As Ella Fitzgerald’s voice coos out of the Dynaudio Confidence 20s/Rel T-510 six-pack combo, I’m back home again.

Not with Ella, mind you, but the sound of a smaller CJ amplifier. Conrad-Johnson has been building great tube amplifiers for just over 40 years now. While some of their Premier amplifiers produce prodigious power, there’s always something incredible about their EL-34 based amplifiers. Lew Johnson has always been fond of saying, “simple circuits well-executed are the best approach,” and nothing could be truer of the Control Amplifiers they’ve built – they’ve only created a couple.

Their concept of a control amplifier puts a high-quality passive volume control in front of the power amplifier, offering a minimalist approach. An outboard passive attenuator works the same way; either offering a more transparent reproduction (i.e. less stuff in the signal path) or a slightly flat presentation (i.e., lousy impedance match between source and amplifier because there is no preamplifier to buffer things).

The CAV 45-S2 is no different, but when it’s a match, it’s really right. With a 100k ohm input impedance, there were no issues with any of the source components we have on hand from Luxman, Line Magnetic, dCS, T+A, BAT, or Pass Labs.

I must admit my personal bias before going further. I’ve owned C-J products since 1979 (PV-1) and am a huge fan. C-J tube gear has a slight bit of extra tonal body, richness, or saturation, whatever you’d like to call it that I have always loved. It’s not overly warm, like vintage Marantz, McIntosh, or Dynaco gear, but there is a tonal solidity that I’ve always enjoyed. After listening to thousands of components over the years, there is a familiarity and comfort whenever auditioning a C-J component that makes for a comforting exhale. Their marketing slogan has always been “It just sounds right.” I can’t agree more.

A brief history

The CAV-45S2 descends on one level from the original MV-45 power amplifier. Still, it wasn’t until the late 90s that they built the first CAV-50, which actually was more a true integrated, combining circuitry from the PV10 preamplifier (which I still own) and MV-55 power amplifier (which I used to own) to create a one chassis amplifier producing 45 watts per channel.

Somewhere in the mid-2000s, CJ brought back the CAV 45, now as a control amplifier, essentially a passive level control driving an EL34 power amplifier, with an abbreviated tube compliment – though still producing 45 watts per channel. The only review I was able to find of the CAV 45 (series 1) was by my buddy from the UK, the always affable Alan Sircom. You can read his review here. I certainly agree with everything he’s got to say, and it seems his only complaint with the CAV 45 is a few small things in terms of cosmetics.

The S2 version addresses the plastic binding posts, now replaced with a gorgeous pair from Cardas. The three transformers may look a bit old school aesthetically, according to Jeff Fischel (president of CJ), they are significantly upgraded and are now the same ones used in the Classic 62. (read Rob Johnson’s review of the Classic 62SE here) Combining the new, unregulated power supply (with three times the storage capacity) and the wideband output transformers, the S2 version of the CAV-45 now produces 60 watts per channel.

A long test drive

With a list price of just under $5,000, the CAV-45S2 is devoid of bells, whistles, meters, and balanced inputs. This control amplifier has three single-ended RCA input jacks of exceptionally high quality and a pair of speaker output binding terminals. According to C-J, most speakers between 4 and 8-ohm impedance will be just fine. After using about ten different pairs of speakers with the CAV-45S2 from a wide range of manufacturers, there are no compatibility issues to report other than this amplifier may be a little underpowered for a set of Magnepans.

Nearly all the time listening was spent with the T+A 2500 SACD/DAC/Streamer as a source component and the Dynaudio Confidence 20 speakers in concert with a six-pack of REL S/510 subwoofers in a 13 x 18-foot room. All cabling is Cardas Clear – signal and power. After 40 years of assembling systems of every capacity, you stumble on a group of components, almost by accident, that create magic. This time, I struck gold.

Truly special

Going from 45 watts per channel to 60 is a much more significant difference than you might think because the chances of someone mating a Classic 62 to an ACT 2, Art, or GAT preamplifier is unlikely to couple it with a Classic 62. You’d be floored if you did, yet matching it up with a lesser preamplifier doesn’t quite show off the Classic 62s brilliance. There’s only been one other tube power amplifier that I’ve owned in 40 years that I’d put in the same category – the legendary Audio Research D-79. A few of us back in the day ran our D-79s direct, using the level controls on the back panel to set volume because this offered another level of clarity. For most, it was too much work, but performance often rewards those that eschew convenience.

Removing the preamplifier stage brings a level of clarity that can’t be achieved without going to a mega preamplifier and a pair of interconnects that will probably cost more than the CAV-45S2. The sonic experience that the CAV-45S2 delivers within the boundaries of its performance envelope is as good as it gets, period.

Listen, listen, and listen some more

There’s a thing about tubes that when it’s delicious, you can’t forget it. But it’s a road with a lot of detours. If your experience has mirrored mine at all, no doubt you’ve heard amplifiers with a silky smooth high end, others rendering a three -dimensional space that is so beguiling you might think you were under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, yet others offer a delicacy that’s almost intimate enough to be obscene.

The CAV-45S2 offers all of this and a well-defined lower register to boot. Whether I was listening to bass-heavy ambient tracks or heavily layered vocals, it comes through like few others. The presentation that the CAV-45S2 provides is deceptively simple. Should you place one in a system achieving an excellent match, you’ll not only find yourself losing track of time while listening, but you’ll also question why you didn’t do this earlier.

As female vocal tracks are often the litmus test for engagement, I picked three tunes – one for the boomers, one for gen x, and one for the millennials in the audience. I queued Christine McVie’s  “Songbird,” Ellen Reid’s “I’m Just Chillin'” and Lana Del Rey’s “Venice Bitch.” All were equally enticing. I’m sure you have your favorites.

There is a cohesiveness to the sound created by the CAV-45S2 that still defies complete description. If this makes sense, it’s got the delicacy and low-level detail retrieval of a great SET, with the punch of a great push-pull amplifier, and plays a lot louder than you might expect a 60 watt per channel tube amp on a relatively compact chassis. Finally, it’s quiet. Jeff Fischel doesn’t hesitate to mention that the S2 is 10db quieter than the model that precedes it. The music gently falls into nothingness through the CAV-45S2, and you’ll find yourself having an internal dialog over how this can be so good for five grand.

Your inception thought

No, you can’t play AC/DC at concert hall levels (though you probably could with a pair of Avant Garde horns) with this amplifier. But this amplifier produces such a high level of engagement that with careful adjustment of the volume control puts you in a positively engulfing spot. You’ll know when you hit it. A little too much, and it’s bloated, too little – the soundfield isn’t quite as three-dimensional as it can be, with detail you didn’t think was there. That’s the spot that keeps you in your listening chair for hours.

Few material things in life are this close to perfection, even fewer at this price. If you have a room and system that can work within the constraints of a 60 wpc amplifier, I submit there’s nothing more fun or engaging than the Conrad Johnson CAV-45S2. It’s an affordable masterpiece. Time to pony up. I am adding this one to the long list of great C-J amplifiers I’ve had the pleasure to own.

And… we are creating a new category of award for this amplifier: The TONE Masterpiece Award, as the CAV-45S2 is truly a masterpiece.

The Conrad-Johnson CAV-45S2

MSRP: $4,995

www.conradjohnson.com

dCS has started a new campaign acknowledging some of the world’s greatest recording engineers, appropriately titled their “dCS Legends” series. No disrespect to the world’s most excellent engineers, but I submit the digital players from Data Conversion Systems, have become legends in their own right.

In the beginning, dCS produced high-quality analog to digital and digital to analog converters for military and telecommunications applications, then turning their focus to recording studios and pro audio. 1993 marks the launch of their model 950, the world’s first 24-bit DAC. However, dCS didn’t become a household name (at least in audiophile households) until 1996, with the Elgar DAC. A recent visit with an Elgar in our Old School column reveals the original Elgar still having world-class performance, and a definite lineage intact to current dCS products. 

I’ve also had the privilege to visit the dCS factory a few times, seeing first-hand how much goes into the construction of every single thing they make.

My own journey with dCS now spans a little more than a decade, beginning with the four box Paganini system. Though I had heard some great dCS demos at various HiFi shows, there’s nothing better than hitting the play button in your room, in your system, and being blown away. I sold a Naim CD-555 and one of my cars, with the Paganini stack staying as my digital reference for quite some time.

In nearly ten years since the Paganini review, TONE has also had the pleasure of reviewing the Debussy, which ended up living with staff member Rob Johnson for a few years, the four-box Vivaldi reference system, the two-box Rossini Player (CD only, no SACD capability) and Rossini Clock, as well as the newest model in dCS’ product line, the Bartok, which is the long-awaited replacement for the Debussy. All have been replaced by the Vivaldi One in my reference system, though the Bartok remains in my second system. Just as I have standardized on one set of tools in my photo studio, having dCS gear in both of my listening areas makes it that much easier to have a similar reference framework by which to evaluate components.

Still crazy (good) after all these months

The Vivaldi One arrived just before Christmas last year, sounding fantastic right out of the box. Really fantastic, even after many months of listening to the Rossini with the Rossini Clock, which is no slouch. Within a few days of being powered up around the clock, it completely stabilizes, electrically and thermally,offering a smoother, bigger, more engaging sound in every way.

A great demo at a show or dealer event is a wonderful thing, and the giddiness that nearly always accompanies the review period spent with components at this level, is a fantastic experience. Yet, sitting in the chair every day for a year, and still thinking “damn!” every time you push play, is living in a different universe. This is what the Vivaldi One brings every day.

But you can’t have it

There’s no real point going on and on about the sound of the Vivaldi One because they are now almost sold out, so unless you’re fortunate enough to snag one of the last available units the only way you can get one is to find a trade-in. The full Vivaldi reference system provides even more performance thanks to dedicating each critical function to a separate chassis. Past experience with every other dCS product tells me that adding a Vivaldi Clock for $15,000 is going to take the Vivaldi One a step closer to the four-box unit.

Based on my extensive experience, the Vivaldi One comes incredibly close to the sound of the four-box array, and again I’ll bet even more with the addition of the Vivaldi Clock. With space at a premium around here, a single-box solution with this level of sound quality is incredibly easy decision. The Rossini is a fantastic player, but I still wanted to play SACDs.

Limited availability aside, many in the market to buy one of these players, the individual components of the Vivaldi stack probably make a lot more sense. Those not wanting disc playback can opt for the Vivaldi DAC and buy in at less than half the Vivaldi One’s cost at $36,000. Adding the Vivaldi Upsampler is $22,000, and of course the Vivaldi Clock is $15k- but the modular approach allows you to add a box at a time. Should you want the Vivaldi transport later, they are $42,000, but dCS just introduced a Rossini SACD Transport for almost half that cost, not to mention used Paganini (and Scarlatti) transports (also offering SACD playback) show up for $7-15k once in a blue moon.

In addition to the ability to play CD and SACD discs, the Vivaldi One’s DAC can decode anything in every possible format, including MQA. dCS is the only company that’s actually written their own MQA decode and rendering code, and this custom implementation of the MQA standard, and the results validate their approach. With all the sniping about MQA playback if you happen to be both a Tidal and Qobuz customer, you know that some of your favorite tracks (and albums) are only offered in high resolution via MQA on Tidal. When unfolded and processed on a dCS DAC, audio perfection is achieved. No other DAC I’ve sampled does this great of a job with MQA files.

I don’t know nearly enough to have this argument, but I’d still prefer straight ahead 24/192 than an MQA file- but if that’s where my music lives, I want to hear it decoded to the best level it can be. For me dCS offers this. Fortunately, their players require no compromise playing both MQA and standard hi-res material. Perhaps I’ve glossed over the high level of quality that standard resolution 16/44.1 files offer up via the Vivaldi One. More than one audiophile that has visited, has mistaken 16/44.1 streamed files were high res. A few even thought I was playing vinyl!

Core competencies

The Vivaldi One, like all other dCS DACs, is built around their patented RingDAC^TM architecture. You can read more about this here at the dCS website and in nearly every other dCS review. Dramatically oversimplifying, this fundamental feature of dCS DACs does not tie them to whatever DAC chip that happens to be in vogue and the compromises made when that chip was designed.

Everything is done in software, and this allows dCS to make upgrades to the performance at regular intervals. This also makes their products more future proof than those relying on a chipset, resulting in a much higher level of consumer confidence when spending this kind of money. This also makes future updates as easy as updating the OS on your smartphone, and keeps dCS products relevant for a much longer period. Again, justifying the investment.

dCS has their own App, called Mosaic, for adjusting the unit settings and playing music, but for most of you, the Vivaldi One’s ability to be a ROON endpoint is the bee’s knees. dCS generally feels a better, cleaner signal can be derived directly from the network for file playback, so they offer an Ethernet input in addition to the traditional inputs seen on other products. It certainly makes for simpler system architecture and eliminates the need for a separate streaming device. Those with legacy devices can exhale, as inputs for USB, S/PDIF via BNC, RCA or Toslink input, and balanced AES-EBU on XLRs can also be handled. 

The Vivaldi One’s digital volume control is of such high quality, those eschewing vinyl for an all-digital playback system, can easily center the Vivaldi One around their favorite power amplifier and call it a day.

The biggest revelation

Stepping up to the Vivaldi range brings digital playback to such a natural level of clarity, ease, and freedom from coloration, that it’s no longer of the tired “It sounds good for digital.” It just sounds good. It sounds really fucking great, actually.

After using the dCS Vivaldi One in my primary reference system for a year, and having it powered up continuously- listening to close to 30,000 tracks in that period- it’s still as exciting to push “play” as it was the evening I unboxed it. Honestly, more exciting, now that I’ve had the time to listen to a vast cross-section of music. The number of revelatory moments I’ve had with it are genuinely off the chart.

The second biggest revelation

Bundled up for a line of executioners bearing flame throwers, I’ll go one step further and claim that disc play still sounds better (i.e., more natural) than files ripped to a NAS. And ripped files still sound better than streamed files via ROON, Qobuz, Tidal, and Spotify, even at the same resolution.

Unfortunately, I do not possess the technical expertise to tell you why this is so. I suspect noise, jitter, and a plethora of other factors that subtly damage the digital bitstream, degrade the sound ever so slightly between these formats. Yet, there is one, albeit thin, veil that is lifted when going to disc playback from NAS (or streaming services with) ROON.

The final revelation

This may not be the case for everyone, but after living with the Vivaldi One for so long, I’m listening to vinyl a lot less. I love analog, love turntables, and everything that goes along with the analog format. Ok, I still don’t enjoy setting turntables up. But when the planets line up, and if you have a fabulous turntable and a perfect pressing, there’s still a few molecules of extra magic in the analog world. But that’s only for those that have original Blue Notes, first stamper British, Japanese, or German this pressing, etc. etc. And if you can afford records like that, you can afford a dCS Vivaldi. Those with a pretty good table/arm/cartridge/phonostage but mediocre pressings aren’t getting close to the level of realism that the Vivaldi One offers.

It’s not that I’m saying vinyl sucks or anything like that, but the Vivaldi One sounds so natural, so engaging, and is so incredibly easy to use that if my record collection was raptured off to vinyl heaven tomorrow, I don’t think I’d replace it. How often do you get convenience and quality in the same sentence? That’s the real magic of the Vivaldi One.

No clichés apply

While I’ve tried not to exhaust my adjective gland on nearly 1000 audio reviews in the last 17 years, it’s tough not to gush over a product this good. Suffice to say that the dCS Vivaldi reference system and Vivaldi One do such an incredible job of decoding digital music files, you don’t think about them at all. That is the ultimate triumph. And that’s what legends are made of.

dcsaudio.com

In the past, car manufacturers pairing with audio companies for bespoke home products have usually been less than outstanding, with more emphasis put on said manufacturer’s “branding,” than actual audio performance. This time, we see something much more from the design studios of Tidal and Bugatti.

Tidal Audio in Germany (not the streaming company) has always produced products at the top of the high end spectrum, with peerless materials technology, finish, and sound quality. This level of execution has always been expensive, so it’s no surprise that they’ve been called upon to build 30 pairs of bespoke, powered loudspeakers carrying the Bugatti brand. In this case it will be “Bugatti by Tidal,” starting with the “Royale” series of loudspeakers.

The “Royale” features 4 subwoofer drivers in a closed-box configuration with impulse compensation per speaker, along with a 3-way front unit utilizing a midrange-driver and tweeter with diamond diaphragms. The Royale is built based on an active loudspeaker concept with built in amplifiers for each channel. Part of the new launch is a newly developed music controller MC-1 allowing for streaming connectivity and smart control of all standard music and entertainment sources. Those not needing a turntable will have everything they need in this breathtakingly beautiful system.

Just like the four wheeled BUGATTI models, with an almost infinite number of possibilities for customization to create one of a kind vehicles, the options list for the “Royale” is equally as unique. Starting with two body designs, Monocoque and Duotone, customers may choose between piano finishes or avant-garde color and material combinations. The start of the partnership manifests itself in the ‘Edition Noir’ and ‘Edition Blanc’, each limited to initially 15 pairs.

While exact specs have not yet been given, if past Tidal offerings are any indication, these speakers will not lack in any way.  Pricing has not been announced either, but we’d be shocked if a pair of these cost less than a new Porsche GT3.

Home

The sun still burns hot, a U.S. dollar still equals four quarters, and Klipsch still makes Cornwall loudspeakers.

Refreshingly, some things never change. Save for a gap between 1990 and 2005, the company has been building the floorstanders in its Arkansas factory since Dwight D. Eisenhower’s second term. As for the period during which it disappeared from showrooms? The decision prompted thousands of listeners to begin a letter-writing campaign demanding production resume. Petitioners got their wish. In 2006, Klipsch introduced Cornwall III, although, given the various updates to prior iterations that occurred, the “III” moniker could have easily been an “VIII.”

