow album released under Capital Records [SP8510], the ZYX combined with the Canofer-S delivered more top-end clarity and airiness than any other combination I have tried. The presentation was nothing short of captivating, capturing every detail on every twist and turn of the bow gliding across the violin’s strings. Not every phono stage I have tried can keep up with the ability of the Universe to retrieve minute details. Some gave a somewhat rounded and rolled-off presentation versus the Canofer-S, while others were able to deliver the details but at the expense of sounding grainy and “solid state-ish.” The Canofer-S was able to maintain this fine balance without ever tipping towards either end.

One of the finest recordings of string instruments is Bach’s Cantata No. 140, on Living Stereo’s Clair de Lune album [LSC-2326]. With the ZYX Universe cartridge, the Canofer-S delivered a silky and smooth presentation on the string instrument, again with lots of details and instrument separation. The only complaint that I had with the presentation is that it was somewhat “thinner sounding” than what I am usually accustomed to; by this I mean the lower notes on the double bass did not register as low as the other phono stage units I have on hand, which gave an impression that the instrument is somewhat smaller than it should be. There was also less body and weight in the performance.

Moving on to female vocals, I found Joan Baez’s voice on the Fairwell, Angelina album on Vanguard Records [Cisco Reissue VSD-79002], to be somewhat slimmer and less full-bodied than usual. The same can be said of Ronnie Gilbert’s voice on “Guantanamera” on the Weaver’s Reunion at Carnegie Hall album [Vanguard VSD 2150], as it sounded as if the weight in her voice was coming from a body that was 30 pounds lighter. The usual “thumping” of the instrument in the background also seems to have less impact than usual; it sounded more like a faint tap than a “thump”.

With the Kondo IO-M cartridge going through the KSL-SFz step-up transformer into the Canofer-S, the overall presentation went towards a different direction. There was a lot less detail and definition when compared to the ZYX cartridge, the presentation became bass heavy but with less texture and definition. Female voices no longer have the clarity, but at the same time the IO-M’s seduction magic with vocals seem to have disappeared with the Canofer-S versus the Kondo M7. The overall presentation became wooly, sacrificing top-end detail and airiness. I also found excessive groove noise with this combination, which was absent with the Kondo M7 phono stage. My thought is that the Kondo gears are made for each other, and introducing the Canofer-S into the chain simply broke apart the Kondo house sound. The sound stage presentation, however, was excellent with both the Universe and the IO-M cartridges. The instrument size was somewhat smaller with the ZYX cartridge and bigger with the IO-M, but both maintained excellent focus, image depth and solidity.

After experimenting many hours with each of the five cartridges I have on hand, my impression of the overall sound of the Canofer-S is that it has extremely high resolution, with the complete absence of grain or edginess. The presentation is neutral and polite as a whole, with a good balance between dynamics and forwardness, while being slightly shy on bass, resulting in presentations which are less full-bodied than usual. The Canofer-S is not as polite as the Sutherland PhD or the FM Acoustics FM-122 Mk II, but at the same time it does not seems to carry the “attack” and forwardness of the Pass Labs XP-15 or the Audia Flight phono. But in terms of resolution, it is much higher than anything that I have owned. If tonal balance can be weighed on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being warm, relaxed and “tubish,” 5 being neutral, and 10 being fast, cold and dynamic, I would probably give it a score of 6.5.

In my system, the perfect cartridge for the Canofer-S seems to be the Clearaudio Goldfinger, followed closely by the Lyra Olympos; as such my comments will be focused on the Goldfinger combination. Readers who are familiar with the Goldfinger know that it is one of the most dynamic cartridges on the planet, capable of delivering thundering dynamics and earth shattering bass. It is brilliant on the top-end, and grabs your attention in the bass region. With the Goldfinger, every one of the weaknesses mentioned above was totally compensated by the sonic characteristic of this cartridge. The result from this combination is a match made in heaven and to my ears it nearly reached perfection in almost all the qualities that can be named: highs, mids, bass, tonality, sound staging, and dynamic range.

One of my favorite albums to demonstrate a system’s overall ability to retrieve details in a large scale performance is the Ruggiero Ricci album with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pierino Gamba on DECCA [SXL 2197]. The recording is somewhat tipped up, which means the presentation can prove to be difficult for some solid-state phono stages. The slightest presence of any edginess will push the recording over the limit, and will sound bright and harsh to the listener. With the Goldfinger going into the Canofer-S, the performance was close to perfection. The performance begins with a fast paced gymnastic display of Ricci’s ability on the violin. With many phono preamps I have tried in the past, this passage was so bright to the point of being unbearable. However, with the Canofer-S, every minute detail of Ricci’s fast-paced performance was smooth, silky and effortless without any hint of grain or glare. So the Canofer-S passed my torture test. When the full-scale orchestra was heard, there seemed to be an endless reserve of dynamic power to push the instruments to their fullest. The aforementioned bass shy characteristic which was present with the ZYX / Canofer-S combination, was no longer a problem. The bass was adequate, tuneful, and plentiful.

On Clifford Curzon’s Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 on Decca [SXL 6023], the Canofer-S presented the performance in its full magnificent grandness. To my ears, the early Decca recordings in the SXL series are some of the most demanding albums for an audio system to present, and when your equipment is up to snuff, the sheer dynamic range of these recordings is unmatched by anything else in the market. Similar to the previous album, this recording will sound hard and analytical with the wrong setup. Again, the Canofer-S passed this test. When Curzon struck some of the lower notes on the grand piano, it was as if a full, life-sized grand piano was sitting right in my living room. The strokes of the felt hammers hitting the metallic strings of the piano, combined with the harmonic resonance of the sound board simply sounded accurate, realistic and with a live presence. Transient attacks were fast, but not so much that it was in your face or aggressive. Not only could I hear the lower notes of the piano with utmost clarity, I could feel the vibrations of the piano coming through the floor of my living room. Everything sound “just right”, without being too forward.

Moving onto male vocals, I pulled out Giuseppe Di Stefano’s performance on Donizetti’s L’Elisir D’Amore, on London Blue Back [OSA 1311], which I was lucky enough to pick up on eBay for $1.99. Giuseppe Di Stefano remains my favourite Italian operatic tenor. Before I played the recording, I had a preconception that with the muscular characteristics of the Goldfinger combined with the neutral and accurate character of the Canofer-S, the presentation would be somewhat analytical and uninvolving, never coming close to the Kondo M7 tube phono stage and the Kondo IO-M cartridge combination in terms of emotional involvement. I was only partially correct. The vocal presentation was not nearly as seductive or syrupy as the Kondo IO-M / M7 combination, but it was far from being uninvolving. In fact, the Goldfinger and Canofer-S gave one of the most realistic and emotionally charged Di Stefano performances I have heard. It was as if the “Golden Voice” was standing right in my living room. The midrange was not hard or analytical, but full-bodied and realistic. More importantly, his voice carried more weight and clarity than the Kondo IO-M / M7 combination. It wasn’t as seductive as the Kondo setup but it was more realistic and authentic, with an immediate, live presence to the sound.

Moving along into the more complex segments of the same opera, I preferred the soundstage presented by the Goldfinger / Canofer-S combo versus all the other cartridge / phono combinations I had on hand. The Goldfinger/ Canofer-S combination provided a superb soundstage presentation, which allowed me to clearly identify the size, weight and pinpoint-position of every performer as well as instrument. All in all, this combination was able to recreate a grand illusion of a real opera performance in my living room.

Although Christoph never explicitly said so, the tonality of his unit tells me the Canofer-S is voiced to deliver a more neutral and accurate presentation rather than a warm and euphonic one. The Canofer-S is not particularly warm sounding, and it consistently delivered an elegant and clean presentation without any hint of “tubishness.” Large-scale orchestral performances were always presented accurately, yet without being overly analytical or dry. I have been repeatedly told by many audiophiles who know me, that my system is tuned for classical music. The McIntosh gear and Dynaudio speakers I have are warmer and polite sounding by nature. The Goldfinger cartridge ended up being the cartridge of choice for the Canofer-S phono stage and I have decided to keep the combination, until I can find something better.

Negatives

Personally I do not believe there is such a thing as “perfect” audio equipment, and as such the Canofer-S does have a few shortcomings.

First of all, the cardboard box packaging that the Canofer-S comes in leaves room for improvement. I say this because I own a lot of McIntosh equipment so I have been accustomed to seeing double boxed bomb-proof packaging which has been tested to withstand a 6-foot drop. The box which housed the Canofer-S, albeit well insulated, looked a little flimsy.

The menu that came with the unit is also somewhat confusing, reading this review will probably tell you more about how to operate the three control dials than the owner’s manual.

Last but not least, I must warn potential buyers that the burn-in period for the Canofer-S unit was painfully long. Those who do not believe in equipment burn-in may ignore this review altogether, but for those who have experienced first-hand how painstaking the burn-in process for phono stages can be, you are forewarned that the Canofer-S will probably require more patience than any piece of equipment you have ever owned.

Personally, I used a Hagerman RIAA inverter combined with a tuner to send a replicated MC signal to the Canofer-S unit non-stop for one month. During the entire month, I basically forced myself to forget ownership of the unit. Patience is not one of my virtues, but at least the wait paid off. The before- and after- sound of the unit was dramatically different.

Conclusion

The Canofer-S is no doubt a high-end product, when you are talking $7,200 for a phono stage, “budget” is not the first word that comes to mind. With its exotic internal design and its flexibility, it’s certainly in the upper echelon of the high-end market segment. So whether or not I would recommend this phono stage will depend on what the listener is looking for. If a person is just beginning to appreciate wine, it would not be recommended to start off with a bottle of 1982 Romanée-Conti, which by the way is about the same price as the Canofer-S. The Canofer-S is suitable for the individual who has experience with analog, and knows what type of sound is desired. If you are looking for something more “tubeish” in nature with a laid back euphonic type of presentation, the Canofer-S will not foot the bill. It would also fail to meet the needs of those who are looking for something fast, clean, analytical or with a lot of slam.

The Canofer-S is the quietest phono stage I have encountered. It is solid-state but with the complete absence of grain, brightness, or edginess. It’s main characteristics are elegance and politeness along with qualities such as silkiness, smoothness, and musicality. It gives you full on-the-fly front panel access for all adjustments. For the individual who is looking for these qualities, the Canofer-S will probably stay with you for a very long time.

As for the $7,200 MSRP, there are pens which cost more than cars in this world, so I will not be the judge of value here, that was never part of my goal for this review.

The post Rossner and Sohn Canofer-S Phono Preamplifier Review appeared first on Dagogo.

Introduction

This past summer at the 2nd (2011) California Audio Show by Dagogo in San Francisco, I had the great fortune of providing the coverage of the Zesto Audio/Fritz/Wywires Room.

Mr. George Counnas, designer of the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 phono stage, was spinning some vinyl, and his gracious wife and business manager, Carolyn Counnas was managing the crowd. At the time, I thought the system as a whole was sounding pleasant enough. However, it being an audio show, and an entire system and room that were unfamiliar to me, I made a note to come back, and continued on. Later during the show, I happened on the JIB/One World Audio room where once again, the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 was making some truly great analog sound paired with a Lyra cartridge, Graham tonearm, and a vintage Luxman turntable. I didn’t waste any time and went immediately back to the Zesto Audio Room and arranged with Carolyn and George Counnas for a review sample of the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 (which I received this past August).

The Andros PS1 is the debut product from Zesto Audio. George Counnas, as it turns out, is a music lover, vinylphile, and an audiophile who happens to have a passion for vacuum tubes. With a lengthy career under his belt working for Decca Navigation developing navigational systems for the Royal Air Force, he is armed with the tools to tackle such an endeavor. This background has certainly come in handy as he blended the old and the new in developing a fully modern, Computer-Aided-designed, and ear-tuned phono stage. In George Counnas’ own words, his Andros PS1 is an uncompromising design that was achieved through rigorous testing, auditioning, and 71 circuit changes (72, as of this writing), along the way.