Originally devised in 1959 by Paul Klipsch to serve as a full-range option between a pair of Klipschorns, Cornwall bowed as the world’s second commercially produced center-channel speaker. Its no-frills name, coined by Mr. Klipsch’s first wife, stems from its ability to be employed in a corner or against a wall. More than six decades later—a time span longer than most audio companies last—it remains distinctive for multiple reasons, not the least of which relates to its commanding 38 x 25.3 x 15.5-inch (HWD) size and 95.76-pound weight.

The Old School Meets the New School

By any standards, Cornwall is big, and boldly announces its presence by way of gorgeous, book- and grain-matched wood cabinets. During manufacturing, Klipsch keeps the veneer leaves in order as they’re sliced from timber and arranged in mirror-image fashion at the splice joint. The consistency pays off in the form of speakers that should charm any admirer of woodworking or old-school craftsmanship. Akin to the eye-catching crown molding in a century-old Victorian or a custom built-in shelving units, Cornwall visually exudes detail, care, pride, and tradition. Crucial to Cornwall and Klipsch’s other Heritage Series models, such convention extends to the sequential serial numbering of every pair.

Much else about Cornwall recently underwent a transformation. Dubbed Cornwall IV, and sold for $6,000 per pair in a choice of three colors, the tower possesses the most significant design changes of any Cornwall in history. A 1.75-inch K-702 midrange compression driver, midrange Tractrix horn with patented Mumps technology, steep-slope crossover network, and Tractrix ports with inner flares are completely new. Ditto the matte-black riser, attractive script-adorned grille, and aluminum bi-amp input panel on the rear. A one-inch K-107 titanium diaphragm tweeter with an all-new wide dispersion phase plug and massive 15-inch K-33 composite-cone woofer round out the innards.

According to Klipsch, the enhancements collectively translate into improved polar response of the mids, minimized electrical degradation, faster transfer, reduced port noise, lessened turbulence, and deeper bass. Cornwall IV also retains an inarguable benefit of its ancestors: Beguiling efficiency, with a rated sensitivity of 102dB. The triple-digit figure allows the user to pair it with a seemingly infinite number of amplifiers—tubes and solid-state alike—without worrying about having to spend a fortune for massive watts-per-channel output.

Instead, with Cornwall IV, or, for that matter, any Heritage Series model, focus your budget on an amp/wire combination that provides clean power and clean signals. Klipsch’s high sensitivity numbers can be a double-edged sword in that the speakers do no mask mediocre power/transmission as blindly as some harder-to-drive models. Plus, auditioning a Klipsch is a smart way to test your current gear/cabling.

Changing the Narrative

It nearly goes without saying that, in many customary circles, “Klipsch” and “audiophile” are disparate. At least one long-established high-end magazine doesn’t acknowledge a single Heritage Series model in its latest, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Buyer’s Guide. In addition, many self-professed audiophiles—whether clinging to measurements, the belief that horns cannot overcome brightness or harshness, or the thought that Klipsch translates to outmoded technology—won’t give the brand a sniff. Under close examination, such thinking appears shortsighted and ironic, particularly in a hobby that places tremendous importance on the supposed sound of live music.

Indeed, somewhere along the way, high-priced entry points, computer-driven metrics, and occasionally sterile, surgically precise sonics gained precedence over emotion, fun, dynamics, and playback that can recreate the concert experience. Today, finding speakers that deliver a professional recording-studio aesthetic and a mixing engineer’s perspective poses far less of a challenge than identifying models that whisk you to a club or hall, and formidably capture the energy associated with the events staged at the venues. Moreover, audiophile-approved speakers that don’t wilt in the face of rock n’ roll, R&B, or hip-hop turned to loud volumes remain few and far between. Even those that sell for the cost of a fresh-off-the-factory-floor Harley-Davidson CVO.

Of course, some listeners prefer perfectionist-oriented imaging. They want to hear a singer’s tongue smack against the top of his or her palate, or the particular gauge of an acoustic-guitar string. All well and good; the inherent appeal is understood. However, returning not only to the sound of live music, but to the ambience, vitality, soulfulness, and presence that coexist with shows—reference points to which, before the pandemic, thousands upon thousands of people related on a weekly basis and happily paid to attain—evokes deep-seated issues the audiophile industry at large prefers to sweep under the rug. In short, the sound of live music, whether generated in an orchestral hall, 800-capacity theater, or hockey arena, varies from that captured in a recording studio.

Mr. Klipsch recognized the distinctions and strove to design products that reproduce live performances in a home setting. Cornwall IV testifies on behalf of his pursuits. And how.

Holy Schnikes

Arranging Cornwall IV in a relatively square 16 x 18-foot room proves relatively hassle-free. Despite its mass, the speaker’s shape allows for ample mobility. The lack of spikes and angular dimensions also proves welcoming. As does Kilpsch’s simple albeit smart packaging, which decreases set-up fuss and echoes Cornwall IV’s get-to-it functionality. As with most speakers, adjusting the positioning of Cornwall IV by an inch here or there nets audible differences. No user’s interior space is the same, but for the purposes of the review, slightly toeing in Cornwall IV with the lead front corner three feet from the back wall, and the tandem placed eight feet apart, produced optimal results.

In quick succession, it becomes evident where Cornwall IV falls a bit short—namely, hyper-deep soundstaging, microscopic accuracy, polite refinement, and pick-the-third-chair-out-of-the-symphony focus. Characteristics that are all often the parlance of studio monitors and several of their tower counterparts. Cornwall IV also tends to reward whoever sits dead-center in the sweet spot. Off-axis listening sacrifices none of the impact but tends to faintly blur details. Klipsch’s Roy Delgado suggests increasing the toe-in to increase the soundstage and image focus. While counterintuitive to what we’d do with a normal pair of floorstanding speakers, this works perfectly, enhancing the on and off-axis experience, with a more stable stereo image, and more stable bass performance.

If you’re accustomed to a two-channel system augmented with a pair of high-end subwoofers, you may also notice a small drop in low-frequency definition. Not to say Cornwall IV doesn’t supply satisfying bass. It does, and without annoying boom and inflated effects. You could add a subwoofer or two, sure, but Cornwall IV goes plenty deep without any help from friends.

Overall, paralleling its physical size, Cornwall IV plays with enormous sound—enormous dynamics, energy, scale, openness, rhythm, and clarity. While many speakers invite you to them, and beckon you toward music that happens between or behind them, Cornwall IV ushers the music to you in absolute effortless fashion. It’s a key distinction. Forget about needing to lean in or meet songs at a halfway point; Cornwall IV aims and directs the action right at you. If you’ve always desired your own concert venue, and can live without laser-sharp imaging and exacting specificity that let you debate the location of the row the mixing engineer intended you to be seated, Cornwall IV will likely cause you to ask, “Where have these been all my life?” Visceral, unapologetic, and the embodiment of engaging, Cornwall IV brings music alive in sensory-invigorating ways.

As for power, presence, and expressiveness? Hold on to your hazy IPA. At every step, Cornwall IV offers you the chance to feel what you’re hearing—just like memorable concerts. TONE Publisher Jeff Dorgay often says “dynamics are the fifth dimension.” For both macro and micro, Cornwall IV slays. It also thrives in the areas of naturalism and transparency, with vocals and instruments coming across with noticeable richness, fluidity, and solidity. The smoothness and detail of its mid and high regions cannot be overstated.

Another welcome revelation? How Cornwall IV performs at low volumes. You don’t need to go crazy with the loudness to savor its spirit. But, if you do turn your amplification up? Holy schnikes. If a speaker could laugh, Cornwall IV would chuckle all the more you challenge and push it with higher decibel levels. It doesn’t flinch, doesn’t distort, doesn’t put a tourniquet around the music. It lets you (and your equipment) decide the limits—a concept foreign to many speakers taxed with well-recorded rock or pop replete with weight, slam, and body.

Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out

Put through its paces, Cornwall IV handles a wide array of music—including numerous audiophile pressings. Cue up “Sad But True” from Metallica’s self-titled album on the MoFi-supervised 45RPM vinyl edition and sit agog at the size, scope, physicality, and tuning of the drums. Spin any of the 7LPs in the must-have Tom Petty Wildflowers & All the Rest box set and marvel at the tones, immediacy, warmth, and producer Rick Rubin’s ear for nuance and texture. Turn to the analog reissues of PJ Harvey’s To Bring You My Love, Rid of Me, or Dry, and savor the previously unnoticeable subterranean frequencies and singer’s throaty phrasing. Unsheathe an analog standby like Pink Floyd’s The Wall or Janos Starker’s 3LP set of Bach’s Cello Concertos on Speakers Corner, and shake your head at how the musicians appear right before you, requiring no grand leap of faith.

Cornwall IV further unveils profound body, depth, and timbre tied to Johnny Cash’s voice on an original pressing of Unchained, particularly when he leans on his chest cavity, as on “Spiritual” and “Southern Accents.” Another vocal standout, Cecile McLorin Salvant’s Dreams and Daggers, demonstrates sublime realism and airiness. Brandi Carlile’s voice resonates with reach-out-and-touch-it tangibility on Give Up the Ghost and intricate By the Way I Forgive You. Ditto Adele’s dark register on her smash 21. As for the current, lilt, and grain of Jimmy Smith’s Hammond B-3 organ on the Tone Poet reissue of his Blue Note platter, Prayer Meetin’: Hallelujah.

Crank up the volume to triple-digit decibel levels, and Cornwall IV lets loose. Drop the needle on AC/DC’s Back in Black or For Those About to Rock, and the Young brothers’ guitar riffs—coupled with the crisp, on-point thwack of Phil Rudd’s drumming—radiates with convincing authority, superior control, lifelike separation, and unmistakable liveliness. Similarly, the insight afforded into the knotty architecture of Guns N’ Roses’ “Coma” on Use Your Illusion I; assertiveness of Kiss’ pouting grooves on “Strutter” and “Do You Love Me” off Double Platinum; conveyance of the all-night vibe of Rihanna’s “Diamonds” on Unapologetic; and bare-bones force projected from Run-DMC’s tag-team rapping from Mobile Fidelity’s SACD of Raising Hell—at last, an audiophile hip-hop reissue—provide one thrill ride after another.

Friends, Cornwall IV will not magically turn average or substandard recordings into gold, but its behavior tilts towards forgiveness. Vide, the latest installment of Grateful Dead Dave’s Picks, Volume 36, touts questionable sonics—an oddity for both the band and series. Through Cornwall IV, you hear the flaws but still appreciate the music while getting a grasp on the moment and what takes place. The latter lingers as one of Cornwall IV’s brute strengths: Replicating the moment—and, importantly, its aura—and translating both into a live-sounding medium.

Speaking of the Dead, a variety of the group’s other archival releases (a handful of selections from the Spring 1990 (The Other One) 23CD box set; the February 18, 1971 show on the American Beauty: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) match like peanut butter to chocolate with Cornwall IV. Everything from the timbre of Phil Lesh’s bass to the tenor of Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann’s percussion—and atmosphere and breadth of the stage itself—personify live Dead. Pass the patchouli oil.

The Mike Campbell of Loudspeakers

Yes, Cornwall IV rocks. But it also feels entirely at home with jazz and laidback fare, be it folk or a solo violin piece. No speaker does everything right (see above). Yet Cornwall IV’s versatility furthers its appeal—and should-be designation as a music lover’s design in the same way Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell reigns as a musician’s musician. Others are flashier, faster, more finessed. Few, however, demonstrate such an innate knack for how to play notes, how to sculpt them and let them fade, how to serve the collective whole, and how to hold an audience’s attention for hours on end.

Addressing tastes of listeners who bought into certain buttoned-down principles promulgated by audio tastemakers who never negotiated the musical sea changes that occurred once the 70s revved into gear, the market overflows with speakers that nail classical, small-scale jazz, low-key Americana, and close-miked vocal music—only to run with their veritable tails between their legs when called to unpack information in dense, complicated recordings. All-rounder designs are rarer. Cornwall IV excels with rock, metal, R&B, rap, electronic, and jazz. Still, the manners in which it handles classical and acoustic-based fare please, and hint at both delicacy and sophistication.

Not to suggest Cornwall IV suits everyone. It certainly does not—and will not suffice for those exclusively bent on critical listening and/or playing the role of recording engineer. But, if you listen to a variety of genres, place a premium on the sound of live music, value engagement over crack precision, possess the requisite space in your room, or, alternatively, want to construct a second system devised for concert-like experiences, you could do far, far worse—and will likely spend thousands more in the process.

Klipsch Cornwall IV (photos courtesy, Klipsch corp.)

MSRP: $6,000/pair

klipsch.com

Peripherals

Preamplifier McIntosh C2300

Amplifier McIntosh MC452

Analog Dr. Feickert Woodpecker with Jelco tonearm and Ortofon Cadenze Bronze cartridge

Digital Oppo BDP-105 and Mytek Brooklyn DAC+

Cabling Shunyata Delta interconnects and power cables

Tracking through the silky, smooth harmonies of Shikao Suga’s “Kiseki,” I’m instantly reminded why I’ve always been so fond of the Naim Supernait.

It’s a fantastic, nearly all-in-one solution with solid audiophile credibility. What better way to start listening than with the pair of Focal Kanta 1s that Naim/Focal North America was kind enough to send along with the Supernait.

We’ve been using the Kanta 3s as reference speakers for some time, along with Sopra 3s, so the Kanta 1s are easy to get used to. Music lovers tend to fall into one of two camps when stripping away all the other variables when shopping for a music system: destination people and journey people. If you’re the latter rather than the former, the Supernait 3 will appeal to you because you can upgrade the power supply at a later date, and you can add a DAC/Streamer to access your digital files. (The original Supernait had a great DAC built-in but no phono stage. We’ll get to that later.)

Destination people can have their Naim/Focal dealer set up as much or as little as they need and stop by to pick it all up.

Somewhat of a shift

Naim’s Supernait 3 is a significant exercise in evolution as well as a shift in priorities. Where the original Nait was a small chassis affair producing only 15 watts per channel, (albeit with an incredible MM phono section built in) the current Supernait series has been 80 watts per channel. Naim’s founder, Julian Verker once was quoted saying that they couldn’t give the original Nait more power because “it sounded terrible.” As the Brits are fond of saying, “job done.” Both the Supernait 2 and the Supernait 3 are indeed musical, so this limit has been handily overcome.

Where the Supernait 2 had a built-in DAC, the Supernait 3 returns to its roots with an excellent (and I suspect Stageline derived) MM phono stage. Going straight to this with a Technics SL-1200GAE and Shure M44 cartridge, it was time to rock the house with an extended set of 45 rpm maxi-singles. Starting with Devo, and ending with Prince, this phono section delivers the goods. As Naim always offers a modular approach, and there just happened to be an MC Stageline sitting on the shelf, it was put into use with a second SL-1200/Denon 103 combination. The Stageline has such a small footprint, making it easy to turn your Supernait 3 into a two turntable amplifier, and at a reasonable cost. An extra Stageline will only set you back about $800, and they are lurking on the used market now and then for about $500. Not bad, and you can power it directly from the Supernait 3.

 If you’ve made a modest to somewhat beyond modest investment in a turntable/MM cartridge, the onboard phono section here is not an afterthought, tacked on to appease those with a moderate collection of vinyls (sic). This is a true analog lovers phono stage.

More modularity

In addition to adding an extra phono stage, you can also use your Supernait in the context of a bi-amplified system by just adding another power amplifier, or you can increase its performance with an outboard power supply. Naim has always been a big believer in building massive power supplies – a prime factor in their exceptional ability to reproduce musical pace and timing. Additional power reserves only improve this, and though we did not have an outboard supply available at this time, we did do this with the Supernait 2 in our last review. The improvement was not subtle and worth every penny.

While some criticize this approach, we have always loved this aspect of Naim products because it allows you to grow without discarding your original purchase – a very green solution. And a solid investment. With any non-essential purchase, it’s always nice to know that you can purchase it incrementally. Not to mention having another honeymoon with a component you already love. Adding an external supply creates a new component, allowing you to experience your music collection anew, always fun.

Thirteen years ago, the Supernait 2 was about $4,300, and the current Supernait 3 $4,995. Taking account for inflation, that $4,300 amplifier would be a tick over $7,000 in today’s money, so $4,995 for an even better amplifier is a real bargain. That Naim keeps the price in check is a testament to the production department as much as the accounting department. 

Most people wanting to keep their system all-Naim might pair their Supernait 3 with the ($7,690) NDX 2 DAC/Streamer, but we happened to have their top range ND555/PS555 combination (a click under $40k), and this proves to be a stellar combination. Naim’s unifying architecture makes this all so easy to use.

The one thing unique to Naim is their speaker outputs that look similar to banana jacks. No 5-way binding posts here. Naim suggests using their connectors, though we had no problem getting a solid mechanical interface from Cardas, Nordost, and Tellurium-Q cables. Inputs are connected via Naim 5 pin connectors or RCA jacks. Some of you may even remember when Naim allowed only the use of their proprietary connectors. Bottom line, there are plenty of connections, so you can build a powerful system around your Supernait 3. In addition to the MM phono input, there are four more line-level inputs and a headphone jack on the front.

More listening

The Supernait 3 builds on the strengths of the Supernait 2. Naim says that the power amplifier circuit has been simplified somewhat (“the second gain stage transistors have been optimized, so they no longer need to be shielded by a cascade stage transistor.”) This increases the amplifiers slew rate. While some will argue whether this makes an amplifier more dynamic or not, there’s no question that this is a very fast, dynamic amplifier. Choose a few of your favorite tracks with some intense drumming, or perhaps some rapid acoustic guitar playing, and you’ll hear immediately that the Naim engineers have succeeded brilliantly. Naim has always been famous for producing amplifiers adept at reproducing musical timing, and the Supernait 3 upholds that long tradition.

The high end is smooth and defined, while the lowest of frequencies are well controlled and extended. When paired with the Sopra 3s, it was easy to see what a great job the Supernait 3 does with LF dynamics. Tracking through the entirety of David Gray’s White Ladder, I was constantly impressed with the sheer weight that these tracks were presented.