Getting Started

The Zesto Audio PS1 arrived at a very interesting time. I had just received the Merrill Williams clamping system to complete the R.E.A.L. 101 and had had the pleasure of listening to the table/arm/cartridge combination for nearly the entire summer. So at the time of the Andros PS1’s arrival, my reference system was locked in with the Martin Logan CLS 2z 20th anniversary, Martin Logan Depth (2) subwoofers, Pass labs XP10 linestage preamplifier, Pass Labs X350.5 power amplifier, ASR Mini Basis exclusive phono stage, and the Merrill Williams R.E.A.L. 101 turntable/Ortofon TA-110 tonearm/Accuphase AC-3 playback combo to round out the front end. The cabling was set as Aural Symphonics MagicGem v2t power cords, TRS Audio Pure Note Designer’s Edition interconnects and speaker cables. I was already quite familiar and accustomed to the analog front-end’s sound and capabilities within the context of my main system. According to George Counnas, the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 is delivered with a good 50 hours of burn-in time on it. Since they are all hand-built and ear-tested, that makes a lot of sense. Certainly, the care and attention to detail that are embodied in this product came through in every way, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Zesto Audio PS1 is packed with features and is built like the proverbial tank. First of all, it is a dual mono design that shares a single power supply and is all contained in a single, very solidly built twenty-pound steel chassis. The rear panel is configured with totally separate settings, inputs and outputs, for each channel. Each channel has separate moving magnet and moving coil switching, which is a little different from what I have seen in other phono stages with which I am familiar. In fact, all configurations are “dual mono, including resistance loading options for MC cartridges (20-30-40-50-100-200-400-1000), high and low MC gain settings, MC balanced inputs, MC single-ended inputs, MM single-ended inputs, and even separate ground per channel. It is important to note that the outputs are strictly single-ended and not balanced.

Just in case you were not keeping track, the Andros PS1 is one very feature-packed phono stage. You can have two fully configured tonearm/cartridge combinations attached, though balanced connections are limited to the MC input only. I would usually much prefer having all settings readily accessible on the front of the phono stage, but the rear layout on the Andros PS1 is so clean and clearly marked that it makes on-the-fly changes a bit less painful than the usual rear setups I have seen. While my current ASR Mini Basis Exclusive lacks any front-facing settings at all and in fact, the resistance and output settings are internal, which is truly a pain, I longingly look back to my days with the vacuum tube Melos Reference phono stage as it had the resistance settings for each channel on two rotary switches on the front panel. I miss that kind of accessibility. Although I guess in today’s dollars, that dual-chassis unit would probably have an MSRP into the 5 figures! That said, this is about the time I should mention that the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 retails for $3,900. Just from the standpoint of features alone, this seems to be quite a breakthrough price for all that is offered here.

Finishing off the substantial list of features, the solidly-designed chassis has a sculpted front design that keeps the four JJ (Tesla) gold pin ECC83S/12AX7 vacuum tubes exposed al fresco out front of the chassis in an artistic and functional design that, for some reason has elicited very polarized comments amongst my friends regarding its esthetics. Of course, the exact same can be said regarding the varying opinions of the Conrad Johnson CT-5 aesthetic design. I guess you either like exposed tubes or you don’t! Personally, I find it to be a refreshing change from the norm on both counts.

To finish things off, the Andros PS1 sits atop a set of Isonode feet.

Set-up and Break-in

Since I was already well into the process of evaluating the Merrill-Williams R.E.A.L. 101 turntable on my existing system, I decided to break-in the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 in my reference front-end consisting of a modified VPI TNT /SDS/ Technics EPA500G/ Accuphase AC2. I noted that the Zesto Audio was sounding a bit polite in the bottom end and image depth was not particularly spectacular, so I decided to match the 50 hours of burn-in that Zesto provides, and play the Andros PS1 using my well-worn break-in record and MC cartridge I keep on hand for this task. A couple of weeks later, I had a serious listen and things had definitely improved. At that time, I also confirmed that isolation was not an issue with this unit. Swapping platform material made little if any difference at all, proving both the integrity of the chassis and the effectiveness of the Isonode footers.

My first serious listening session was with the VPI TNT set-up as described above.

Several things immediately became evident. The Zesto Audio PS1 has superb stereo separation and imaging. This translated to a big, full, open sound on live recordings such as Pat Metheny with Christian McBride and Antonio Sanchez Day Trip/Tokyo Day Trip Live on the Nonesuch label. On a different note, listening to the original Island Records UK pressing of Cat Stevens LP Catch Bull at Four revealed a somewhat glassy quality in Cat’s voice. This is not at all uncommon for this record and indeed, it has come up to some degree on nearly every analog set-up. However, in this case, it initially appeared to be somewhat exacerbated by the introduction of the Andros PS1 in place of the ASR unit. Having previously heard this particular record on the ASR/Merrill-Williams pairing served as confirmation that some of the great strides in midrange clarity, and smoothness in the vocal range had diminished when directly compared to the Zesto Audio / TNT set-up.

History has taught me that Cat’s voice on this album can be strident and can exhibit an irritating glassiness to it if things are not quite right in the end-to-end analog set-up. This came through quite noticeably when directly comparing the Zesto Audio /VPI/ Technics EPA-M /Accuphase set-up to the ASR/Merrill-Williams/Ortofon TA-110/Accuphase set-up. After listening to quite a few LP’s on the VPI/Zesto Audio set-up throughout the week, I came to the conclusion that indeed, the $3,900 Zesto Audio Andros PS1 was a huge improvement in many key areas over the $2,900 ASR Mini Basis Exclusive. First of all, the Andros PS1 was very quiet. In fact, it made the solid state ASR appear to have a bad case of tube rush by comparison. Stereo separation was also quite spectacular on the Zesto Audio Andros PS1. However, the overall presentation, detail, pace, rhythm, and low end authority of this end-to-end set-up were no match to those of the Merrill-Williams set-up from the same vinyl.

It became quite clear that the overall analog playback system with the Merrill-Williams R.E.A.L. 101 was so much better than the VPI-based system, that the only sensible approach in realizing the true measure of the Zesto Audio Andros PS1’s capabilities would be to directly connect it to the clearly higher performing Merrill-Williams R.E.A.L. 101/Ortofon TA-110/Accuphase AC3 set-up, and so I did just that.

Adding a Little Zesto (Audio) to the Family

I mentioned in my review of the Merrill-Williams R.E.A.L. 101, that it took the better part of two months to fully grasp everything that the R.E.A.L. 101 achieves. This was in part due to the ASR Mini Basis Exclusive being a limiting factor in the overall analog front-end. I only discovered this once the ASR was swapped out for the Andros PS1.

As a side note, you are probably wondering why I am not addressing the elephant in the room, i.e.,that there is yet another variable in play in the form of the Ortofon TA-110 vs. my prized and much beloved vintage Radio and Broadcasting Series EPA-500 tonearm. This fact has not escaped me. At this point in time as I write this, I have yet to try the EPA-500 directly on the R.E.A.L 101, but it will happen once wire routing modifications to the tonearm are completed, and I will report back on the outcome.