 As the Naim amplifiers are class B designs, they do not run hot, even when pushed hard. Playing most of the new AC/DC record, Power Up, at a juvenile level still leaves the Supernait 3 barely warm to the touch. The Naim sounds equally good with the volume down low. Aimee Mann’s rendition of the Carpenters tune “Yesterday Once More” (From the Vinyl soundtrack) shows off plenty of tonal delicacy and finesse. This is an amp for all seasons.

What the Naim amplifiers deliver is effortless pace and timing reproduction. They are not quite as vivid as your favorite tube amplifier in terms of creating a huge soundfield in all three dimensions. The Supernait is not a small sounding amplifier, though it is not engulfing the way the (all vacuum tube) VAC i170 is. Definitely a different feel. And in all fairness, the apparent sound of the Supernait’s gets “bigger” when you step up to the external power supply. In the context of a $5,000 integrated with phono, it’s still top of the range. It’s also worth mentioning that even without an external power supply, the Supernait 3 offers a high level of dynamic engagement, even with power-hungry speakers like the Harbeth Compact 7s we have on hand.

The only speakers we would suggest staying away from are a full range ESL. The highly capacitive load that these speakers present did not make for a clean sound. In all fairness to the Naim, The $8,000 Esoteric and a $20k CH Precision integrated that came through our doors fared no better with the Quads – they are the ultimate amplifier torture. The rest of you will be just fine.

Aesthetics and such

You’re either a fan of the stark modernism of Naim components, with their brushed black casework and the backlit green buttons that almost look like M&Ms or Skittles. Personally, I love Naim’s look, and their commitment to making minimal changes in casework design over the years, so you can mix and match multiple generations with ease. Again, this helps to protect your investment – 10, 20 or even 30-year-old Naim components still look great together on your equipment rack. 

The only other manufacturer that has done such a great job of maintaining a consistent design language is McIntosh. It’s no coincidence that Naim gear enjoys the same fierce following that McIntosh does, and their legacy products enjoy a high resale value, should you ever decide to trade up.

However, my experience with Naim over the years is few people trade them in – they just move them to a second or third system and buy more. That’s the ultimate expression of customer loyalty as far as I’m concerned.

The only complaints I have about the Supernait 3 have plagued the amp from the last generation – the volume and balance controls lack any tactile feel. Naim’s engineering driven mentality has chosen the motorized ALPS unit for it’s supreme sonics, and I’m guessing most of you will use the remote anyway. While this is by no means a deal-breaker, as most of you will probably use the remote, the stunningly luxurious feel to the volume control in the thousand dollar Mu-so just makes me wonder why Naim has always chosen not to integrate this here. ED NOTE: Naim has informed me that the MuSo volume control is a digital unit, so this is an apples to oranges comparison – but the MuSo volume control is damn sexy. Last but not least, headphone users will enjoy the Supernait 3. Like the phono section, the headphone amplifier is no afterthought. Auditioning phones from Audeze, Grado, and of course Focal, all delivered great results. This goes further to make the Supernait 3 the perfect partner for those with space at a premium.

At the end of the day, the Supernait 3 is a class leader. Great sound, great aesthetic, and top build quality. Not only do I like this one enough to hand it an Exceptional Value Award for 2020, but I have also purchased the review sample. This is too handy of a system anchor not to have around the studio. 

If you like the Naim approach and don’t really want a big stack of components, the Supernait 3 is for you.

www.naimaudio.com

Italian Manufacturer UBISOUND launches two new speakers: The Feel, and Velvet series.

We’ve seen and heard past UBISOUND products at the Munich High End show, and they have always provided great sound, and appealing looks.

The new FEEL Series 2021 maintains the four fascinating glossy colors Elegant Black, Pure White, Sport Red and Fashion Yellow available in two versions: FL32 bookshelf or stand (1,990 USD / pair) and FL38 floor standing tower (2,490 USD / pair).

The new VELVET Series 2021 adopts the extraordinary and unique matt satin deep Black color available in two versions: VL42 bookshelf or stand (2,490 USD / pair) and VL48 floor standing tower (2,990 USD / pair).

www.ubsound.com

In a world where many audio companies try to be all things to all people (or customers), it’s refreshing to stumble upon someone doing one awesome thing.

Backert Labs builds line-stage preamplifiers. That’s it, though they did mention that they have a new phono preamplifier almost ready for prime time. Close enough. And they’ve been doing it for quite a while.

The Backert Labs Rhumba came highly recommended by a few of our readers, and their enthusiasm is more than justified. The Rhumba 1.3 is a fantastic preamplifier – period. That it is only $4,000 is terrific – yet this is a perfect example of extreme focus. Backert Labs also makes a $10k preamplifier, claiming the Rhumba is a more cost-effective version of. They also offer a Rhumba + for $6,500 that kinda splits the difference. After extended listening it continues to engage at a high level. Andy from Backert reveals that they put close to 200 hours on every unit before shipping, so you won’t have to wait to fully enjoy it.

And engage it does

Between the revolutionary power supply and a reasonably simple circuit consisting of a pair of 12AU7 tubes, the Rhumba delivers a mere 10db of gain but that’s more than enough to drive anyone’s power amplifier. Matching it with a wide range of amplifiers on hand, from a near original Dynaco Stereo 70 to a pair of Pass XA200.8s, there were no surprises and no disappointments. In my primary reference system, I could only detect a minute difference between SE and BAL outputs. The balanced outputs sound slightly smoother, and the SE outputs just a touch crisper on the extreme top end. I am splitting thin hairs here. It could also be the difference between SE and BAL inputs on all four of the power amplifiers used too. I feel safe suggesting this preamplifier to mate with any power amp you have at your disposal.

The difference between good, great preamplifiers, and the best money can buy is in the fine details. The world’s premier preamplifiers provide a level of reach out and touch it communication, sometimes even fooling you into believing that you are listening to the real thing. Because a preamplifier doesn’t have to do the work of driving a pair of speakers, and the potential mismatch between the power amp and speaker, it’s usually not as dependent on what it’s connected to. The Rhumba has an output impedance of 75 ohms, which is very low – and it drives a 30-foot pair of Cardas Clear interconnects (XLR or RCA) as easy as it does a 3-foot pair, with no sonic degradation whatsoever.

I’d put the Rhumba solidly between great and best. And for $4k, that’s a steal. If there are any of you listening in the late 80s/early 90s, Audible Illusions came on the scene with a preamplifier (the Modulus) that took a simple, high-quality approach much like the Rhumba does. Back then, the Modulus was the answer for the audiophile that wanted something like a CJ Premier or an ARC SP10, but on a bit tighter budget. The Modulus was $999 when the big boys were about $6k. At least among the $15k – $30k preamplifiers I’ve heard, the Rhumba offers a lot of that experience. And it’s a solid contender among the big name $10k preamplifiers.

After getting enough of a listen in my main system to get a firm grip on the delta between this and my reference components in a familiar environment, the Rhumba comes in the house, placed in a system more in keeping with the way I’d expect it to be used. A pair of Dynaudio’s new Confidence 20 speakers (mated to a six-pack of REL S/510 subs) and the Aqua DAC we recently reviewed, cabled together with Cardas Clear Reflection speaker cables, interconnects and power cords rounded things out nicely.

I had a wide range of power amplifiers at my disposal for these listening sessions. Suffice to say the Rhumba was an excellent match for all of them. The McIntosh MC275 (with EAT KT88 tubes), the BAT VK60SE, PrimaLuna’s EVO400 on the tube side, and a Pass XA30.8 and Nagra Classic on the solid-state side of the equation all make for a great amplification chain.

A solid contender

Most of the listening in this evaluation was done with the EVO400 – I like the price/performance value of this amplifier too, and you can put the Rhumba/EVO400 combination in your rack for well under $10k. Personal bias: this is a very musical pair I could comfortably live with and forget the big dollar stuff. The best of the best is still awesome and deserving of its place, but the Rhumba does so much right, that unless you’ve got everything (and I mean everything) else to go with, it can be a destination preamplifier for 90% of you. Adding your favorite $5k-$10k pair of speakers, an excellent DAC, and an equally good performing analog front end if you spin vinyl will give you a good portion of what the mega gear delivers at an approachable price. You may never want to go any further in your audio journey. More money for records and motorcycles, I say.

Attempting to identify the sonic fingerprint of the Rhumba, I’ll call it ever so slightly on the warm side of natural/neutral. In the last year, I’ve listened carefully to the McIntosh 2600, PrimaLuna’s EVO400 preamplifier, the Simaudio 390, Boulder’s new 1110, Nagra’s Classic, the CJ GAT2, ARC’s LS28 and REF 6 along with a handful of vintage and near vintage pieces, so it’s been in good company.

Tonality is one aspect of preamplifier sound. The most exciting aspect of the Rhumba is the lively, dynamic aspect of its sound – all part of the GreenForce power supply design. Listening to musical selections with wide dynamic swings, and music more in the acoustic vein makes it so easy to hear the complete lack of bloated, cloudy, overhang that some designs possess. The Rhumba still sounds slightly tubey, but just enough to convince you, there are indeed a couple of tubes under the hood. They are easy to get at with a clear window attached magnetically to the top of the case.

Another bias: I absolutely hate tube gear with tubes that just stick out of the top of the case. Too easy to break something. The Rhumba gives you easy access to the tubes, both for service/rolling, and to see a little bit of a glow.

Thanks to designing around the 12AU7/ECC82, instead of the 12AX7/ECC83 makes the cost of pursuing different or NOS tubes much more reasonable – vintage 12AU7s cost considerably less than vintage 12AX7s. As easy as Backert Labs makes it to roll tubes in the Rhumba (and who knows, maybe I’ll cave when they send that phono preamplifier), I avoided going down that path in the context of this review. After years of chasing that rabbit, I choose to give him a wink from afar, and it’s not fair to a manufacturer to say their preamp only sounds great with unobtainium tubes. Not to mention how little fun that is for you, because you thought you were done after you wrote the $4,000 check. But are we as audio enthusiasts ever done? Ha.

Seriously though, the Rhumba delivers such an engaging performance, I never felt the need to try something else, and sacrifice the good work they’ve done merely for different. Tube rollers, you know what I’m saying. If you have lobsters in your pants and can’t wait to swap those tubes out and argue with people on your favorite audio forum – go for it. But I’ll bet you a bottle of your favorite single malt, a year from now, you’ll cave in and go back to the originals.

The Rhumba offers a very natural overall tonal balance that is very dynamic, with a touch of that tonal saturation that seems to only happen with tubes. It never sounds like vintage tube gear, i.e., slow, rolled off, or overly saturated. If this is the sound you’ve been looking for, the Rhumba is what you want. This natural balance makes it easy to voice the rest of your system to taste while leaving the Rhumba as your anchor – again, this is going to be a destination preamp for a lot of people.

The sonic landscape, or to be more precise, the size and scale of the sonic landscape a preamplifier creates is equally important as tonal balance and dynamics. Again, the Rhumba excels, creating a massive soundfield in all three dimensions – it does a fantastic job at getting the Dynaudio’s and two stacks of REL subwoofers to disappear in the listening room. Six weeks after unboxing, I’m still surprised and amazed at how much music this preamplifier reveals. And how many late nights I’m spending listening to “one more record.”

The other stuff

Great as it sounds, the Rhumba is well built from a mechanical standpoint. There are no exposed screws in the casework, the minimal control set feels good, and the remote is simple, effective, and substantial. It feels good when you place it in your equipment rack. The front panel is finished to a high level, but this is not a blingy preamplifier by any means, so you aren’t left feeling that half the cost of the Rhumba was squandered on a fancy case. However, there is only one thing I don’t care for on the Rhumba – those paddle switches.

I can assure you I’ve broken at least one of these on everyone else’s preamplifier. Not a deal-breaker by any stretch, but I caution you to place your Rhumba just inside the shelf enough on your equipment rack so you will not bump it. I guarantee that the slightest bit of torsional stress will break these. You’ve been warned.

The substantial remote is volume only. You’ll either love it or hate it. I say the less remote switching going on, the better for the overall noise floor. Again, the Rhumba is damn quiet. I’d rather put my adult beverage down to manually walk over and switch sources for a few more dB of quiet. Are you with me?

Nothing but joy

I’d like to take a minute to thank our highly interactive Facebook audience for suggesting the Rhumba. I was looking for something new, something that I hadn’t heard before. In a Jeopardy type way, I put it out there – how about new preamps for $5k? A number of our readers responded how much they liked their Rhumba, feeling it was something we should investigate.

The highest compliment I can pay to this preamplifier is that since it’s been installed in my living room, I haven’t thought about it. I’ve just been playing music. I haven’t spent one second pondering whether it does or doesn’t do this or that. The Backert Labs Rhumba is one of those truly rare audio components that takes you on this kind of journey. If you investigate one for yourself, I hope you will enjoy this one as much as I have. It’s a Goldilocks preamp – it’s just right.

The Backert Labs Rhumba 1.3

$4,000

Backertlabs.com

Peripherals

Analog Source AVID Volvere SP/SME309/Kiseki Purple Heart

Digital Source Aqua Hifi LaScala DAC, Bryston BDP-1 Streamer

Phonostage Pass Labs XP-27

Power Amplifier PrimaLuna EVO400

Speakers Dynaudio Confidence 20 w/6pack of REL S/510 subwoofers

Cable Cardas Clear Reflection

Wow, a Sonus faber speaker you can pick up with one hand. Cool.

One of the biggest parts of evaluating high end audio gear, is a lot of lifting. A lot of lifting really heavy stuff. It’s ok, just part of the job, but when something arrives at the door in a small box, both the FedEx guy and I both share an exhale. We’ve had the same FedEx guy for about 12 years now, and ironicalliy, he’s an audio lover. Reads us, TAS, Stereophile, HiFi +, everything – so he knows what’s in the boxes.

“Did Sonus faber forget to ship you an accessory box?” Good one. We have a nice, socially distanced conversation about Sonus faber and other things Italian (like Ducatis) and he goes away anxious to hear what we’ve all got to say about the Lumina 1s. “Can’t belive I missed this.” But we can only keep on top of so much. In case you missed it too, the new Lumina series stands for LU-luxury, MI-minimalist, and NA-natural.

Sonus faber’s vertical manufacturing integration is what makes these Italian beauties so awesome at the low price of $899 a pair. The front panels are exquisitely finished, as you would expect from Sonus faber, however the cabinet sides are wrapped in leather – a move saving countless hours of cabinet finishing. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Sonus faber makes the cabinets out of scraps left over from making the big speakers. Though the company is known for their beautiful, rounded cabinets, the more straightforward rectangular box used here is much easier to produce while keeping costs down. And keeping the Luminas made in Italy.

What makes the Lumina 1 a Sonus faber, is the attention to detail and level of finish. This is part of what sets them apart from other like-priced products. The three speakers in the Lumina range all share the same tweeter, giving the small Lumina 1 a distinct advantage. This is really a pair of $900 dollar speakers with the tweeter used in the $2,100/pair Lumina III floorstander – so the degree of smoothness and resolution that you hear in the big ones is still here. They just have less low frequency output.

Thanks to Sonus faber’s slot loaded front/bottom firing port for the 4-inch woofer, you can cheat physics a little bit and place your Lumina 1s pretty close to the wall to pick up on some room gain. I suspect a tiny mid-bass bump, much like that mega famous LS3/5A. So at the end of the day, the Lumina 1s don’t sound as bass shy as the spec sheet suggests.

The driving bass line in Saults “I Just Want to Dance” holds your attention, and when used in this manner, delivers way more bass than you might expect these tiny speakers to deliver. Sonus faber also offers their Gravis line of subwoofers, and I suspect any one of these will blend perfectly with your Lumina 1s to serve up full range performance. Though one was not available for this review, we did have the new REL TZero ($599) extending the performance of the Lumina 1s substantially. Your Sonus faber dealer will easily be able to hook you up with a Gravis sub should the need for more low frequencies be on your agenda. The modular concept certainly allows your music system to grow with your space and wallet. Should you ever move to a Lumina based theater system, you can move your Lumina 1s to the rear channels with ease, and flesh out the system with a Lumina CI center channel ($699) and some Lumina III floorstanders for the front speakers. Or some Palladio’s for in-wall use, but that’s a story for another day.

Using the Lumina 1s in a more traditional “audiophile” setup, they deliver what you expect from the pedigree: open, natural sound. In a 13 x 15 foot room, listening fairly nearfield, via the VAC i170 tube integrated and a dCS Vivaldi One as a source, these little speakers are not only stunning but sound much bigger than their small footprint suggests. I don’t say that lightly, my personal reference speakers are Sonus faber Stradivari Homage. These are Sonus fabers through and through. Not even half way through the review, the phone call was made to purchase these babies – they’re staying as a permanent reference for what can be accomplished in a compact system.

The wild saxophone runs in Ebi Soda’s “Duhrenger” float all about the listening room, and well beyond the speaker boundaries. Fun. These little speakers create a huge sound field in the 13 x 15 foot room they are being auditioned in. They still satisfy moving them to the larger 16 x 26 foot room, but you might prefer a pair of floorstanders or adding that sub in a room this size.

The luminas sound great right out of the box, though the tweeter does smooth out slightly after about 100 hours of play. All of the current small speaker protocols apply. Find high mass speaker stands, use a dab of blu-tack or similar to maximize the mechanical interface between speaker and stand, and pay close attention to setup. The Lumina 1s provide room filling sound with about 20 watts per channel (or more), yet like most mini monitors are even more enjoyable in a smaller room, in a relatively nearfield configuration.

Experimenting with stands suggests a 30” inch stand to get those tweeters up closer to ear level. Initial listening was done with 24” stands, but this produces a somewhat dull sound, no matter what we did for placement. Keep this in mind, should you be placing your Lumina 1s on a bookshelf. If you have more audiophile sensibilities, you’ll probably want them closer to ear level, if not, the tweeter does have a wide dispersion pattern, though you will not get the ultimate detail they are capable of placing them too far off the horizontal access.