Playing the Zesto Audio first on the TNT set-up was constructive, but not much fun. Hearing the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 on the Merrill-Williams/Ortofon/Accuphase set-up brought life to the party in most every way. It made full use of the clean, explosive bass performance yielded by the M-W set-up and conveyed it on to the rest of the system with force and authority without a hint of bloat or “toobiness.” This thing is perhaps even more iron-fisted in terms of bass control than my old Melos reference was. In my book, that’s a major achievement. Another very obvious difference is the fact that the slightly better HF extension of the Accuphase AC3 over the AC2 was clearly delivered, and yet the noise floor remained vanishingly low. This has to be the quietest vacuum tube phono stage I have yet heard, regardless of price. In fact, I had the pleasure of an in-home audition a few years back of a well-respected $7,000 phono that had a much higher noise floor. So, at $3,900, the Andros PS1 is quite a standout.

Getting back to the Cat Stevens album for a moment, I am happy to report that the sound of the entire Catch Bull at Four LP through the final analog playback system, Zesto Audio/Merrill-Williams/Ortofon/Accuphase AC3 was nothing short of spectacular. The Andros PS1 added not only a sense of space and lush sweetness to this recording, but imagery that was almost like an auditory pop-up story book, so pronounced was the layering. Every element in the recording was in a well-defined and delineated space. The previously reported glassiness in Cat’s voice was nearly gone, and the usually overpowering drums in the tune ‘Freezing Steel” were clean, powerful, and highly detailed, but were now placed within the overall image without calling attention to themselves. “Ruins,” a tune from the same album, was life-like, rich in detail, and set against a wonderfully quiet background. Overall, listening to this classic, nearly 40-year-old (has it really been that long??!!) LP proved to be more enjoyable than ever.

Listening to Peter Gabriel’s “Growing Up” from the LP Ovo clearly underlined the Zesto Audio Andros PS1’s superb dynamics, holographic imagery, and ability to cleanly and clearly deliver highly complex passages without losing its composure. However, I did note that when reproducing piano, there was a very slight “sheen” to the sound. It appears that this quality continued to emerge from the Andros PS1, although greatly diminished after proper break-in. In the tune, “Sky Blue” from the same LP, the perspective was one of huge size and scale with layers and layers of information coming through. When the choir begins to sing, it’s like the pop-up book effect I spoke of earlier – like an entire group rising into the established space. The resulting realism is real goose bump material, to be sure. As the song ends, Peter Gabriel rises from the piano stool and it squeals. That too came through so lifelike and was so natural and matter-of-fact that it too became just another detail in the highly believable image that was being portrayed.

On other live-in-the studio LP’s, the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 certainly proved not only to be up to the task, but performed remarkably well. Such as in LA Four’s Going Home, a Direct-to-Disc on the East Winds label, Bud Shank’s Alto Sax comes through cleanly and dynamically. In the cut “Softly as in the Morning Sunrise”, the cymbals are vibrant and real, the drums come through with the low frequency power, control, and dynamics that are the hallmark of the Sennheiser 421 microphones utilized in this recording. Finally in “Things Ain’t What They Used to be,” the overall analog system’s pace, rhythm, and timing come through with great toe-tapping goodness.

Listening to the LP Upstairs at United Volume II, a 45RPM Direct-to-Analog Tape record produced specifically for the annual Record Store Day event, also turned into an unexpected treat. The recording has a wonderfully alive and you-are-there quality that is captured beautifully by the analog playback system and amplified by the Zesto Audio PS1 to full effect. The songs ‘Rosie” and “In the Deep” as performed by Corey Chisel come through as alive and believable, right down to the sense of size of the recorded space itself by capturing the resonant tone of the room.

Summarizing it all

The accumulation of notes and comments describing this analog playback system as a whole is rather extensive. I have done my best to include those comments and observations which spoke to the influence that the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 had on the final result. Clearly, its contribution is quite impressive and added substantially to the overall enjoyable nature of the excellent Merrill-Williams R.E.A.L. 101 / Ortofon TA-110 / Accuphase AC3 record playback system.

Once again, the sweetness and delicate nature of the Zesto Andros PS1’s delivery in the midrange and highs are almost counter-intuitive to its ability to also very competently amplify and deliver the sheer, explosive low frequency energy and dynamics that the record playback system sends to it. That said, the Andros PS1 is actually a tad shy in the lowest reaches in absolute terms, but within the context of the overall analog system, you would never know it. So, too, is the very slight sheen to the midrange that occasionally seems to emerge. In most LP’s I played over the past four months, neither of these two things were material enough to make a difference at all in the overall enjoyment of the sound. In fact, these are very minor quibbles in absolute terms. When taken in the context of the Zesto Audio Andros PS1’s MSRP of $3,900, it is ridiculous to even mention them as factors.

As such, I recommend the Zesto Audio PS1 without reservation and indeed, it has now replaced my ASR, as I have decided to purchase my review sample. Congratulations to George and Carolyn Counnas on a fine entry into the world of high performance analog playback.

The post Zesto Audio Andros PS1 Phono Preamplifier Review appeared first on Dagogo.

I remember when I bought my first CD player in 1984, it was like winning a popularity contest. Armed with the Yamaha CD-X1 player which carried a price tag of $600, I was no longer just another teenage audiophile; I was an audiophile with a CD player. On that very day, the salesman reluctantly sold me a Luxman PD-284 turntable for $ 200 including cartridge with an attached warning. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. In two years’ time, you will not buy any LPs anymore, the Snap Pop and Crackle format will be dead”. Luckily, his bold prophecy remained true for only about 10 to 15 years. I cannot pinpoint the exact year, but somewhere around the turn of the century, the audio world suddenly entered the age of Analog Aquarius.

In 2008, Kristina Dell of Time magazine declared that “Vinyl records, especially the full-length LPs that helped define the golden era of rock in the 1960s and ’70s, are suddenly cool again. Reuters reported in 2009 that “Vinyl has been making a strong comeback.”, And again in 2012, an article in The Wall Street Journal stated that “Long after the eulogies (of the digital format) had been delivered, the vinyl LP has been revived.” Indeed it has, vinyl is coming back stronger than ever.

Simply attend an audio show anywhere in the world to witness the abundance of choices we now have for analog equipment. It is probably not a mere coincidence that my current writing chores are divided amongst components which are all analog related (one tonearm, one cartridge, and two additional phono stages on top of this one). In the complex labyrinth of the phono preamplifier market space, the abundance of choice is often as much a nuisance as the lack thereof. Make no mistake about it, the decision-making process can be difficult. Within the category of phono stages between the $ 5,000 and $10,000, I can name a number of them just off the top of my head, all of which were in my possession for a brief period: The Manley Steelhead ($7,300), the Audia Flight ($6,100), the Rossner & Sohn Canofer-S ($7,200), the Ensemble Fonobrio ($7,000), the Aesthetix Rhea Signature ($7,000), the Audio Research PH-7 ($5,995), the ASR Exclusive ($6,500).

Just when you think we have enough choices in that crowded space, enter the Audio Exklusiv P2 ($ 7,500) phono stage from Germany, which I first encountered at Charisma Audio’s room during the 2012 TAVES. From the exquisitely finished granite face plate, to chrome control knobs, it just looks and feels like a luxury item. The convenience which comes with front panel gain and loading adjustments is reminiscent of the Rossner & Sohn Canofer-S and the Manley Steelhead; I simply could not resist not asking for a review sample. Bernard Li of Charisma Audio, the distributor for Audio Exklusiv in North America, kindly obliged to my request, and even hand delivered it to my residence. What followed was a four month intensive affair with this German-made phono stage, which at the end led me to conclude that the P2 is one of the most versatile and lively sounding phono stages I have encountered.

Functionality

My review sample of the P2 sports an elegant black box where form follows function. The 19” wide face plate is made entirely out of solid granite with a color pattern that resembles the Spanish Black Alcantara granite countertop found in my kitchen; Audio Exklusiv calls this granite pattern “Nero Assoluto.” The chassis case is made from standard sheet metal. The front panel rotary controls, from left to right, includes an ON/OFF power switch, an MM selector for capacitance, and a source switch between MM and MC, a 3 position switch for MC gain with a choice of 10dB, 20dB, and 30dB. The numbers represent the amount of gain in decibels above the unit’s default 46dB of gain for the MM stage. Next is a rotary switch which provides six MC loading choices (100Ω, 250Ω, 500Ω, 1kΩ, and 47kΩ), followed by a mute button at the end. Knobs are chrome plated and feel “cold” to the touch which suggests they are solid metal rather than plastic.

According to Bernard Li, there is a choice of six different types of granite for the front panel (From Left to Right: Nero Assoluto, Slate, Carrara Marble, Star Galaxy, Estremoz, and Labrador), likewise the control knobs are available in 5 choices (Glossy Gold, Chrome Silver, Glossy Chrome Black, Matt Black and Glossy Copper) and the letterings with four (Black, Silver, Gold and Copper).

The back panel is clean and simple, with one set of output and two sets of inputs (one MC and one MM) selectable through the front panel. The third set of RCA inlets are not inputs, but are connections for additional resistance settings should you require an exact loading resistance which is different from the six choices on the front panel. The precise value can be derived from the formula (R1xR2)/ (R1+R2). For example, if you choose a 1kΩ on the front panel combined with inserting a 500Ω resistor (soldered onto a male RCA plug I suppose), the formula will yield a load of 333 ohm. And if you are mathematically challenged like I am, you can contact the factory and they’ll gladly ship to you a “load” adapter of your choice.

A typical MC cartridge will come with a factory resistive loading recommendation; if unspecified, the proper choice is usually approximately 10 to 20x the cartridge’s internal impedance (also called coil impedance). If the value is set too high, the sound will be bright and edgy; if set too low, the top end becomes rolled off and the bottom becomes fat and woolly. I usually play a vinyl track with which I am familiar, and compare it to the same recording on a CD. Experience tells me the optimal setting is usually within 30-50 ohms from the factory recommended setting, depending on the length and capacitance of your cable.

Once the unit is plugged to an AC source, a red LED beside the IEC inlet will tell you whether the phase of the incoming AC signal has been reversed. If the red LED comes on, users are advised to reserve the plug. With the 3 prong grounded plug we use in North America, I do not see how a reversal is possible unless if the wiring in the wall has somehow been wired incorrectly.

With the P2, everything is accessible through the front panel except for two switches to turn on the subsonic filter which reduces the frequency response below 20Hz by 3 decibels. Audio Exklusiv does not recommend the use of the subsonic filter unless absolutely necessary, which is why the switch is placed inside the unit. If you happen to have a tonearm that was improperly matched with the cartridge’s compliance value, the subsonic filter may be used to reduce the resultant resonant frequencies. Unwanted subsonic frequencies can also be generated by warped records or even feedback from a turntable which is placed too closed the speakers.

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The Allnic H 1201 is a tube phono stage with a resistor/capacitor-based RIAA circuit.  It has four Mullard E180CC tubes, which are mounted in Allnic owner, Kang Su Park’s patented anti microphonic tube sockets. It uses the same four gain level step-up transformers as the $11,900 Allnic H-3000 phono stage, providing an additional 22, 26, 28 and 32dB of gain on top of the H1201′s 40dB.  This means for moving coil users, 62, 66, 68 or 72dB gain is available.

I’ve spent a lot of time with both the former entry level Allnic H-1200 phono preamp and their top of the line H-3000 phono preamp.  The H-1200 was a really amazing phono preamp for a price of under $1200, and the H-3000 is one of the two best phono preamps I have heard. The new H-1201 costs more than twice as much as the H-1200, but still $8,000 less than the H-3000; the good news is it sounds more like the H-3000 than the H-1200. Truth is, it blows away the H-1200, and while it’s not a H-3000 it’s not such a huge step down as the price would indicate.

I ran the H-1201 mostly with the line stage of my Shindo Giscours and the sound was wonderfully musical. First, the H-1201 is far more dynamic than the 1200 and nearly as dynamic as the 3000.  Second, compared to the 1200, it has better low-level detail, more specific imaging, and the soundstage is considerably more realistic. There is constantly a deeper and more vivid sense of the three-dimensionality in the soundstage.  Last, I would like to point out how quiet this unit is; in fact, it may be the quietest phono stage I have heard. The Allnic uses tubes with frame grids and Mr. Parks’ gel, floating, isolating tube sockets, which I suspect contributes to the special quietness of this unit.

Like the Allnic H-3000 it demands your attention.  Music takes on urgent “hey pay attention to me” quality. Like my beloved Shindo preamps, it draws you into the musical flow of the performance. This is so important to enjoying music instead of listening to an audio system. Let’s get down to how it sounds.

Listening

So how does Allnic H-1201 phono preamp make my system sound? Like every Allnic product I have heard, it creates space and transparency.  I had the H-1201 and the H-3000 in the house at the same time and the H-1201 gives you a big part of the soundstage and transparency of its big brother.  The H-1201 is as detailed as any preamp I have heard without spending at least twice the money.  Like it’s big brother, it never sounds overly edgy nor does it spotlight every little thing.