Should you pair the Lumina 1s with a bookshelf style system and plan on playing records as part of your musical repertoire, make sure and find a way to either isolate the turntable from said shelf, the speakers from the shelf, or both if possible. Setting the Luminas up on a 48-inch long IKEA shelving unit, (full of books and records) with a ProJect turntable and the PrimaLuna amp without isolation made it fairly easy to excite low frequency related feedback in the system when listening to vinyl. Putting a pair of Iso-Acoustics ISO-130 stands underneath the Luminas eliminates the problem and you can find a pair right here.

Three different integrated amplifiers were used to put the Lumina 1s in perspective. Nearly all of the listening for evaluation was done with the PrimaLuna EVO 100, (30wpc – vacuum tubes) The Luxman L-550AXII (20wpc – class A solid-state), and a vintage Sansui AU 717 (85wpc-solid state).

The Lumina 1s have more than enough resolving power to reveal the characteristics of each amplifier, yet is easy to drive with whatever you have on hand. As many Sonus faber dealers are McIntosh dealers, the MC252 might be a perfect thing to combine a pair of Lumina 1s with to make a compact, premium sound match up.

Regardless of what you choose to power your Lumina 1s, these are a perfect way to start your journey with Sonus faber. As 2020 comes to a close, these are the last product to receive one of our Exceptional Value Awards.

EPILOGUE:  Upon reading this review, Sonus faber’s Livio Cucuzza (the head of their design team) said, “In Italy we say Il Buon vino sta nella botte piccola.” Which means, “In the small barrel, there is good wine.” I think that says it all.

Please click here to visit the Lumina page on the Sonus faber official site…

Breathtaking as they are, not everyone has the room (or the disposable cash) for a pair of Sonus faber Aidas in their environment.

However, if you love the sound and craftsmanship of their beautiful cabinets, with their hand affixed leather front panels, consider the new Minima Amator II. Continuing in the tradition of small but powerful two-way monitors, the new Minimas are exquisite, and use a tweeter derived straight from the $130,000/pair Aida. They offer a lush, spacious sound, that brings the flagship speakers to mind instantly.

Don’t be scared, but these speakers sound flat, flat, flat, out of the box. There’s no bass to speak of and the highs are pretty constricted. Play them fairly loud for a few days, using bass heavy program material and they settle in beautifully. The self titled SBTRKT album does the job here, and after a few days, these speakers show their true voice.

A small speaker with a small woofer can only move so much air, but in our 12 x 18 foot living room, in concert with our reference VAC Sigma i170 vacuum tube integrated amplifier (85 watts per channel) the Minimas make beautiful music, with weight and character to the low end. As with the famous Sonus faber monitors from years past, they nearly defy science, producing such a big powerful sound from a tiny cabinet.

That is part of their magic – the minimal front panel of the Minima, along with that tweeter, creates a sonic perspective that is wide and deep. Their wide dispersion makes for a broad sweet spot that everyone in the room can enjoy. Of course, the best seat is still front and center, but these are easy speakers to set up and participate in.

Much like past small SF speakers, setup is the key. Wimp out on the setup and they will deliver lackluster results. One of the advantages to such a small monitor, is the tight time alignment on the drivers, rake isn’t as important as it is on something like the big, floorstanding SF speakers, but optimizing the tweeter height to your listening position is the difference between mediocrity and magic.

If you can find the patience to spend a long afternoon with the Minimas, you will be rewarded with a broad soundfield well beyond what you would expect from a small speaker. The Minimas deliver dynamics right up to the point where they can be pushed no more. Again, small speakers can only move so much air. Take care and make toe in and placement adjustments with increasingly fine increments, and you will reach the point where the speakers disappear completely. That’s when you know you have it just right. If you’re still hearing even a hint of sound coming from two boxes in the room, you still have work to do. These speakers are deceptively simple – they sound pleasant once broken in, but amazing when optimized.
Kept within their operating range, the level of refinement these speakers offer is out of this world. Tracking through Lee Morgan’s Cornbread, acoustic instruments shine, cymbals shimmer with perfection, and the piano is just right. Ditto for tracks with heavily layered vocals – your listening room opens up and engulfs you with musical details. This is the magic of a fantastic pair of monitors.

Finally, the sheer aesthetic beauty of these speakers is impossible to ignore. Much as I love em, my reference JBL L100 Classics look like a wood shop project in comparison. Just like my reference Sonus faber Stradivari’s, you just want to run the back of your hand across the cabinet and feel the ultimate, luxurious, smoothness of these speakers. The partner acceptance factor of Sonus faber is higher than any other speaker.

What’s not to love in a speaker that is beautiful to listen to and beautiful to behold? Should you need to augment the bottom end of the frequency scale, a small subwoofer will take you the rest of the way there, if you need it. We give these our highest recommendation.

Sonusfaber.com

MSRP: $4,000/pair

We’re going on about 10 months of this now…

As we put the finishing touches on our yearly “Awards” issue, and everyone in the audio industry is deciding which great audio products are the best of the best for whatever reason, I’d like to spotlight some genuine human kindness. I’ve had the privilege to get to know a lot of people in the high end, but I admit to a soft spot for the people at Cardas Audio, for a number of reasons.

I really appreciate the consistent positivity of Angela Cardas, and her husband Josh.

The saying goes, that actions speak louder than words, and this certainly applies here. Very early in March, the Cardases sent a bunch of goody boxes out with a big red tag (If you know Angela Cardas, you know that beyond the signature blue that covers nearly all of their cables, her favorite color is bright red) that said in big, bold letters, “Keep calm and carry on.”

Inside the box were assorted snack treats, a great bottle of gin, sourced locally, and some Cardas swag. And why not?

But the thing that I thought was the coolest, especially in a time where there was no hand sanitizer on the store shelves, and you couldn’t get a roll of toilet paper to save your life, they enclosed a small bottle of hand sanitizer that you could attach to your key ring. As someone who constantly loses their keys, wallet and phone on a regular, I’ve taken to wearing the most important keys in my life around my neck. My wife Pam jokes that I should have a “don’t feed sugar, and don’t medicate” tag on that key ring, but that’s another story for another time.

Needless to say, I’ve worn that Cardas hand sanitizer bottle around my neck every day of my life, since the day it arrived, and I can’t tell you how many times it’s been refilled. Though it’s looking a little bit worse for the wear and tear, I can’t help but think perhaps that one small act of kindness may have saved my life this year. I’m 60, had asthma as a kid, and could stand to lose 20 pounds, thanks to the lack of activity over the last year. In short, I’m probably a prime candidate for Covid complications.

As much as I’ve minimized interaction with the outside world in the last 10 months, there have been a number of times that I went to the gas station, or FedEx, or whatever, that I forgot to take a pair of latex gloves. That squirt of hand sanitizer may have been just the thing that’s kept me out of the ER.

Looking back on a recent scare this week, fearing that despite my efforts to self quarantine, I may have contracted this damn virus anyway, my test results came back negative yesterday, and I exhaled a major sigh of relief. So, for now, you’re still stuck with me.

So, I say to all of our readers, and friends in this industry, this is a great time to reflect on everyone that’s gone just a little bit out of their way to make sure we’re all still standing. More than ever, I really look forward to when we can all hang out in person, at a show or a dealer event, have a beer and a few good laughs. Who knows? Maybe we won’t even take some of the arguments so seriously…

Again a big thanks to Angela Cardas for the thoughtful gift.

Note I used the word “buy.”

You might think that even though I do this every day, I’m over the thrill of finding great hifi. Nothing could be further than the truth. In the last week, I’ve put down a deposit on my own pair of Dirty Weekend speakers from ZU Audio, purchased the review pair of Lumina 1 speakers from Sonus faber, (you can read the full review here) and bought a vintage Sansui AU-717 integrated amp.

This is still fun, and it’s still exciting to not only find bargains in high end audio, but to re-discover classic pieces from your history that you miss. (and possibly regret selling)

I’m truly looking forward to the last few weeks of this year. We’ve got issue 105 with awards coming up, and quite a few reviews that we’ve just finished that need to be posted on the TONE website. Issue 106 is already in progress for a Feb.1 launch, and we’ve got our heads down on a new, optimized for mobile, version of TONE.

Crazy as 2020 has been, we are looking forward to the months to come, and hope that maybe by summer or fall, we’ll get to see some of you in person again.

Stay safe, and happy holidays to you and yours.

If you’ve experienced Focals’ Grande Utopia Ems in a large room, set up to perfection, it’s easy to see why many consider them one of the (if not the) world’s finest loudspeakers.

But like a hyper sports car, they need a lot of space to give their all. And if you’ve ever heard the Grande’s and not been wowed, they were either set up poorly or in too small of a room. Their well over $200k/pair price and size requirements limit them to a small audience.

The $100,000 less a pair of Stellas cost should be enough to buy a system to go with. Still not for the less than well funded, but the difference between a $500k or closer to $1M system is often a very different customer, with other requirements. As someone once told me, “the difference between me, and my friends with big, big money is the jet. I fly first class, they have their own plane. We stay in the same five-star hotels and golf at Pebble, but they have the plane. Me, I walk to work, but I get it.

So, if you’re on board, and shopping speakers in this price range, there are some exciting choices. Where 10 or 15 years ago, this would be the stratosphere, it is now first class. (at least in terms of price) I submit that those having a somewhat smaller listening environment can achieve nearly the same result with the Stellas. However, the Stellas still need a fair amount of room to sing. Much like the MartinLogan Neoliths, we reviewed a few years back and the Sonus faber Aida, these speakers all taxed the limits of my listening room, which is only 16 x 24 feet. To be fair to Focal, I would suggest that this is the smallest room to achieve greatness with these speakers.

Any less listening space and you would probably be better served with the next speaker down the range, the Maestro Utopia. When we had the Maestros here, they were much easier to optimize to our room, but the Maestro lacks the field coil woofer and the wide range of adjustments making fine-tuning them to the ultimate degree that the Stella possesses. Choices can be tough.

The Stella does share the same field coil technology as the Grande, though in this speaker, the woofer is a 13-inch unit, instead of the 16-inch one in the Grande. Either way, the Stella still goes down to 22 Hz, so there really is no need for a subwoofer. This is a true full range speaker. Long term TONE readers know we like the low frequencies, and whether listening to a full orchestra, or the heaviest beats, the Stellas can rattle your listening room.

You will need Jedi-like patience

First, make sure and have help unboxing your Stellas. They weigh just a bit over 600 pounds each in their sturdy crates, and 374 pounds each, unboxed. Removing them is very straightforward, and in this case, Focal is at the top of their class compared to a few other large speakers we’ve used. Once unboxed, they are temporarily mounted on wheels, so once your assistants have them on the listening floor, the rest of the process is a breeze.

Usually, the long wall in our main listening room is the go-to position, but in this case, placing the Stellas on the short wall, with the tweeters about five feet out from the rear wall proves perfect. There are two sets of adjustments for the low frequencies – the first tips up the bass response at about 50 Hz, in increments from a flat position, and the second increases or decreases the output of the woofer. A single set of jumpers increases midrange level and there are two settings for the tweeters, also adjustable via beefy jumpers, with a chart on the back of the Stellas, accessed by clicking the rear panel behind the tweeter.

This degree of adjustment will either make you super happy or drive you to insanity. We felt it makes a speaker this good, so much easier to implement, and also is part of what makes the Stellas unique in their own right. Focal claims 243 unique adjustments. I probably tried 30 before I got to a level of extreme happiness.

But don’t get too crazy with adjustments just yet. Here’s the only bit of bad news concerning these speakers – they take a long time to break in all the way. Some say it’s close to 1000 hours. They sound flat, forward, and constricted out of the crates, but don’t despair. They start to open up between 100 and 200 hours, really coming into their own at about 400, with marginal improvements in clarity and smoothness going forward. As I recall our reference Sopra no.3s took a few hundred hours to sound their best too. Some of this is the woofer surround, some the beryllium tweeter, and the rest the electronics in the woofer power supply and crossover.

Here’s another Stella tip to save you major disappointment. If you’ve never owned a Focal speaker, their factory in France takes great care to put a tightly adhering, clear plastic wrap on the speakers, so they survive the boat ride. However, in our case, the friendly folks at Focal wrapped over the midrange drivers, so there was almost no output. Everyone was sitting around after unpacking going “damn these speakers have no midrange to speak of,” but it was our fault for not double-checking. Remove the black grills and make sure the drivers are uncovered!! Plan on it taking about a months’ worth of solid listening until your Stellas sound as they should, don’t give up on them!

Incredibly easy to drive

Thanks to the field coil woofer and the rest of the tech inside the Stellas, they have a sensitivity rating of 94db. This sounds good on paper, but some efficient speakers have a lot of crossover network loss, and still need a massive amplifier to really make a lot of sound. Even the 4 watt per channel Whammerdyne 2A3 delivered heavenly results with the Stellas, though that’s probably not quite enough juice in a large room.

Realistically, 30 watts per channel will get the job done, and the emphasis should be on quality here. Working with the Pass XA30.8 (30wpc), our Nagra 300B (25wpc), the VAC Sigma 170i(80wpc) and the new Conrad-Johnson ART 27 (36wpc) all were brilliant choices. For those having more power on tap, you will get even more dynamic swing. Cycling through the Pass XA200.8s, a pair of Nagra Classic Monoblocks, the Audio Research 160Ms and the latest EVO400 monoblocks from PrimaLuna were like going from a 600cc motorcycle to a 1000cc bike, and thanks to the incredibly high resolution that the Stellas offer, each of the dozen amplifiers we auditioned the Stellas with offered a completely different listening experience. So there is plenty of fine-tuning to be done there as well.

But the key to Stella’s superiority is break in and setup. Once you have a rough set performed, plan on spending the better part of a day really fine-tuning your Stellas for best results. As I’ve said many times before, it’s like correctly optimizing VTA on a premium phono cartridge. When you get it just right, these big speakers disappear into your listening space like a pair of LS3/5as – it’s an experience to behold. If they sound harsh or bright, your work is not complete. Pay particularly close attention to the rake angle of these, once you’ve optimized position for the best balance of bass extension and lack of mid-bass bloat. Then make small (I mean tiny) changes on the rake angle to get the tweeter position just right. Consider those controls on the back as your last resort. I didn’t need them in my main listening room, but they were a major blessing in my 14 x 18-foot living room.

Ok let’s go

As your Stellas break-in, you’ll be starting to really get a feel for what they can do. Great as the Sopras are, in comparison, they lack the degree of resolution and clarity that the Stellas offer. Going back and forth between the Stellas, Sopra 3s, and Kanta 3s, the lineage is clear – you would never mistake the other two speakers for anything but Focal, but the sheer ability to move air and swing is what makes the Stellas worth their considerably higher price tag. You just don’t get this in a 20-50k speaker. Think those audiophile clichés of “lifting the veil,” “cleaning the window,” that kind of thing.

If you like the sheer speed of electrostatic speakers, Focal’s beryllium tweeter will not disappoint you. These speakers paint a big canvas, and while I always joke that you need big speakers to make big sound, you just don’t get this level of reach out and touch it with a pair of mini-monitors. Listening to Alan Taylor’s version of “The Tennessee Waltz,” and the banter of the musicians in the studio is scarily lifelike, reproducing every bit of nuance, that you’d expect from a minimalist singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar in a small room. It doesn’t feel like an excellent recreation, it feels like you’re sitting on a stool in the studio, immersed in the performance. When using the big Pass monoblocks, AC/DCs “For Those About to Rock” can be played loud enough without distortion, compression, breakup, or collapse in the soundstage to approach the sheer sonic velocity of a live performance. This is where the 94db/1-watt sensitivity really comes in handy.

Small, single driver, high sensitivity speakers are entertaining, but they don’t play big music in a big way. And this is really the value proposition of the Stellas – they can render everything from the most intimate vocal performance to arena rock. All the while keeping it in perfect scale and perspective. Few speakers can do this, yet the Stellas do it without effort.

An incredible destination, indeed

We could go on and on about all the tech that goes into the Stellas, but you can read about that here…

Focal goes into great depth about their current beryllium tweeter, the latest driver suspension, the EM woofer and their new power flower midrange drivers. The triumph is that it all works well and works together perfectly.

Having visited the Focal factory, and watching the incredibly skilled people that work there build these speakers is a true experience. Everything in the Stellas is designed and built from the ground up. All the drivers, the crossover networks, and the cabinets. I’ve mentioned this in past Focal reviews, but what I found most impressive about the Focal factory is the way they integrate modern and legacy techniques in building their speakers. In one room, you observe someone in a cleanroom wearing a hazmat suit stamping tweeter domes, yet in another, someone is sanding a coat of the cabinet’s final finish manually, stopping to feel the corners with a bare hand.

All of this takes time, patience, and skill. While some will obviously balk at the price of the Stellas, you could pay this kind of money for a timepiece. The Stellas (and the Grandes) are really bespoke loudspeakers, and to me, musical works of art.

I can’t help but comparing the Stellas to a fine automobile again, because when you drive top range sports cars, Ferrari does it one way, Aston Martin another, and Porsche still another. All deliver frighteningly good performance, yet you will respond to one of the three more than another. Mega speakers are the same way.

Yet putting it all in perspective, and that’s kind of a wacky thing for speakers that cost a lot more than most cars, the Focal Stella EMs deliver amazing performance. Take your breath away performance.

www.focal.com

If you happen to be a dog person and you’ve ever owned or spent time with a Fox Terrier, you know where I’m going with this.

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If you aren’t, Fox Terriers are spunky yet robust little dogs that pack the maximum amount of dog fun into a compact package. Just when you thought I’d be making a car reference, I fooled you. Ha! Come on, how can you resist either of these cuties?

Absolute is an excellent name for this headphone amplifier because it does absolutely everything. If at first blush, you find the shape unconventional, it’s meant to be a headphone stand too! How cool is that? (And pretty thoughtful too.) At $4,495, the Absolute is priced on the low end of premium headphone amplifiers. Seriously, this one is all you need, with outputs for standard ¼” plugs and balanced, the Absolute powers anything you can connect up. Even better, the Absolute can be used as a two-channel linestage, with two line-level inputs, which should be enough for nearly anyone with a DAC and a phonostage to build a mega two-channel system around. Grab a Manley power amp, your favorite speakers, and rock on.