You get very good musical flow that allows the music listening experience to be relaxing with absolutely no listening fatigue.  At the same time it’s not overly smooth or warm sounding.  I found the music very exciting and emotionally enveloping with the H-1201 in my system.  It doesn’t have quite the breath and immediacy of the H-3000 or my Shindo Giscours, but it’s very good in these areas.

Scale, dynamics, power

In these three areas the H-1201 is not as quite as good as its big brother or my Giscours, but it has a big, dynamic, powerful sound that defies its price tag.  The H-1201 allows instruments to have a life-like size without seeming bloated. The dynamics of my system with the H-1201 never made me think I was listening to an entry level phono preamp.

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By the time this review gets printed, the Zesto Audio Andros PS-1 Phono stage will have been widely publicized, and probably will have won multiple awards from different magazines from around the world. One might ask why would I want to write a review on product which does not need further endorsement, and especially when my colleague Ray Seda has done such an excellent job with the first review.

First of all, I am writing this review as a result of a promise I have made. During the 2012 CES, Ray insisted that I go to listen to the Zesto phono stage which he thought was an excellent sounding product. He introduced me to George Counnas, designer and owner of Zesto Audio, whom I found to be an exceedingly friendly and approachable person. After hearing what George had to say about the circuit design, and listening to the unit they had on display, I was sufficiently impressed that I decided to buy a unit just to see if the product would sound as good as it did in my system. I also mentioned to George that if I liked the product, I would write a follow-up review on it, so here I am fulfilling my promise.

Second, I have now lived with the Zesto phono stage for about a year, and I truly believe it is an exceptional product so I want to write a short, concise article to express my appreciation. I must admit, when it comes to phono stages I am a little difficult to please as my friends would say. I have tired over forty phono stages in the past six years (and counting), and of which I have only kept five to six which, the rest of them simply do not meet all of my criteria of evaluation. The Zesto , happens to be one which I have kept, and it is also the least expensive of them.

Since this is a follow-up review, I will not go into great details into the general features of the product, or recount my listening notes especially when Ray has already done a most excellent job in his article. I will simply outline six reasons on why I think the Zesto Andros is the best phono stage within, and likely beyond, its price category. In fact, if you use these six points below as a check list, you will quickly see that very few of the Zesto’s competitors can meet these criteria regardless of their asking price.

1) Quietness
The Zesto Phono stage is one of the quietest tube phono stages I have owned. Though not as quiet as solid state, it produces a significantly lower level of white noise than most tube units I have used. At 50% volume with no record playing, I could hear a minimal level of white noise coming from the speakers. The unit is almost as quiet as the Audio Research Reference 2 SE which carries the much heftier price tag of $ 12,500. Yet, the Zesto carries a price tag of only $4,300.

There are no shortage of tube phono stages in the $3,000 to $5,000 category, some of which have won “Product of the Year” awards. Yet, many of them have been tried and found wanting on the “quietness” scale. Perhaps quietness is a factor which many reviewers simply choose to ignore.

In my book, quietness is a basic requirement of a properly designed tube circuit. A noisy tube phono stage is unacceptable to me regardless of what other positive character traits it may possess, because noises are simply very annoying: “Deeeee”…. “Woooo”…..”Shaaaaa”……. they are like flies hovering over your forehead on a beautiful summer night. Regardless of whether they are ground noises or tube noises, quietness is a quality which I cannot live without.

2) Zero Negative Feedback
I do not possess enough technical knowledge to make a case for or against the use of negative feedback. The advantages of negative feedback in circuit design are very well known. Some are committed to it, while others are vehemently against it. Theoretically, it reduces distortion and extends frequency extension. But when used excessively or implemented incorrectly, the audible side effects of negative feedback can be bothersome. It imposes a sonic trait that is consistently rounded at both ends of the frequency spectrum which can rob the music of ambience and natural harmonic decay. The Zesto Andros uses no negative feedback in its circuitry.

3) Sufficient Gain for most MC cartridges on the market
For an MC tube phono stage to be able to handle low output cartridges with minimal noise level without the use of negative feedback, is truly not an easy task. The Andros was able to deliver 65 dB of gain by utilizing three gain stages. The first gain stage is an internal step up transformer, followed by two additional gain stages using two 12AX7 tubes per side, separate for each channel.

The Andros was able to drive five of the six MC cartridges I tried, including the low output ZYX Universe II with 0.24 mV, as well as the My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent BC with 0.29 mV, but unsurprisingly, not the Kondo IO-M which has only 0.12 mV of output. The best sound, however, was achieved when higher output cartridges were used (0.4 mV or above), such as the Clearaudio Golfinger or the Lyra Atlas.

4) Fully adjustable Loading “On the fly” for the MC stage
Having the ability to adjust loading is one thing, but to be able to do so on the fly without having to disassemble the chassis, or having to flick computer grade internal dip switches, is a convenience that deserves to be mentioned. The Andros offers you six loading choices (20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 200, 400, and 1000 ohms), all adjustable on the fly and accessible via the rear panel.

5) Sonically Neutral
To my ears, the Zesto Andros is a sonically neutral preamp. Its sonic characteristics rest somewhere between the Aesthetix Rhea and the Manley Steelhead, both of which are noisier than the Andros, in addition to being more expensive. The Aesthetix Rhea sound is warm and voluptuous, and the Manley fast, clean and dynamic. The Andros is not overly warm, or overly aggressive. It is simply remarkably neutral, transparent, and un-restricted.

6) A few number of tubes employed – Only four 12AX7
For those of you who prefer the sound of NOS tubes over new Russian or Chinese productions, you will be pleased to know that the Andros uses only four 12AX7 tubes in total. NOS 12AX7s are much easier to find and cheaper than say, NOS 6922s or 6DJ8s.

After tube rolling between different types of NOS tubes, I much preferred the sound of the smooth plate Telefunken 12AX7s over the stock JJ tubes. The British Mullard CV4004 from the UK Mitcham factory was a close second. Although the unit was voiced with the JJ tubes, nevertheless the Telefunken provide for an organic sound quality which has much more body, weight and extension than the stock tubes . The Mullard CV4004s are slightly warmer and more polite sounding. The overall presentation is more laid back, though not rolled off. Frequency extension across the entire spectrum, however, was the best with the Telefunkens.