So, you’re either getting an awesome – o headphone stage with a free preamp, or vice versa. The Absolute is worth the asking price as either, offering such high performance and flexibility that I’d suggest buying it as a preamplifier, even if you don’t listen to headphones at all. Besides, you know, once you have the capability, headphone curiosity will get the better of you.

Options, options, options!

Fox Terriers like to go for walks, chase balls, jump around, do whatever looks like fun. They aren’t one-trick dogs, and neither is the Absolute. The level of adjustability is incredible, and this is what makes the Absolute so easy to enjoy whatever headphones you might be using. Those with diverse headphone collections will really appreciate adjustments for feedback, impedance, and tone controls. Before you get all grouchy about tone controls, remember – Manley makes some of the finest studio equalizers in the business, and their expertise is in full effect here.

Considering how much variation there is with all the different phones, you’re going to love the tone controls, once you take them for a drive. The Grado P-2000s are a little bright for me, and the original Audeze LCD-2s benefit from goosing the bottom ever so slightly. Everyone else, you’re out of luck, but with the Absolute, you’ve got a much bigger headphone sandbox to play in.

Honestly, EveAnna Manley does a way better job at explaining all the technical aspects of the Absolute, right here on the Manley website:

https://www.manley.com/hifi/mabhpa

This where all the fine print lurks fully describing this engineering masterpiece to the molecular level. And I’ll be darned if that fox terrier EveAnna Manley doesn’t have a couple of great words in the copy that I needed to drag out my dictionary for! Arf!

But seriously, this is no me-too headphone amplifier. Even if you don’t read all the technical stuff that went into this product (and you should), you merely need to touch it. It feels like a ten thousand dollar piece. A ten thousand dollar masterpiece. In silver, copper, and black, with hand-rubbed burl wood accents. It appeals to the qualityphile as well as the audiophile, and we haven’t even started listening yet.

The minute you flip the switch, the cool factor goes through the roof when the tubes come to life. Again, common-sense rules the day with a tube complement (2-12AX7s and 4 6BQ5s) that won’t break the bank when it’s time to retube. Of course, you can roll tubes to your heart’s content, but this time, I just sat back and enjoyed the Absolute with the factory tubes.

And more options

If the OCD baiting options of tube rolling don’t get you, the ability to twiddle the tone controls, change output loading for low, medium, or high Z headphones, and choose single-ended or push-pull class A operation will. Fortunately, with headphones, you don’t have to get up, mosey to the preamp, flip switches and head back to your listening chair to hear the result. I’m guessing that fully exploring the settings the Absolute has to offer will result in a severe loss of productivity on more than one occasion.

The majority of my listening sessions were with the Focal Utopias, an old-school pair of original Audeze LCD-2s, and the current Diana Phi’s. But I’ll come clean – I really love the slightly warm, slightly vintage yet up to date sound of Manley electronics. So does David Crosby. And a gaggle of engineers around the world. There’s a natural, organic feel to the Absolute that I can listen to headphones nearly all day. And I’m not a headphone guy. That’s why I’m making the Manley Absolute my new reference.

Sonic splendor

Rather than go on and on, listing tracks, you neither know nor like, we’ll leave it at this: as mentioned above, the overall balance of the Absolute is one of slight warmth, yet with tons of resolution. It’s a much harder trick to get headphones to disappear on your head than speakers in a room, yet this is the one thing the Absolute does better than nearly every headphone amplifier I’ve had the chance to audition. And that’s the highest compliment I can pay it.

Be careful, you’ll forget you have headphones on and pull your Absolute out of the rack! I’m not kidding. Even my old Koss Pro-4aas that I’ve had since high school worked great with the Absolute, delivering a better performance than a tattered pair of 45-year-old headphones should. Yep, I’m an old dog.

Speaking of speakers

While the Absolute is worth every penny Manley Labs asks for it, it’s the bargain of the year if you use it as a line preamplifier for a two-channel system. This is precisely what I did next, putting it in my living room system, which at the time was sporting a $140,000 pair of Focal Stella Utopias, dCS Bartok DAC, and a PrimaLuna EVO400 power amplifier. Wowowowow.

The Focals, even after over 1000 hours of break-in, are a bit forward in too small of a listening room. Yet with the helpful adjustments that Focal provides, those tone controls on the Absolute allowed me to dial it all in to perfection. Should you use your Absolute in this context, you’ll love the remote that is included. When unboxing the Absolute, before I realized you could use it as a preamplifier, I had a big question mark floating over my head. Like that odd clue that you get reading a Stephen King novel that doesn’t make sense till the end of the book, it all makes sense. And if you don’t use it as a preamp, you can certainly put it to use messing with whoever is using your Absolute.

I told you Fox Terriers were mischievous.

www.manley.com

Having lived with a number of Focal speakers over the last five years, the family resemblance between the Utopia headphones and their floorstanding speakers is unmistakable.

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The quick, lively, accurate sound I’ve grown accustomed to is now available for personal listening.
Short story, I love them.

At $3,995, these are top tier premium phones to be sure. Yet unlike some of the other big guns, the Utopias sound incredibly good merely plugged in to my first gen Astell & Kern player or even the Dell desktop that I use to control ROON in my main system. Ditto for the iPad, so these are not like a number of other premium phones that absolutely require a major headphone amplifier to deliver great sound.

Past experience with Focal speakers (and their beryllium tweeters) shows they need a while to break in properly, sounding slightly edgy out of the box. The Utopia headphones are similar, so they stayed plugged into the Dell with music on repeat for a solid week before beginning serious listening. I suggest you do the same, or the brittle sound you start with may scare you off.

Plugging in to a number of different headphone amplifiers, Kevin Deal from Upscale Audio suggests the Feliks Audio Elise. At only $1,649, this makes for an incredible combination, where my Pass HPA-1 is still a touch forward for my personal taste. The Elise transforms the Utopias, mellowing them out that last bit. Passing from my desk to the living room where a pair of Focal Kanta no.3s are playing (via an all tube VAC i170) the sonic signature is wonderfully similar. We’ll have a full report on the Elise very soon.

The Utopia uses a single, full-range beryllium driver, and I firmly believe that this lack of crossover is a big part of the coherent, open sound these phones deliver. Thanks to the low mass of this driver, the Utopias sound remarkably similar to my favorite planar phones.

No matter what kind of music you gravitate towards, the seamless quality of the Utopias will bring it out. Tracking through a long playlist of Blue Note classics shows off how well these phones capture the fine details of acoustic instruments. Horns and piano are full of texture, and thanks to the ultra dynamic nature of the Utopia driver, drums take on a new level of realism, capturing the initial strike of the drum heads with amazing precision.

Listening to Frank Zappa’s Freak Out! reveals what makes the Utopias worth the price. Their ability to disentangle complex recordings is fantastic. Anyone who happens to be a student of Zappa knows how much he packs into any tune. The massive bass riff in the opening of “Who Are The Brain Police?” is kept in balance with all the tinkly percussion bits, surrounded by layer upon layer of vocals – with Zappa staying front, center, right inside your brain as you listen.

The Utopias do and equally enticing job with sparse musical selections. Moving all the way through Twin Peaks (Music From the Limited Event) I’m stopped dead in my tracks on Sharon Van Etten’s “Tarifa.” If you aren’t/weren’t a Twin Peaks fan, at the end of the new episodes (produced around 2017) there is a different band playing in the bar. David Lynch had an incredible sensitivity for the music featured in the original series, and continues this trend here. It’s worth a spin on your favorite streaming service, you might find a few good test tracks!

As you take the Utopias out of their supplied carrying case, you’ll quickly notice the high level of fit and finish these headphones offer – just like a pair of Grande Utopia Ems. Everything is machined to a standard that you might expect from an F1 car or fine wristwatch. With Focal, engineering and craftsmanship always serves the art. Beautiful to behold, yes. But remarkable to listen to.

Well worth the price asked, these belong at the top of the premium headphone mountain.

www.focal.com

Alexander Vitus-Mogensen (son of Hans-Ole Vitus) has just introduced his latest creation from Alluxity – the Power Two.

Slightly lower in cost, and power, at $7,800 (vs. $10,600) from the Power One, the 200 watt per channel power amplifier (400w/channel into 4 ohms) makes for an attractive and powerful match to their Pre One or Pre Two preamplifiers. The Alluxity product all shares a high performance, yet slim, understated Scandinavian look. They are available in black, white, silver, and titanium orange, with custom colors available on request and at higher cost.

You can find out more at www.alluxity.com,

or

Their US Distributor, Monarch Systems LTD.
www.monarch-systems.com

Damn, the Bee Gees never sounded this good. If you don’t like reading cable reviews, and you have a Pass Labs XS component (or a few) just buy the Tubulus Argentus XS Umbilical Cables for your system right now. Then come on back to the review after you’ve installed them and see if you agree with us.

In a high-performance audio system, everything matters. And everything has the potential for change, sometimes good, sometimes not. I have a bias against cable and cable reviews. I have found a few things that work well in my three systems and I use them with good result. (Cardas, Nordost and Tellurium Q) I’d rather go get a COVID test than write a cable review, because it’s so tough to quantify, and it seems to make way more people mad than it does happy. So you know we aren’t a cable of the month magazine.

Ok, deep cleansing breath.

Tubulus makes a wide range of cable, but the ones that really struck my fancy are their XS Umbilical cables that go between Pass Labs XS series components. (they also make umbilical cables for the XP series) While I no longer have the XS300 monos in my reference system, I do use the XS Pre and XS Phono, so I’m going to have to get staffer Lawrence Devoe to try a pair in his XS150 monos. I’m going to stick my neck out and be surprised if he isn’t super impressed.

However, in the case of the Argentus umbilical, this has been the easiest cable review I’ve ever done. The XS Pre and XS Phono are never powered down, so it was easy to shut one power supply off, do a quick cable swap and be back up and running. I seriously doubt we lost much thermal stability from being powered down for 90 seconds.

Quiet drama

While some of the online cognoscenti make outrageous claims for and against various cables, some of which cost as much as a nice pre-owned BMW M4, the Tubulus umbilicals offer out of this world value. At about $800 USD, in the context of a $38,000 preamplifier, or a $45,000 phonostage, this is a 2-3% upcharge. Normally I would say the cost is noise, but in this case, it’s the absence of noise that is so exiting.

As the quality meter moved an equal amount with both the XS Phono and the XS Pre, my comments will be global, applying to both boxes. Seriously, if you have both, you need both. If you had the $83,000 bucks to buy these two boxes, I know you’ve got another $1,600 in the cookie jar somewhere.

Both of these components are dead quiet as they come from Pass Labs, and the supplied umbilicals are of high quality. Just as an extremely high-performance sports car delivers a performance envelope that makes it easy to tell the difference between fine suspension settings or tire changes, the Pass XS components provide a similar experiences. Having lived with the XS Phono and XS Pre for a number of years now, I’m comfortable with these two pieces.

No tonal change

I don’t look at premium audio cable as a way to fine tune or voice an audio system. I view cable in a context of revealing more music or less, without affecting top to bottom tonal balance.

The Tubulus cables do not change the tonal balance in my system at all, and I like that. What they do accomplish is to lower the noise floor further and increase resolution. As my XA200.8 power amplifiers are each on dedicated 20 amp circuits, the XS Pre and dCS Vivaldi on their own 15 amp circuit and the XS Phono on another, power isn’t an issue.

Going through about a 30 track playlist of extremely familiar cuts, the “a-ha” moment achieved at power up was merely confirmed after extended listening. Also, the Tubulus cables don’t need much break in. They sounded excellent at plug in, and slightly smoother after a few days.

We probably don’t listen to the same music, so reach for something you know well, that is somewhat layered and densely packed. For me, it’s Crowded House, Utopia, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Crash Test Dummies. Listen closely to a few tracks that have a fairly strong lead vocal, with a subdued backup vocal, like Aimee Mann’s “High On Sunday 51,” or Crash Test Dummies, “Superman’s Song.” Notice how that lurking, distant vocal now has a much clearer, much more defined space. Ditto for any Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young or not) tune. They have such equally powerful voices, it’s easy for their music to sometimes come across as one big overdub. Yet with the Tubulus cables in place, the distinctiveness of each of these singers is clearer than it’s ever been – and I’ve been listening to “Helplessly Hoping” for almost 50 years. You get the picture.

Gradation

A hallmark of a high-performance audio system is the way loud sounds smoothly and gently transition to quiet ones, and then off to nothing. This is another area I heard dramatic improvement with the Tubulus cables, digital playback sounds more like analog in this context. Everything auditioned has more texture, with more space between the notes than before. It certainly feels like a much bigger (i.e. much more expensive) change than an $1,250 pair of cables.

As the audiophile cliché goes, you can’t un-hear it. Thanks to everything being a little quieter, it always feels like the volume control has been increased by a click or two with the Tubulus cables installed. Remember, volume is about the delta between loud and quiet, so you can either make things louder or quieter to feel different.

Infinity plus one

No matter how good you think your system is, at a certain point, you might ponder if it can be improved. If you’ve built a system around Pass XS components (or at least one of them) you’re a pretty discerning music lover, and the rest of the system is equally excellent.

But…if you’re at 11 and you’ve wanted to go to 12 without upsetting the delicate balance you’ve spent a lot of time getting right, consider the Tubulus umbilicals. I am definitely buying the review pair, and ordering another pair for the XS Phono. That being said, I’m happy to award the Tubulus XS umbilical one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2020. And if you’ve read this to the end, thank you for indulging me.

Additional Listening

As I no longer have the Pass XS, two box monoblocks, contributor Lawrence Devoe acquired a pair of these to give us his impression of how well they perform in this capacity, with his Pass XS150 mono blocks.

As a retired obstetrician I am well aware of how important umbilical cords are for fetal development and survival. Well, it seems that umbilical cords or, in this case, umbilical cables are important for audio components that use this method of linking their power supplies to their control centers. The Pass Labs XS series has taken this approach for their top-of-the-line two-box preamplifiers and monobloc amplifiers. Power supplies ultimately determine the stability of the current governing the signal that goes from an audio component to its intended destination. It follows that the better the power supply, the better the signal generated and the better the sound.

When Pass Labs design-meister Wayne Colburn went all out for the XS series he endowed them with umbilical cables featuring Neutrik PowerCon couplers that can handle high current capacity. While the Pass Labs stock pair of umbilical cables are mighty good, the Tubulus umbilical cables specifically for the Pass XS series components take things a step further, using silver conductors treated with a “special thermo-process” and air insulation for all of their cables. While I can understand the theoretical advantages of this design for audio signal cables, I was skeptical this would benefit the already top-notch connection between power supplies and control chassis on the XS 150 monoblocs.

After replacing the stock umbilical cables with the Tubulus cables between the power supply and control chassis of my amplifiers, extensive listening sessions followed. Any doubts about the sonic advantages afforded by these cables were quickly and completely dispelled. As good as the XS 150s sounded with the Pass Labs stock cables, the Tubulus cables substantially improve the sound of my system that also featuring XS line and phono stages.

Soundstages of good recordings like Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” from the 25^th Anniversary Graceland CD exploded out of my MartinLogan CLXs going well beyond the speakers in both depth and width. Details of individual instruments—guitar, bass, pump organ and slide guitar—in Norah Jones’s “Lonestar” from her Come Away with Me CD were revealed as I had never heard them before, and I have used this track numerous times in equipment reviews. Bass, the foundation that supports the rest of the sound spectrum, was full and well defined in cuts like “So and So” on Holly Cole’s Don’t Smoke in Bed LP. Voice reproduction, my ultimate criterion for judging playback equipment, was completely natural in Jacintha’s rendition of the Karen Carpenter classic “A Song for You” on the CD A Song for You Karen. The singer’s breathing was palpable as were the studio echoes in between her breaths.

What these air-insulated silver conductor umbilical cables did to virtually every recording that I played was to liberate it from the physical confines of my speakers and project holographic images of voices and instruments in my listening room. As a pair of Pass Labs XS 150 amplifiers retails for $65,000 and a pair of one-meter cables sell for $1249, this company should really rename its umbilical cable line Tubulus Miraculous!! Highest recommendation.

www.tubulus.net

We’ve just received news and photos of the latest preamplifiers from borg.audio, the Dune and the Warp.

Final pricing has not been announced yet, but these units look to be made with incredible attention to detail inside and out. Both feature built in DAC’s based around the SABRE ES9038PRO chips. The borg preamplifiers also feature high quality ADC (analog to digital conversion) on board that can record from analog or digital sources, along with auto track start and end detection, and a ROON ready streamer (with a one year subscription included). An additional homage to analog is present with the front panel level meters, via an AMEOLED display.

The Warp, is essentially a Dune that features their unique control circuitry. We look forward to sampling at least one of these some time next year.

www.borg.audio.com

Rotel is a company that’s gone about their business making high performance gear that is reasonably priced, in a relatively understated way. On one level, Rotel products have always been somewhat of a gateway product for some, and a great destination for others.

If you’ve started your hifi journey with NAD, Cambridge, or Music Hall, (or maybe something else along those lines) and would like to step up a few notches, but perhaps not ready to commit to vacuum tubes – Rotel is always a solid choice.

The launch of their new Michi line is something completely different. With the P5 preamplifier at $4,000 and the S5 stereo power amplifier at $7,000 (and there are a pair of monoblocks at $7k each, if you just have to have more power), this pair offers a serious insight into mega high end sound at an approachable price indeed.

Let’s begin at the source

Unboxing the P5 preamp hints at what to expect. It’s heavy. 50 pounds heavy. Power amplifier heavy. Peeking at the internal view on the Rotel website confirms this is not just some fancy casework filled with air. The massive power supply capacitors are flanked by a fully populated circuit board, (with a lot of discrete components) and all the switching relays at the back of the chassis, to minimize noise. It’s as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside.