With a current MSRP of $4,300, I cannot think of too many tube phono stages on the market which meet all six of the above criteria. Surely, there are other units which would meet these criteria, such as the Kondo M7 (with KSL-SFz SUT), the AMR PH-77 and the Audio Research Reference II SE. The Kondo and the AMR PH-77 have a much greater sense of musicality and organic attributes which gives them the upper hand. The Audio Research has a much greater dynamic range, immediacy, and weightiness to the sound. But in all of these cases you would be looking at prices which are multiples of the Zesto Andros; in fact, for the price the step up transformer unit alone on the Kondo, one can nearly buy two units of the Zesto Andros. Parked beside the “Big Boys,” the Zesto stands tall on its own, and can easily keep up with the best of phono stages by delivering a performance which can only be matched by units costing many times more. I can say with confidence that the low noise transparency, frequency extension and remarkable neutrality of the Andros will easily “smoke” many of its competitors.

Do I have anything negative to say about the Andros? There are two things, though they are more of a nuisance than something truly negative.

Other than for aesthetic reasons, I do not understand why the loading switch was placed at the back of the unit rather than on the front. It would be a lot more convenient if the dial were accessible through the front panel, since, when it is not visible, it is easy to forget whether you need to turn clockwise or counter clockwise.

Second, despite having two inputs (One for MM, One for MC) and a switch which lets you decide between the two, you cannot really use the Andros as a two input phono stage. If you flick the switch without turning on the MUTE button on your preamp, you will get a “pop” sound from the speaker so loud that it could very well cause damage to some speakers.

Conclusion

This has been the shortest review I have written but it is an important one. If you put a gun to my head and ask me to choose a single phono stage to buy in the $5,000 range, it would be none other than the Zesto Andros. Highly recommended and with two thumbs up.

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Introduction

About six months after I reviewed and subsequently purchased the Audio Note M10 Special Edition Line Stage, AN asked whether I had any interest in reviewing their top of the line phono stage which, in their opinion, represents an ideal match to their M10 SE line stage. In their words, no expense had been spared in trying to get the most natural sound. The price was quoted at 110,000 British pounds sterling (approximately the same price as a Porsche 911 Carrera S). In addition, they would include their S9 step-up transformer (18,500 British pounds sterling) wound to match the specifications of my Lyra Atlas SL moving coil cartridge.

In due time, a pallet containing multiple boxes arrived at my front door. Given that my reference Ypsilon phono stage arrived in a single crate, it was with some trepidation that I began the unpacking process, fearing multiple power supplies and multiple chassis, which I was pretty sure my existing Finite Elemente equipment stand would not comfortably accommodate. As it later became apparent, the actual phono stage consists of two chassis, an active audio stage about the same size as the M10 control unit and a remote power stage again similar in size and weight to one of the two power supplies for the M10.  Both chassis had silver front panels, neither contained any front panel controls; however, there was an ON/OFF switch on the rear of the power supply above the IEC connector. The units were supplied with two three-meter SOGON silver umbilical cables and an Isis copper power cord. The importer, Audio Federation, was kind enough to also provide a SOOTTO silver power cord.

 

Technology/design philosophy

AN specifically engineers its equipment for sonic performance rather than technical specification. The M9 RIAA Signature fulfills all AN Level 5 design criteria:

Pure Class A operation
Zero negative feedback
Single ended circuit topology
Valve rectification
Use of only the highest quality materials and components

Audio Note M9 RIAA main chassis

 

Audio Note M9 RIAA power supply unit

In an effort to preserve the purity of the incoming signal and retain the musicality of the original performance, complexity of the circuit is kept to a minimum. To achieve this goal, the M9 Signature phono stage uses a single ended, zero feedback topology.  They have found this to be the most linear design possible using pure Class A valve operation and removing the need for a phase splitter, which introduces unnecessary crossover distortion. The circuits are designed to minimize non-harmonic and time base anomalies, rather than producing vanishingly small harmonic or low intermodulation distortion measurements.

The M9 RIAA Signature phono stage uses two E80F pentode valves, one E80CC or E81CC double-triode valve, dependent on the required gain, and a 6463 double triode in the output stage. The internal phono section and output-driver section are independently powered by a dedicated 6X5 valve rectified power supply, based conceptually on the M10’s Galahad power supply, housed in a separate, external chassis. These power supplies also incorporate an ECL82 for voltage regulation and a 5651 as a voltage stabilizer.  AN silver wiring, AN 2-watt tantalum resistors, Black gate capacitors and AN silver foil signal capacitors are used throughout the circuit, along with in-house designed and manufactured custom output transformers.

An original idea used in the M9’s RIAA equalization stage is to employ an inter-stage coupling transformer with a designed value of leakage inductance to create a ‘virtual’ electrical component. Since reactive components such as inductors and capacitors exhibit losses due to DC resistance, hysteresis and other energy storage effects such as dielectric absorption, the M9 uses a specially designed RIAA transformer applying the normally unwanted leakage inductance between primary and secondary as a component of the RIAA equalization. The equalization circuit utilizes select silver foil capacitors and resistors for its partial and crucial operation in the inductive domain.

Like most of AN’s higher-end preamps, DAC’s, and phono stages, the M9 delivers its output via an internal single-ended power amp, complete with output transformer, which here is a silver wound piece, cored with custom annealed 55% nickel-iron C-Cores.  The transformer provides both single-ended and naturally balanced outputs.

 

Some set-up considerations

Initial listening with a variety of different power cords produced widely varying results. For my particular tastes, the best compromise was the Stage III Kraken although an argument can be made in favor of the AN power cords provided. All listening impressions were with the Kraken. Likewise, both chassis exhibited a certain sensitivity to isolation and greatly benefitted from being sited on Finite Elemente Cerabases.

In hopes of better isolating the contribution of each piece of the AN gear, only the Ypsilon phono stage was initially replaced with all other components being kept constant. In Part 2 of this article, the Ypsilon phono stage will be reinserted and the Ypsilon transformer replaced by the AN S9.  Finally the combination of the AN M9 and S9 will be inserted.

Listening impressions, which follow, are indexed chronologically by recording:

Scriabin, Poems – this being a DG, you don’t really expect RCA Shady Dog sound; however, the sound is quite good much of the time. Soundstage is very wide.  Imaging is a little fuzzier than with a Shady Dog or early Decca, but pretty much “there.”  Beside that, it’s Scriabin . . .it’s supposed to be a hazy opium dream, right? With Abbado conducting Boston, we are getting a very accurate replica. The 1970’s multi-miking is somewhat apparent, but what a nice feathery touch to the strings in the quiet moments, and plenty of detail.