Speaking of sources, the P5 is a true control center in every sense of the word. It features a DAC with the ability to decode DSD, MQA, and PCM files up to 32/384, so it is more than reasonably future proof. While there is no balanced XLR digital in, there are three optical and three RCA S/Pdif inputs as well as an Ethernet port and a USB input. As a bonus, it also features an aptX/Bluetooth input, so you can stream from your mobile device. (and so can your guests)

Vinyl enthusiasts will appreciate the option of MM or MC cartridge compatibility, selectable from the front panel, though there is only one phono input around back. As versatile as the P5 is, it’s a shame that Rotel did not provide separate MM and MC inputs. Not a deal breaker.

With two more balanced XLR inputs and four more RCA inputs, even those of you with an FM tuner, and a couple of tape decks won’t run out of input jacks. Rotel also includes two pairs of balanced XLR outputs, three RCA outputs and a pair of mono subwoofer outputs. In short, they’ve got you covered.

Around front, it’s clean, crisp and concise. The front panel display is an off white that goes easy on the eyes and is very easy to read. Both controls (selector on left, and volume on right) turn smoothly should you feel the need to engage manually, but the multi-function remote is the way to roll, especially if you have a lot of sources plugged in. Bonus points – there’s a headphone jack just below the volume control, and it worked well with everything we had on hand, from original Koss Pro –AAAs to the latest from Focal. The Utopia phones cost more than the P5, yet this preamplifier does a great job with personal listening duties. The sweet spot here is probably phones in the $200 – $1,000 range, which covers a lot of ground.

Spinning a few records

Another slightly anomalous behavior is the MC phono input, with loading fixed at 100 ohms. We can’t call the engineers at Rotel bad Smurfs, as a few other manufacturers (Luxman comes to mind) does this as well. And there are a number of great MC cartridges you can work with, so this isn’t the end of the world. We did all of our analog listening with the Technics SL-1200GAE and a Denon DL-103r – a nearly perfect combination. However, this is a preamplifier that you will chose a cartridge for, because variable loading is not an option.

That said, working within given parameters, the Technics/Denon combination is a superb match for the P5. While specs don’t tell the whole story, the phono stage is claimed to have a S/N ratio of 80dB, and suffice to say, it is quiet. Putting the P5 to the immediate test and breaking out the classical LPs shows off just how quiet this combination is.

Putting this in context, think of the P5 as a $2,000 linestage, a $1,000 DAC, and a $1,000 phonostage, with a bonus headphone amp thrown in. Not to mention, there are three three extra power cords and sets of interconnects you don’t have to buy. And the satisfaction of knowing it all works together perfectly. That’s value. Comparing the on board phono in the P5 to anything we’ve listened to in the last few years, it’s safe to say it’s as good or better than any outboard phono stage in the $600 – $800 range. Remember, you’re still going to need even a modest pair of interconnects…  The only advantage to an outboard phono is possibly a wider range of MC loading options, but for convenience and high performance all on one chassis, the P5 can’t be beat.

Digital delights

Working with a MacBook Pro, a current Cambridge Audio transport and a vintage SONY CD ES player (via optical output), the P5 handles every file, from MP3/Spotify up to DSD without a glitch.

s with the phono section, putting what the P5 accomplishes in context of comparably priced outboard DAC, it’s fantastic. It resolves more than enough information to tell the difference between source quality in your files, along with a high level of musicality in its class. It does an excellent job with compressed, less than awesome 16/44 material. Zipping through a Kiss playlist, a Monkees playlist and Queen’s Greatest Hits are all decoded with dignity. These tracks all sounded better than they had a right to, with an ample amount of airiness and dynamic range.

Moving on to better quality material, the P5 reveals even better performance. An old standby, Lyle Lovett’s “North Dakota” begins with some very gentle bongos, and they manage to float out in space a bit, and offers enough resolution to distinctly hear Rickie Lee Jones singing backup clearly.
Now for the power

Unless you’re extremely buff, get a friend to help you move the 132 pound S5 power amplifier to your equipment rack. If you don’t have a friend handy, a box of nicotine patches and a good protein shake might get you through. Seriously, get a friend. This is an amplifier that belies its weight. Utilizing a similar design motif as the P5, its rounded corners and gloss black front panel (with super cool power output meters) will look great in your listening room.

With 500 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 800 into 4, there shouldn’t be any speakers on your no fly list. Hint, hint, even if you aren’t going to buy both Michi pieces, this is an excellent amplifier to drive Magnepans with. Staffer Jerold O’Brien and I faced a major dilemma: he helps me moose the S5 out of my listening room and up the 2^nd story at his place where the Magnepan 3.7s are, or we rent a UHaul and bring the Maggies to me.

Avoiding as many people as we both can in this age of quarantine, we decided we’d both be exposed to fewer cooties, bringing the S5 to his place. Besides, now that I also have a little orange BMW 2002 stored in his barn, plenty of time to be car geeks after we get done listening.

Most Magnepans need a lot of power to really strut their stuff, and the Michi S5 is one of the nicest combinations for these speakers. 20.1 and 30.1 owners that need even more power, can buy the M8s (1080 watts each, into 8 ohms, 1800 watts into 4 – booyah) which should be enough to power a small outdoor music festival.

Everything from the Maggies, to ESLs from MartinLogan and vintage Acoustats (i.e. all the “really hard to drive” speakers) presented no issues to the Michi. Regardless of what speakers you have, this is an unassuming, yet highly capable and powerful amplifier that merely does the job it’s asked to do without issue. It’s a testament to the amplifiers enormous power reserves and excellent design that it is not particularly sensitive to speaker cables either. It has enough resolving power to hear the difference between brands, but isn’t touchy about cables in a way that some small amplifiers can be.

Power without finesse is nothing though, and again the Michi scores big points. If this amp had no logo on the front panel and you told your audiophile pals that you paid 10k for the S5, they’d probably believe you. Even at low volumes, the effortlessness that the S5 presents adds to the musical presentation. I must admit to being biased towards big amplifiers for this reason.

Overall, the big Michi amp has a neutral tonal rendition. To try and put it in a little bit of perspective, we’ve always held Boulder amplifiers up as the ultimate in “just the facts” amplification, however these are some pretty expensive amplifiers, even at entry level. Comparing to past solid-state designs we’ve listened to, the Michi has more tonal body/saturation that something from Simaudio, Krell, or current Levinson products, but less than our reference Pass amplifiers, or any other great Class A amplifier from Luxman, Sudgen, or the Riviera monos we’ve just reviewed.

You can stay with the Michi preamplifier and keep things extremely accurate, or for those craving a little bit of additional warmth, without sacrificing the control and dynamic power of a solid-state amp, add a tube preamplifier on the front end, to tune to your taste. An amplifier this neutral makes that easy.

A system approach that works

At $11,000 for the pair, the Michi P5 and S5 are a logical step up for the music lover that needs more power than an integrated can provide, and has a lot of flexibility as well. This pair is the perfect anchor for a $20k – $50k system, and only needs a turntable and a pair of speakers to enjoy every format available. Should you be a digital only listener, add your favorite speakers and roll. Should the vinyl bug hit, you’re ready if and when you want to take the plunge.

While you’ll need a stout shelf for the 132 pound P5, a system built around these two components will have a minimal footprint. Thanks to their timeless visual design, they will integrate well into a design conscious environment – a final bonus.

www.rotel.com/michi

Rocking out with some Slayer, it’s clear that Bowers & Wilkins has produced a winner here. To be honest, I’ve been punishing these speakers for about a solid week now, and it’s clear they have major dynamic ability.

Life isn’t all metal though, (though for some it is) and after seriously breaking these speakers in, an expanded palette of music was in order. Grooving on some Black Devil Disco Club, it’s easy to see that the 702 Signatures have plenty of low frequency ability too.

Bowers & Wilkins has always been a company driven by engineering excellence. I’ve owned a number of B&W speakers since 1980, and they’ve always made fantastic products. Having visited their UK factory a few times now, the level that they implement their engineering vision is second to none. Being a car guy at heart, I’ve always enjoyed the paint shop and the level of finish they are able to achieve. On both of my recent tours to the UK factory in Worthing, my tour guides have always made it a point to say that the B&W factory in China is a mirror image of the UK factory, though it concentrates on the 600 and 700 Series product. 800 Series Diamond product is made in Worthing. These are both huge facilities.

Even a cursory look at the Signature speakers proves that they’ve left nothing on the table, in terms of quality here. Where B&W has somewhat simplified the 700 Series is in the cabinet itself, with a more traditional box shape, instead of the complex, curvy shape of the 800 Series Diamond.

Unpack and setup

If you’re planning on buying a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 702s (Signature or not) read the infographic on the top of the box before you remove your speakers from their packaging. The 702 tweeter is housed in a bullet shaped aluminum enclosure that will be instantly damaged if you just put the box upside down once you’ve opened it. Get a friend to help you unpack your 702s because even though they are not terribly heavy, they are tightly packed and close to impossible to unpack by yourself because their slippery, smooth cabinets are hard to get a grip on. Save the little white rubber thing (that looks a lot like those rubber things they use in a nail salon to keep your toes apart) under the tweeter pod in case you move or ever have to ship your speakers. Trust me on this.

Once unboxed, you’ll also notice a pair of plinths that have been included for safety reasons in certain countries. If you don’t absolutely have to use them, I suggest leaving them in the shipping cartons, as they distract from the sleekness of the 702 Signatures, and B&W says the plinths do not improve the sound.

The last style decision to make is whether to affix the grilles or not. If you have kids, dogs, or a lot of guests, you’ll probably need them, but if you don’t, admiring the 702 Signature sans grilles is quite lovely. High technology doesn’t always look as good as it sounds, but in this case, the 702 Signature succeeds brilliantly. The three woofers, with their subtle chrome rings are just beneath the midrange driver with the big, silver Continuum™ cone, and the tweeter pod at the very top.

And, ooh those cabinets. From the outside, those stepping up to the $6,500/pair Signature series models over the standard $5,000/pair models you get a cool Datuk Gloss finish. I have to say, as a Sonus faber owner, Bowers & Wilkins is right there at the top of the mountain in cabinet finish, offering a level of quality that I’d expect to come from Italy. These speakers are absolutely beautiful to behold. The depth, and smoothness of the finish is outstanding. I’d step up to the Signatures just for the finish.

The Signature models are not just a cosmetic/finish update. Though the spec sheets between the standard 702 S2 and 702 Signature reveal the same numbers – this is the perfect example of specs not telling the whole tale. Thanks to upgraded bypass capacitors in the crossover, the Signatures deliver a more grain free presentation through the mids to the highest highs. The only downside here, albeit temporary, is those upgraded components in the crossovers take a bit more time to be all they can be. Expect a slight edge on top, and a bit of haze and fog through the midband for the first couple hundred hours of use.

To observe this process in action, play the same track every day at the beginning of the day. Make it a track you know intimately. In this case it was Robert Plant’s “Sixes and Sevens,” but I’m sure you have a couple of favorites that you’ll be able to notice the slightest differences. It’s almost as if the 702 Signatures get bigger and smoother sounding as you put hours on the clock.
Sticking with Robert Plant as my go to, shifting forward in time to “All the King’s Horses,” from his Mighty Rearranger album, the backing vocals started out somewhat buried in the mix, yet as the hours went by, I could hear the separation between Plant and the backing vocals much easier and more distinctively.

In our 13 x 18 foot living room, final speaker position ended up with the speakers being about five feet from the rear wall and about two feet away from the side walls. Only a few degrees of toe-in was used, but this and whether to slightly angle the speakers back will depend on seat height and personal listening preferences. Suffice to say that the 702 Signatures were easy to set up and get satisfying sound from quickly. Those needing to place their speakers close to the room walls or corners may want to take advantage of the foam plugs to insert in the rear mounted speaker port.

Other choices

With a sensitivity rating of 90dB/1-watt, the 702 Signatures don’t need a ton of power to be musically involving. Using everything here from the 30 watt per channel PrimaLuna EVO 100 to the mighty Pass Labs XA200.8s, proved a good match. Being that person preferring a more mellow approach, I gravitated more to the combination of the 702 Signatures with the Luxman L-550 Class A (solid state) integrated, the Pass INT25 (also solid state Class A) and our reference VAC Sigma 170i (tubes), but your final sound preferences will determine what you’ll pick. Bottom line, these speakers do not need a ton of power to sound great.

We also made it a point to try the 702 Signatures with a few different sets of speaker cable, from WireWorld, Nordost, Tellurium-Q, and Cardas. Again, all excellent results, how you want to achieve final voicing on your system will determine where you go here. The Cardas Clear cable in our reference system (a touch warm) was more to our taste, but the other three turned in great performances, but are slightly more forward and revealing. My living room is very lightly treated, so this contributes heavily to my leaning more towards a slightly mellow tonal balance.

One small tip, for those purchasing a pair of 702 Signatures: invest in a high-quality pair of jumpers, if you aren’t bi-wiring your speakers. Swapping a pair of Tellurium-Q jumpers in place of the factory issued, flat metal jumpers brought yet another level of clarity in the mid and upper registers.

What’s not to like?

Pretty much nothing really. Your decision will probably be B&W or the other choices, or between the Signature and standard models. However, in terms of what’s available in the $5,000 – $7,000 range that we’ve had the pleasure to audition, the Bowers & Wilkins 702 Signature is a solid player in terms of sound quality, engineering prowess, and aesthetic appeal. Not to mention, as one of the world’s largest speaker manufacturers, you can be sure of a great sales, service, and support network to go with your purchase.

The Bowers & Wilkins 702 Signature
MSRP: $6,500/pair

Please click here to be taken to the Bowers & Wilkins website.

I love discovering reasonably priced products, squarely aimed at bringing great sound to more people, and new people to our wacky world of audio.

Underwood HiFi scores big time with their new LSA DPH-1 headphone amplifier, which also has an onboard high-res (does DSD too) DAC featuring four inputs. LSA makes use of the AKM 4495 DAC chips and AK-4118 digital input receiver, for those wanting to know…  I say, “implementation,” and in this case, they’ve done a fantastic job.

Right now, in typical Underwood fashion, they are running an introductory special and moving these babies for the holiday season at $799, instead of the $999 they will be asking at some point. Even at $999, this would be a great deal – let’s investigate a little further.

If the DPH-1 were only a headphone amp at $999 it would still be great. The DAC is a true bonus, and it makes the DPH-1 fantastic for personal listening, desk side or bed side. It’s small (14” x 10” x 4”) footprint makes it easy to integrate anywhere.

Ins and outs

Around the back, there are four digital inputs – USB, optical, coax and BNC. Personally, I like the BNC as I have a vintage Wadia transport, which I pulled out of mothballs to give the DPH-1 a spin. Interestingly, you’ll notice a pair of RCA analog outputs marked “Tube” and “Solid-State.” This is really cool and gives you more options, should you decide to use your DPH-1 as a line preamplifier. And if you happen to be a digital only music lover, the DPH-1 is all you need.

The tube output runs the DAC’s output through a tube buffer, featuring a “NOS tube from GE.” Turns out this tube is an ex-military issue item that is very similar to the legendary Western Electric 396A tube. Those of you that aren’t tube geeks: plugging your power amplifier into the tube output will give you a slightly warmer, more tonally saturated presentation. This is super awesome option for those of you running a solid-state or class D amp, and it works miracles on budget amps too!  Consequently, the solid-state outputs add a little extra dynamic slam to your favorite tube amp.

You can even run both the tube and solid-state outputs into your integrated amp or preamp and switch sonic characteristics on the fly. It’s like having two separate DAC’s in one box. Or, as we do with our reference DAC here, if space allows, or you have systems in adjoining rooms, you can run both systems from the same DAC. Very versatile indeed.

That being said, mating the DPH-1 to a vintage (but tastefully rebuilt) Dynaco Stereo 70 and the LSA-10 Signature speakers was absolutely heavenly. Either way, the ability to fine tune your system to taste is cool, especially at this price.

Getting personal

Running through the gaggle of headphones on hand, from the $3,000 Focal Stellia to my Grado SR-60s, the DPH-1 delivers an excellent experience. The amplifier does a great job driving everything, and has particularly good control in the lower registers. Zooming through some vintage Little Feat tracks, particularly “Romance Dance,” from The Last Record Album, reveals the DPH-1s ability to control a pair of headphone drivers and deliver a convincing musical foundation. Next up, the Bell Biv Devoe classic, “Poison.” If I was listening on a 2-channel system, I’d be blowing the doors down with bass – and as it was, I caught myself turning the volume down, because the distortion free playback this amp provides might tempt you to turn it up too loud. So, watch the volume.

After a solid sampling of phones, the bulk of our test listening was done with the Focals, showing off just how good this amp is. Regardless of where you are on your headphone journey, you’ll be able to move up from wherever you are to some pretty premium phones without worry. That’s value.

Bass is not the only dimension at which the DPH-1 excels. Joni Mitchell just released her Archives – Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967), and this set handily shows the inner detail, definition and upper range smoothness this amplifier offers. Joni Mitchell’s voice is a tough one to nail down – almost like a violin, when it’s wrong, it’s harsh and shriek-y, but when it’s right, it’s dreamy. We’ll happily put the DPH-1 in the dreamy category here, and this lead us to some of the tracks on Lyle Mays self-titled debut album. Nailing the tonality of a piano is similar in degree of difficulty, and again the DPH-1 sails through.

There’s a sign on one of my neighbor’s lawns that says “Presidents come and go, but Wu-Tang is forever.” Point taken, so on the way back from my morning coffee, I had to fire up some Wu-Tang. In their honor, I cranked up “Method Man” as the six-shot mocha took hold. Good stuff.

The DAC section of the DPH-1 does its job without fanfare, as it should be. We tried all four inputs, and were pleased each time, using our Wadia transport for the BNC input, an OPPO 105 (yep, still got one) for the coax input, a MacBook Pro for the USB input and our faithful Sony ES changer from the garage system to evaluate the optical input. Suffice to say, whatever you have, the DPH-1 will accommodate it, and the higher resolution capabilities this DAC provides easily illuminates the additional resolution that high res formats have to offer. Good as it is with high res, the DPH-1 does not compromise 16/44 playback in any way.

Putting the DPH-1 in the context of a nice two-channel system makes for a great, compact music system, requiring minimal rack space to rock. Whether you buy a DPH-1 as a headphone amplifier, or as an anchor to a digital two channel system with a pair of speakers – you’ll be happy wherever your journey begins.

Simple elegance

LSA has followed the aesthetic vibe started with their other components, and the DPH-1 is nicely finished, but not overly ostentatious. It feels good when you unbox and pick it up, and it looks great on your rack. Its basic functionality (volume control, input selector, and headphone jack) makes it easy to use. Fortunately, the power supply is built in, so there’s no external power supply to lose or deal with. A big plus.

By using casework like other LSA products, they keep the cost down. When you’re investigating components in this price range, it’s nice to see a manufacturer stick to basics, striking a balance with a product that sounds great, and has the looks to back it up without going overboard.

Add it all up and LSAs DPH-1 is a fantastic DAC/Headphone amp. If I didn’t spin records, I could easily live with it as my main two-channel preamp and build a great system around it featuring speakers. It ticks all the boxes – easy to use, reasonable price, and sounds fantastic. What else do you need?

www.underwoodhifi.com

This issue, we’ve got some great new gear:

The Andover Model-One compact music system

Focal’s ARCHE headphone amplifier (hint, hint,
it’s a KILLER 2ch preamp too!)

Sumiko’s Amethyst MM phono cartridge
We take a look back at VanHalen

A mint Nakamichi CR-7A cassette deck

Sonus faber’s Sonetto V floor standing speakers

Cam VanDerHorst is back with the SWILL column, investigating Snoop Dogg.

We tackle yet another REL six pack: This time the S/510.
And more…

** Those of you on mobile devices, we’ve now got a smaller, more mobile friendly
download. This is a work in progress, so please let us know what you think!

Serious listening with the LSA-10 Signature speakers begins with a quick dial back on the way back machine, all the way to 1965 and some Gabor Szabo.

If you aren’t familiar, this Hungarian guitarist was quite the rage back in the day, with a clean style that remindsme a lot of Johnny Smith or Kenny Burrell. Szabo’s playing quickly showcases the coherence displayed by this 2 1/2 way design from LSA. With a 6.5-inch woofer and soft dome tweeter on the front face, and a 5×7 inch passive radiator facing rearward, this “bookshelf” design might just fool you into thinking it’s a floorstander with your eyes closed. The transition from the lowest bass notes all the way up to the top of the frequency spectrum has this Quad loving audio enthusiast nodding in approval. And as your favorite 80s game show host might say, “what would you expect to pay for speakers offering this kind of performance?” The Signature model reviewed here is now only $1,495/pair.

The $3,495 Statement model is the same, except for a beryllium dome tweeter. If you want a bit more resolution and a harder edge to the sonic picture painted, pony up for the Statements. This part will be strictly personal preference and related ancillaries. Underwood Wally (the man behind distributor Underwood HiFi) will probably be angry with me for loving the lower-priced model. Still, I confess to almost always preferringthe sound of a silk dome tweeter. Bias exposed. While I’m making enemies – throw out the perforated metal grille while you’re at it. (or put it back in the box for another day) The rest of the fit and finish would be better served by a well-executed fabric grill, or something with a finer perforation, more like what MartinLogan does. I’m guessing most of you listen without grilles, so this is really no big deal.

Running the gamut

LSA doesn’t specify sensitivity on these speakers, but even the low powered Pass Labs INT25 integrated (25wpc, pure Class-A) offers more than enough power and control to drive these speakers to a high level in my 13 x 18-foot living room. While several different tube and solid-state amplifiers were given a go with the LSA-10 Signatures, they are not at all difficult to drive. After trying about a dozen different combinations, most listening was done with the PrimaLuna EVO400 power amplifier (85wpc, tubes) in concert with the Backert Labs Rhumba preamplifier and Gold Note DS10 DAC/Streamer, with a bit of vinyl on the side. 95% of the source music used was via Roon and Qobuz. The EVO400 proved to have more than enough drive and smoothness that really compliments the LSA-10s. As with the tweeter choice, those wanting a slightly more forward sound might prefer a non-Class-A solid-state amplifier.

The Hegel 590 is in for review, and this amplifier offers up a punchier, more forward presentation. Substituting the Hegel for the CJ/PrimaLuna combo feels like moving up from row 20 to row 8 in the auditorium. I like the soft dome tweeter; those wanting a bit more aggressive overall sound have more options than a speaker with a tweeter that’s already a little forward. But we can argue about this all day long; let’s get back to listening to music!

Splitting hairs

Just as the line between prince and frog can be thinner than you think, the same applies whether you consider a speaker smooth or laid back. After listening to the LS-10s for some time, I’m still going with smooth. For my money, laid back feels more like a loss of resolution, especially in the upper registers, and the LS-10s do not fall victim to this. Listening to more acoustic music illustrates that cymbals dither into nothingness with plenty of detail, and stringed instruments have the required amount of body to feel realistic. Like nearly all speakers relying on a soft dome tweeter, there is a slight softening of the hardest transients, such as drum heads and the initial strike of piano keys.

A long playlist of hard-rocking tunes clearly proves that the LS-10s ability to move air. That rear-firing passive radiator goes a long way to make these speakers feel like floorstanders. When playing material with heavy bass content (Kruder andDorfmeister, Pink Floyd, Massive Attack, that kind of thing), these compact speakers demonstrate significant authority. In addition to delivering substantial low-frequency information, the quality of what is produced is excellent. Stanley Clarke has been in heavy rotation here lately and tracking through If This Bass Could Talk, proves the LS-10s more than capable.

Setup

Those rear-firing passive radiators will require a bit more time to ace the setup, but your efforts will be rewarded. I suggest starting about a foot further out in your room than what you might be used to with other speakers lacking a rear driver or passive radiator. As always, the key is going to be adjusting around the bass presentation you want, and then adjusting the rest with toe-in and rake angle.

Using a pair of filled 24″ Sound Anchor stands with a bit of sticky stuff to improve the speaker/stand interface works like a charm. Small monitors always need great stands to deliver the most solid bass response, and these perhaps a bit more, because they go down further than many of the other small monitors we’ve used.

The LS-10s do not produce a stereo image that goes well beyond the speaker edges, so adjust speaker width, and toe-in with care. The more time you spend on this aspect of setting them up will produce the largest stereo image they are capable of. What these speakers lack in the last few molecules of stage width and pin-point imaging, is more than made up forin natural tonality and lifelike sonics. Every speaker has design compromises, and they’ve made solid choices here. That devil personal bias sets in again, but I’d much rather have a coherent speaker with a natural midrange over a speaker that produces a mile wide stereo image, yet falls flat on tonality.

A major contender

Trying to stay more in tune with those not wanting a six-figure hifi system, yet still craving a great musical experience, we’ve been auditioning more speakers in this price range, and we all agreed that the LSA LS-10s would be on our top five list if we actually did that kind of thing. It’s not often that a $1,495 pair of speakers do this much right tonally and offer an excellent sense of scale too. Those needing more oomph can step up to the LS-20 floorstanders or add a pair of subs to the LS-10s.

Balance and nuance will always be my catnip, and this is something the LS-10 Signatures excel at. I can’t imagine a better choice in the context of a $5k – $15k system. Different, yes, but in terms of sheer sonic quality, these are awfully impressive. The design choices by the LSA team havemade serve the music. I am very happy to give the LS-10s an Exceptional ValueAward for 2020.

https://www.underwoodhifi.com/products/lsa-speakers

Life is good. I’ve got my head under the hood of my car, changing radiator hoses, and I’m streaming my favorite tunes (in this case about 4 hours of XTC, spanning the entire catalog) on my old Marantz 2220B receiver on top of my tool box. I’m in my happy place, thanks to the Andover Audio Songbird hi-res streamer.

If you happen to own the Andover Model-One music system for your house, you’ve probably realized the only thing missing is a way to stream digital music to it. Now, with the release of the Songbird streamer, you can – and it’s outstanding. And, it’s only $129.

Digital purists will snipe that the Songbird only has 24/192 maximum resolution, and complain about all the stuff it doesn’t have. As the Blues Brothers once said, “What do you want, Rubber Biscuit?” Seriously, think of all the exciting audio products you can buy for $129. Not a lot, eh? What the Andover Songbird does is sound great, and plug in to just about any device you might have, with zero fuss.

Thanks to an optical input, and an Ethernet port, you can use the Songbird as a straight up DAC, Ethernet renderer, or a streamer via Bluetooth or WiFi. Depending on what your streaming with. While it is not a Roon endpoint (yet) you can work around this by using it as an AirPlay device, if you just want the sheer functionality that your Roon infrastructure offers. This proves the way to rock in my garage system. Elbows deep in an engine rebuild isn’t exactly the sweet spot anyway.
The obvious hookup for the Songbird is to attach it to the Andover Model-One in the living room, now under review. The match is perfect, and for anyone with a Model-One, aching for digital/streaming playback, this is the way to roll. Thanks to the Songbird being about the size of a 2000 grit 3M sanding block, it fits anywhere. Power it up, locate it on your network, and go. It shouldn’t take you more than about 60 seconds to be playing music.

Using the Songbird with a couple of budget integrated amplifiers, and a few powered speakers lacking internal DACs, all provide excellent results. It’s amazing that digital can sound this good for $129. Getting all audiophile-y for a few minutes, I did a quick head to head comparison between some 16/44 files streamed through the Songbird and the vintage SONY ES disc player I used to have in the garage. Keep in mind that years ago, this was a $1,000 dollar (maybe a little more expensive) player.

Especially with the cymbals on Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild,” the Songbird offers a distinct advantage in its lack of high frequency graininess that’s there in spades with the Sony player. Even with my head under the hood, I could hear the reverb trailing off more smoothly on Tommy James and the Shondells “Crimson and Clover.” I couldn’t be sure, but a long set of Porcupine Tree tunes sound damn good too.

Great of a match as the Songbird is with the Andover Model-One, it really stole my heart in the context of a vintage system. So many of my friends have second or third systems, mostly vintage (or at least centering around a vintage receiver or amplifier) who aren’t going to drop money on a DAC, or a streamer. Wanna be a great friend? Send your favorite vintage hifi lover a Songbird as a gift.

There’s not much else I can say about a $129 DAC/streamer. It sounds fantastic, easily better than what we were paying a few hundred to nearly a thousand bucks for 20 years ago. It’s easy to set up and install. And if you own the Andover Model-One, it’s the icing on the cake.

We’ll be announcing our products of the year in November, so I’m going to let the cat out of the bag now – this is our 2020 budget component of the year. This is the best sounding, highest value component I’ve ever heard for $129. And you thought we were snooty audiophiles that only liked six figure components. Ha!

NOTE: The Songbird is available for pre-order right now, and will be shipping sometime soon. Probably too late for trick or treaters, but plenty of time for holiday gift season!

Please click here to go to the Andover site…

Who knew that almost 20 years ago that this cool little tube amplifier would change my life?

My first assignment for The Absolute Sound was supposed to be a NAD integrated amplifier. But the day I got my copy of Stereophile in the mail with the ProLogue One you see here on the cover, I thought that might be a great piece to review.

As fate would have it, less than an hour later, Robert Harley was on the phone. “The NAD fell through, they didn’t want the new guy at TAS reviewing it. How about the new tube integrated from PrimaLuna?”

I already knew Upscale Audio’s Kevin Deal from the world of cars, so this felt like a slam dunk. The review was a success, cementing the PrimaLuna brand and my audio reviewing career – though I didn’t know it quite yet. When I started TONE (and for years to follow) people would say, “you wrote that PrimaLuna review in TAS, didn’t you?)
Yeah, I did.

Of course I bought the review sample. This amplifier was so good, how could I not? If you’re a fan of the vintage Dynaco and Marantz EL34 amps, the original ProLogue One felt and sounded like a restomodded classic. Not slow, soft, and syrupy like the vintage amps, yet not as clinical as a current ARC, BAT, or VAC amp. And the price was a killer deal. $1,095 in 2005 was insanely inexpensive for a tube integrated amplifier, wired point to point, with this level of fit and finish.

Another point of contention back in 2005 was the “built in China” moniker, but PL principal and lifetime high end audio pro, Herman Van Den Dungen makes sure everything is produce to perfection. The amplifier you see here has been in use since I wrote the original review in TAS, and it’s only had a single tube change.

When I got the ProLogue One back from my (now ex) niece a few years ago, I couldn’t have been more excited to be reunited with this old friend. And it cost me dearly – I had to trade she and her husband a new Simaudio NEO integrated ($3,400), along with some heavy convincing that having a tube amp around the house with a couple of toddlers was a really bad idea. The fatigued tubes were replaced with a new pair of PrimaLuna 12AU7s, a pair of EAT 12AX7s and a mint quad of NOS Siemens EL34 power tubes. Other than a slightly noisy volume control (with a little bit of contact cleaner took care of immediately) the PL One was back rocking with a pair of 1976 vintage Klipsch LaScalas. The sound was glorious, and with the coolio, upgraded tubes, even better than the day I unboxed it for the first time.

Almost 20 years later, PrimaLuna products have only gotten better, and there is now a wider range to choose from.

My ProLogue One no longer gets daily use, but it has the exalted position of being the first component I reviewed professionally. Today, I still use a pair of EVO400 monoblocks as reference amplifers, which produce around 140 watts per channel with 8 EL34s per channel.

I’m sure these will be as highly regarded as classics in 20 years, much like the great amps from ARC, Marantz, CJ and others. Every time I fire the ProLogue One up, it’s my favorite memory in high end audio.

www.primaluna-usa.com

Japanese cartridge manufacturer DS Audio has just raised the bar significantly on their optical phono cartridge platform.

We’ve reviewed a couple of their cartridges in the past, along with their own proprietary equalizer (necessary for use with an optical cartridge) to great result. Both Richard Mak, our resident analog master and our publisher found the DS cartridges to have a clarity like nothing they’ve experienced.

The new DS Grand Master is a third generation design, claiming to have a 50% weight loss over the previous flagship, a re-designed optical system and equalizer to go with.

DS offers a modular approach, so existing DS users can merely upgrade to the Grand Master for an increase in performance. The Grand Master cartridge by itself is about $15,500 (current exchange rate), definitely in line with the world’s top MC cartridges. Stepping up to the new Grand Master Equalizer/Phono stage will set you back about another $50k, again, certainly on par with what the top of the analog mountain requires.

Considering what a revelation the past DS models have been, we can only imagine what this will sound like, but we’re betting on excellence.

www.ds-audio-w.biz

Today, McIntosh announces their mighty MA12000 integrated amplifier. The MSRP is $14,000, and if you’ve got a shelf capable of holding it, this looks to be a fantastic product.

Blazing a trail started with the MA252, and MA352, the MA12000 offers a full set of the features you’ve come to enjoy from McIntosh. The giant, blue power meters, a front panel window showing off the preamplifier tubes, a headphone output, tone controls, and enough connectivity for every device you can imagine.

The MA12000 is analog ready, with MM and MC phono inputs, and digital ready, with all of the major connections, as well as being Roon certified. Thanks to the plug-in DA2 audio module, it is ready for any future digital developments.

Best of all, the MA12000 produces 350 watts per channel, so you can pair it with whatever speakers you prefer.

These will be available soon, but McIntosh dealers are taking orders now. That will give you a little bit of extra gym time before it arrives! (it weighs in at just over 100 pounds…)

www.mcintoshlabs.com

While connected audio isn’t our usual cup of, Naim Audio has updated their Control 4 driver to include “advanced music-streaming functionality.”

This will let you control multiple Naim devices through your Control 4 system. Volume control, source switching, and most importantly, full integration with Tidal and Qobuz services. They are promising a speed boost to these services as well, which will be a boon to those with large collections.

For more information visit www.naimaudio.com

Can’t believe I just heard the news that Eddie VanHalen, co-founder of legendary heavy rock band, VanHalen is gone.

Where were you when you heard “Eruption” for the first time? I was working at Southridge Mall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a little record store called Galaxy of Sound. We were hanging out at the counter, price guns in hand when the rep from Warner Brothers walked through the door with one white promo album in his hands. He walked up to the stereo, and took the record that was playing off and looked at us with a slightly drug-induced smile (it was the 70s you know), put the record down on the platter, and just before he dropped the needle, said: “You little fuckers will never hear anything like this, again. This is coming out on Friday and I’m giving you a glimpse of history.”

We heard “Eruption” and freaked out. The next 30 minutes flew by, and though we begged him to leave the record with us, he would not. It was Wednesday, February 8th, and true to his word, the world of rock was changed forever two days later.

It was cool to be there first. Many have been influenced by EVH, and though he had his demons, there’s never been another Eddie VanHalen on the scene.

Rest In Peace.

Two years ago, we awarded Esoteric’s N-01 network player our product of the year in the digital category. Now, they return with the XD version of this highly capable network player and world-class DAC.

At $20,000, this will not be an impulse buy for most, but on one level, it is an even better value than the product it replaces.

 As much excitement as there is over high-resolution formats, the true mettle of a great DAC is often how well it decodes standard 16/44 files. Listening to the title track of John Klemmer’s Barefoot Ballet is simply stunning. Klemmer’s use of the echoplex with his sax makes for an open, airy presentation. This is an average recording, yet the N-01XD shines as much as it will on your favorite 24/192 or DSD recording. The level of realism the N-01XD offers up is incredible. And I’m guessing that most of you with extensive digital libraries, or those streaming music, still have a disproportionate amount of your music at standard CD resolution. The ability to present extraordinary reproduction at 16/44 is a huge win, and the N-01XD delivers.

Getting to the music

While Esoteric offers its own music player, it can also be used as a ROON endpoint. This is where I did the bulk of my listening. With five systems between the studio, house, my wife’s office, and the garage, the ROON ecosystem makes it easy to merge NAS, Tidal, Qobuz, and Spotify effortlessly. If you happen to be an audiophile sticking to one streaming service, and maybe a NAS, you may not need the functionality that ROON provides. In this case, the Esoteric player will serve you just fine.