Gerhard, Don Quixote Dances (Argo) – strings are quite lush. Some moments seem a bit muddy but then you realize that you are hearing everything. There is good air around the instruments. Soundstage is wide and deep with good localization of instruments. Detail retrieval is good.

Britten, Sea Interludes (EMI Columbia SAX), Guillini – In this instance, the sound is so good that I can almost overlook the rather poor quality of the vinyl used in this pressing. There is not a hint of grain in the strings even when they get loud. There is a full, uninterrupted soundstage across the width of my room with the speakers almost completely disappearing. Image placement is precise. There is air around the instruments. In fact, the stage layout is remarkable – this is as good as it gets. For those of you who are film music buffs, you will recognize the rather shameless borrowing of this music by Jerry Goldsmith in The Blue Max.

Level 42, World Machine– One thing that I really like about the AN M9 RIAA is that even with a dense and thickly engineered mess that a record like World Machine is, I can find musical details that reward my attention. The rhythm keyboard behind the rather drab solo in the third cut for example had a most sensuous attack, like the early Fender Rhodes, that greatly tickles the ear. The bassist is a distinct hero on this record. He adopts different tones on each song. On the second cut he has a Jaco Pastorius sound and every note with its distinct burp is quite unmistakable. That comes from hearing all of the top of the tone.

Audio Note SOGON LX 96 umbilical cables

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Read Audio Note M9 RIAA Signature phono stage Review, Part 1

Audio Note M9 RIAA Signature

This is the second of a two-part review on the Audio Note M9 RIAA Signature phono stage. The first article described the sound of the M9 and this one will focus on 1) a comparison of the Audio Note M9 RIAA Signature with the Ypsilon VPS-100, 2) a comparison of the Audio Note S9M step-up transformer and the Ypsilon VPS-100, concluding with 3) listening impressions of the Audio Note M9/S9M used in conjunction with the Audio Note M10 Signature line stage.

 

The Ypsilon VPS-100 ($26,000)/Ypsilon 16L Step-up Transformer ($6,200)

Ypsilon VPS100 Valve Phono Stage

 

Ypsilon VPS100 interior

As in Part 1, listening impressions are indexed chronologically by recording:

Johnny Hodges – Compared to the Audio M9 in general, the recording with the Ypsilon VPS-100 was lacking the fullness of the brass and winds through the Acapella Triolon Excalibur speakers, and missing some of the ambience, particularly in the center of the stage.  The basses seemed about right and cymbals did have a bit more bite than with the M9.  Piano had somewhat more tinkle.  On tunes that were less loud, edge with the Ypsilon was somewhat less apparent.

This recording did seem spectacular on the M9; on the Ypsilon, it was very good but missing the “wow” factor.  This related to the lack of fullness of the stage, hence the tendency of instruments to sound thinner.  It was almost as if we were missing a bit of information with the Ypsilon in the midrange; however, this is not to say that it did not retrieve a significant amount of what was in the grooves, especially in the topmost octaves.

Brahms, Symphony 2, Karajan – Here, the sound of the recording was significantly better than with the Johnny Hodges.  There was good, solid bass with clarity between the lines.  Conversely, the sound remained somewhat brighter than the M9 and thus a bit bleached in comparison.  The midrange continued in comparison to lack some warmth and heft of the M9, but this was more a matter of degree than a total absence.  The orchestra in general seemed slightly more forward.  Perhaps this is a bit peculiar, but while with the M9 there was more midrange depth and warmth, the Ypsilon might have displayed more clarity in the same frequencies.  Given my preferences, I certainly enjoyed the M9 more.

Debussy, Images, Rosenthal, (Westminster) – It was somewhat of a mystery why this record sounded so good, but it did on both the Ypsilon and the Audio Note.  On both, the soundstage was huge and the instruments were vividly forward, and still seeming to be in the space of a hall.  I would rank the experience superior on the Audio Note; however, there was no mistaking the audiophile characteristics as displayed on the Ypsilon.  The only thing missing in the Ypsilon comparison to the M9 was some of the warmth and depth of the midrange and the slightly smoother highs of the Audio Note.

Respighi, Brazilian Impressions, Paray, (Mercury) – This was a simply amazing sounding recording with some tape hiss.  Had I never heard this on the M9, I would have been much happier with it on the Ypsilon.  The soundstage was huge, the notes were all there, as was the ambience; the detail was rather forward, but amazingly present.  But the tape hiss.  I rather liked the antiquity of the sound of the tape hiss with the M9.  With the Ypsilon, the tape hiss was lodged in my eardrums like a rattling ventilator in an old concert hall in the winter or the low-pitched rumble of a subterranean train running underneath the concert hall.  And then there was the sound of the strings – it seemed like it’s more shimmer than wood on the Ypsilon.  When they got loud, they didn’t sound so much like violins as a recording of the instruments, which was pretty damn good.  On the M9, there was more of the illusion of experiencing the music as it happened.

Talking Heads – Again, with the Ypsilon, everything was there but a bit lean.  The guitars were almost painfully scratchy at times.  Nevertheless, the excitement of the best tunes came through well and was beguiling.

Faure, Piano Quartet, played by the Festival Quartet (RCA) – The Ypsilon emphasized the strangeness of the recording.  The strings were very forward with almost no air, no room to breathe.  On Side 1, this could be almost painful at times; yet, on Side 2, it worked and the third movement was absolutely breathtaking.  Then came the realization that side 1 of this pressing was cut hotter and therefore suffered as a result.

Koechlin, Jungle Book, Side 4 – At a point early on, the strings got quite active, from the cellos up.  There was quite a bit of bow scratching noise.  The Ypsilon seemed almost to focus more on attacks than on the wood behind the attacks.  It was aggressive and not entirely pleasant; however, much of both sides 3 and 4 were lovely.

In summary: the Ypsilon VPS-100 was, all things considered, a phenomenal piece of equipment, but it was pretty damn revealing of certain things, often at the expense of some musicality for which the Audio Note M9 RIAA Sig. seemed better voiced to reveal.  Consequently, 50% of records seemed musically satisfying on the Ypsilon VPS100 while more like 80% seemed musically satisfying on the Audio Note phono stage and this was not because the AN was euphonic or in any way sacrificed accuracy.  The AN hid absolutely nothing; however, it did bring more of the midrange detail to the table as well as an evenness across the frequency range, which in my experience always brings the listener closer to the magic of the original performance.

To be fundamentally fair, I should mention that my Ypsilon YPS-100 was the version utilizing copper wire throughout and not the more expensive version, which employed the same circuit and parts but used silver wire and silver wound transformers throughout.

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