Those still spinning physical digital media can use one of Esoteric’s excellent transports (if you want to keep it all Esoteric  – and why would you not?) via their high-performance ES-Link inputs. This also allows native DSD playback from SACD discs – a bonus for those with extensive SACD collections. 

The high-quality Ethernet connection offers the next best sound quality making the N-01XD easy to locate far enough from your NAS (if you are using one) to not have to hear it. And all the more convenient for those just using a streaming service.

Rounding out the picture, RCA, USB, XLR, and even optical inputs are available. Don’t laugh – connecting my 90s era SONY ES 10-disc changer to the N-01XD via a 12-foot long optical cable from an adjacent room still provides incredibly good performance. As I did not have an Esoteric transport on hand, I used the one in my dCS Vivaldi, but an Esoteric transport will provide even better performance because of the ES Link. Sometimes you gotta use what you have on hand.

Finally, the N-01XD offers both RCA and balanced XLR outputs. Both easily drive a 30-foot length of cable, so if you need to place yours away from the system, that’s easy. This is of particular advantage here; we were able to use the balanced outputs to drive the main system in room one, and the RCAs to drive the system in room two as well. Again, the ability to drive two separate systems if the need arises, adds to the value proposition of the N-01XD

Tech talk

The N-01XD provides a level of playback that few DACs can match. Much of this comes from the XD model’s improvements – many of them courtesy of the Master Sound Discrete DAC circuitry in their top Grandioso D1X DAC. The DAC section of the N-01XD actually has 64bit resolution, so this is as future proof as it gets. Now using FPGA circuitry instead of individual DAC chips, the N-01XD will be able to be updated to future functionality via the data socket on the rear panel.

As with our Aqua Audio, dCS, and PS Audio DACs, an FPGA configuration is easy to upgrade when the time comes. With a DAC based on a chipset, you’re at the end of the road. The experience I’ve had with dCS and PS have been fantastic, so I expect the same with Esoteric.

Though this is an expensive piece of gear, it will have a long service life. 

Because all of the digital processing is performed in software, Esoteric is able to provide unique decoding algorithms for DSD and PCM files. With no conversion taking place, each can be processed optimally. Those with extensive DSD libraries will be able to take full advantage of the N-01XD.

Because it incorporates so much of the tech from the Grandioso series, the N-01XD can easily be the last DAC/streamer you buy.

If you get the itch for more performance, you can always add an external clock. My experience with the Esoteric clock is indeed exciting. While I haven’t heard their Grandioso clock with the N-01XD, I have listened to it with the Grandioso player, with stunning results. The extra timing accuracy that a top-quality external clock brings can not be understated.

Esoteric offers three clocks from about $9,000, all the way up to $26k for the Grandioso. Their mid-range G-01X ($20,000) would probably be the one I’d pair with this player. When I’ve heard Esoteric DACs with and without the clock, it’s the last bit of icing on the cake. Switching the clock on lifts the last veil of digital sound, so it’s nice to know that even the lofty N-01XD does have an upgrade path.

More listening

The Esoteric N-01XD is one of the few digital components that renders digital files so naturally and effortlessly, you might find your turntable collecting a lot of dust once you install it into your system. I can honestly say I was not itching to spin any vinyl while the Esoteric was here. If you don’t have a turntable, you might not jump off the analog cliff. As much fun as my favorite rock records were, thanks to the incredible dynamic range the N—01XD provides, it really shines with acoustic material.

The two violins and cello that make up the Janaki String Trio are breathtaking, streamed at 88.2/24. Reproducing the violin and piano with enough acoustic space and tone to feel real is tough for analog, but to nail this in the digital domain is something that few digital players at any price can accomplish. When violins are wrong, and they nearly always are, you just want to leave the room, but here, you just might be brought to tears. It’s that good.

Backing this up with a spin of another Yarlung Records great – The Yuko Mabuchi Trio, vol.1 is incredibly engaging. Ms. Mabuci has such a delicate touch on the keys,reproduced flawlessly is lovely. You’ll find yourself lost in the music in seconds. Great as the piano playing is on this album, the depth of the applause from the audience is hauntingly real. You’ll be looking for the surround speakers, yet there are none. This is two-channel audio in its finest moment.

And of course, my favorite Crosby, Stills, and Nash records sound great too. The N-01XD unravels the three voices, giving each one their own distinct space between the speakers, providing more than a few moments where you can close your eyes and feel like you are right there in the studio.

As real as it gets

Rather than bore you with all the specs and such (though you can read them here if you like) the Esoteric N-01XD needs to be experienced to believe. In 2020, the digital vs. analog ship has sailed. The combination of low-level resolution, and tonal gradation is some of the finest going. The only thing taking away from the sheer value of this player is that it might just force you into a major analog upgrade, should you be playing analog files. But that’s part of the fun.

The latest version of Esoteric’s network player is a digital tour de force.

The Esoteric N—01XD

MSRP:  $20,000

www.esoteric.jp

Peripherals

Preamplifier Pass Labs XSPre

Amplifier Pass Labs XA200.8 monos

Speakers Sonus faber Stradiveri w/six pack of REL no.25 subwoofers

Cable Cardas Clear

Features

Old School:

The Audiophile Apartment:

Mine: It Should Be Yours

Music

Playlists:  We share our readers choices from around the world

Future Tense

Gear in our immediate future

Cover Feature

Michi By Rotel: High performance without the high price

Having lived with a number of Focal speakers over the last five years, the family resemblance between the Utopia headphones and their floorstanding speakers is unmistakable.

The quick, lively, accurate sound I’ve grown accustomed to is now available for personal listening. Short story, I love them.

At $3,995, these are top tier premium phones to be sure. Yet unlike some of the other big guns, the Utopias sound incredibly good merely plugged in to my first gen Astell & Kern player or even the Dell desktop that I use to control ROON in my main system. Ditto for the iPad, so these are not like a number of other premium phones that absolutely require a major headphone amplifier to deliver great sound.

Past experience with Focal speakers (and their beryllium tweeters) shows they need a while to break in properly, sounding slightly edgy out of the box. The Utopia headphones are similar, so they stayed plugged into the Dell with music on repeat for a solid week before beginning serious listening. I suggest you do the same, or the brittle sound you start with may scare you off.

Plugging in to a number of different headphone amplifiers, Kevin Deal from Upscale Audio suggests the Feliks Audio Elise. At only $1,649, this makes for an incredible combination, where my Pass HPA-1 is still a touch forward for my personal taste. The Elise transforms the Utopias, mellowing them out that last bit. Passing from my desk to the living room where a pair of Focal Kanta no.3s are playing (via an all tube VAC i170) the sonic signature is wonderfully similar. You can read our review of the Elise here.

The Utopia uses a single, full-range beryllium driver, and I firmly believe that this lack of crossover is a big part of the coherent, open sound these phones deliver. Thanks to the low mass of this driver, the Utopias sound remarkably similar to my favorite planar phones.

No matter what kind of music you gravitate towards, the seamless quality of the Utopias will bring it out. Tracking through a long playlist of Blue Note classics shows off how well these phones capture the fine details of acoustic instruments. Horns and piano are full of texture, and thanks to the ultra dynamic nature of the Utopia driver, drums take on a new level of realism, capturing the initial strike of the drum heads with amazing precision.

Listening to Frank Zappa’s Freak Out! reveals what makes the Utopias worth the price. Their ability to disentangle complex recordings is fantastic. Anyone who happens to be a student of Zappa knows how much he packs into any tune. The massive bass riff in the opening of “Who Are The Brain Police?” is kept in balance with all the tinkly percussion bits, surrounded by layer upon layer of vocals – with Zappa staying front, center, right inside your brain as you listen.

The Utopias do and equally enticing job with sparse musical selections. Moving all the way through Twin Peaks (Music From the Limited Event) I’m stopped dead in my tracks on Sharon Van Etten’s “Tarifa.” If you aren’t/weren’t a Twin Peaks fan, at the end of the new episodes (produced around 2017) there is a different band playing in the bar. David Lynch had an incredible sensitivity for the music featured in the original series, and continues this trend here. It’s worth a spin on your favorite streaming service, you might find a few good test tracks!

As you take the Utopias out of their supplied carrying case, you’ll quickly notice the high level of fit and finish these headphones offer – just like a pair of Grande Utopia Ems. Everything is machined to a standard that you might expect from an F1 car or fine wristwatch. With Focal, engineering and craftsmanship always serves the art. Beautiful to behold, yes. But remarkable to listen to.

Well worth the price asked, these belong at the top of the premium headphone mountain.

focal.com

Technics has just announced a new, Mk.2 version of their successful SC-C70…

While they haven’t given us a full MSRP yet, the MK1 tipped the scales just under $1,000, so we suspect this will be somewhat the ballpark number for the Mk.2. The major upgrades include a revamp of the 2.1 speaker system, a more powerful amplifier, utilizing Technics’ “JENO Engine,” and their “Space Tune” DSP, optimizing the woofer for the environment in which it’s used – to deliver the most natural bass response.

It supports all the major streaming services, and includes a tuner too. There’s even a CD player on top – very nice. We’re looking forward to a review unit as soon as they are available. And…they come in black!

www.technics.com

We’ve just received the 702 Signature floor standing speakers from B&W…

Again, the UK manufacturer sticks to their path of constant refinement, with the
new Signature model of this speaker borrowing heavily from the technology
developed for the top of the line 800 series.

While there is no diamond tweeter sitting on top of the enclosure, the newest
version of the Carbon Dome tweeter uses a similar vapor deposition process
(developed for the 800 series diamond tweeters) in its construction.

We’ll have a full report very soon.

bowerswilkins.com

It’s hitting the web today, that McIntosh is providing the audio system for the concept car, that will eventually become the new Jeep Grand Wagoneer next year.

Ralph Gilles, Jeep’s head of design made it clear in their launch this morning that McIntosh is a big part of the Grand Wagoneer concept’s package. His smile when discussing the McIntosh system says it all, when he talks about the extent that they went to making this part of the new vehicle. Showing off the lighted speaker grilles with McIntosh, he says “yeah we went a little overboard on this, but you’ll be able to show off that you went the extra mile to get the McIntosh system.”
Most importantly, to dispel all the rumors that have been flying around, this was not an off the shelf solution, adapted to Jeep. The McIntosh group is no stranger to mobile audio, having done the stunning system for Ford’s GT40, and a killer line of aftermarket components that are still revered by mobile sound enthusiasts today. However, Poggi’s experience with mobile audio at Harman and Bose really came into play on this project, and he makes it clear this has always been a priority for him at McIntosh. “When I joined the McIntosh group, this was something I wanted to accomplish. We felt Jeep was a perfect overlap for the two companies.”

Poggi mentions that while they approached Jeep, the meeting of the minds went extremely well, and it didn’t take long for both teams to be on board with this project. Many of the technologies that exist in home Mac components, like Power Guard™, will be in the mobile system for maximum benefit.

This nearly three-year project had engineers from McIntosh as well as Jeep cross pollinating each others’ laboratories and design studios, with every aspect of the system fine-tuned to match the Grand Wagoneer’s environment. Poggi says this part of the process to him is “being given control of the room.”
Viewing the rest of the Jeep video, the team has clearly gone all out to offer an incredibly immersive experience for everyone in the cabin, and the integration of the McIntosh system is beautiful to behold.

Automotive car companies often launch concept cars as far as a few years from production, and the final result does not often mirror the concept car. You need look no further than Porsche’s Boxster to see the deviation. However, with Jeep saying that this vehicle will be available next year, it seems unlikely that there will be a major design change between now and then, so fingers crossed.

At this point, the cost of adding the McIntosh system is not available, but the system in the concept car features 23 custom-designed speakers connected to a 24-channel amplifier providing an immersive audio experience. The audio elements are housed in aluminum and gloss black, true to the design aesthetic of McIntosh’s high-end home audio systems. Again, to extrapolate based on what other SUV companies offer, there will most likely be two or three trim levels offered on the Grand Wagoneer, perhaps with the top line featuring it as standard equipment (As Range Rover does with the Meridian systems) and it being an add on for the other models.

Jeep is claiming the Grand Wagoneer will start at $45,000. We wouldn’t be surprised if a fully optioned version approaches double this price, but time will tell.

ED NOTE: A release from Car & Driver reveals the new Grand Wagoneer is going to start at $60k, with a fully loaded version “topping $100k,” so I guess our guess was on the money...

So, if you’re going to be shopping for a new SUV next year and you want to rock in style, what could be a more American experience than cranking up your mobile McIntosh system in a Grand Wagoneer. We look forward to taking one of these for a test drive. Here’s to seeing the finished product, and here’s a look at the past for a reminder where it all began.

www.mcintoshlabs.com

www.jeep.com

Building on the success they’ve achieved in the high end audio market over the last six years, Technics brings a new integrated amplifier, with some exciting new digital technology.

The SU-R1000 takes advantages of advances in power supply, output stage and overall amplifier design. It even features digital phono EQ in the phono stage. The stark, handsome front panel achieves a minimalist design ethos, with merely a volume control, input selector, power switch and headphone jack.

It features two sets of speaker outputs, and while no mention of power output was made in the press release, the front panel power meters illustrate 100 watts as the 0dB point, suggesting power somewhere around 100 watts per channel. In addition to the new, sophisticated phono stage, there is also an onboard DAC, with optical, Coax, and USB inputs. There are two RCA line level inputs, and one balanced XLR, as well as a standard RCA phono input and a balanced XLR/MC input.

Suggested retail has been hinted at just under $10k, but we will announce a final figure when it becomes available.

www.technics.com

Ken Kessler has been an occasional TONE contributor for over a decade now, and in that time, I’ve had the privilege to call him a friend.

He’s written some great books on some of the most legendary brands in audio, but I think his latest title, Making the Music Glow, is his best. Like the fine wines he enjoys, Kessler just gets better with age.

With news of the book being released earlier this week (and of course, under embargo on the news) Ken was kind enough to give us a brief overview on what went into making this legendary book. He and the staff at Audio Research spent a full year getting the details right. The book is $150, and worth every penny. I suspect the initial printing of 2000 copies will sell out quickly. You can order one from your local Audio Research dealer, or online at www.audioresearch.com.

Here’s what Ken had to say about writing this landmark book:

Warm’n’Fuzzy

It never gets old: waiting for one’s next book to appear. If something totally unforeseen, like a pandemic, interferes, the anticipation has been tempered by other challenges. Would the printers be working during lockdown? How would the near absence of air travel affect shipping … and the book launch? Despite unexpected changes to our daily lives, the publishing date has arrived. And an important box has been ticked.

Audio Research: Making the Music Glow is my fifth effort – and fourth history of a hi-fi manufacturer – and the timing was crucial. It was commissioned to mark the company’s first 50 years, so release in 2020 was mandatory. Everything else in my life, as in yours, was being postponed or cancelled: every hi-fi show fell from the calendar, a half-dozen trips abroad abandoned, my 50^th class reunion moved to 2021. But nothing was going to stop the telling of one of high-end audio’s most important tales during its milestone year.

“He would say that,” spots the cynic, “because he’s promoting his book.” Er, doh. So does every other author, musician, baker, tailor, plastic surgeon or anyone else with something to sell. The difference is, there is no hype here. Audio Research’s founder, Bill Johnson, is to the tube revival and the birth of high-end audio what the Band is to roots music, or Rolex is to mechanical watches. His brand’s story is about as seminal an element of the subject we love as it is possible to be.

I went into the project already a long-term user of the company’s preamps and power amps, whose own time involved with serious hi-fi coincided almost exactly with that of Audio Research’s span. A story beginning in was – off the page – almost a chronicle of my own hi-fi adventure. Looking back on my own journey, Audio Research has always been there; in my case, its electronics have powered my reference system for decades. I knew the brand – or thought I did.

As I interviewed past and present employees, reacquainted myself with models from the back-catalogue, reread reviews (including ones I’d written years ago), it emerged that Audio Research wasn’t “just another brand,” which is, unfortunately, an epithet applicable to the majority of names in audio, most of which add little to the canon. As any history is about context, it was a reminder of a specific moment in the development of hi-fi, when transistors threatened to do to audio what quartz was doing to watches.

For audiophiles of a certain vintage, the book is a wander down Memory Lane. Sadly-departed characters from hi-fi’s past pop up here and there, like legendary retailer Mike Kay or pioneering reviews such as Harry Pearson and J Gordon Holt. Forgotten brands, defunct magazines, barely remembered hi-fi shows, once-ubiquitous test discs, obscure rivals and a litany of tube travails: the story is told by those who were there, so future revisionists be warned. ARC employees Warren Gehl, Chris Ossanna, and Dave Gordon are this book’s provenance.

This is not just the saga of Bill Johnson and Audio Research, but how the industry made a stand against mediocrity. Our hobby has always treated its history with disdain, save for those anachrophiles who love vintage audio gear. There are no high-end audio museums, and lavish, profusely illustrated books such as this have only been around since 2003, with the arrival of my first book, the history of Quad. Vainglorious as that may sound, and yes, there were books about hi-fi before it, but none celebrated luxurious audio components with the visual impact they deserve. None treated hi-fi the way books about Ferrari or Rolex glorify, respectively, high-end cars and watches.

Since then, my shelves of books about hi-fi have grown to include a dozen more brand histories, and it is hoped that denizens of a future in which streaming is all that remains will happen upon them and revel in high-end hardware the way some of us swoon over Italian coffee apparatuses from the 1930s, twin-lens cameras and lacquered fountain pens. If the word “romantic” seems to have no place in a world based on brushed aluminum, folded steel plate, glassware, wire and other cold materials, the omnipresence of music should be enough to dispel that notion. But this book is more of a love story than I ever imagined it to be. And I don’t mean my own love for the brand.

What I hope you will glean from every page is that those who worked for Audio Research, and those who still do, love not just the company, and not just audio per se, but they loved Bill Johnson. That may seem a cliché too far, but it was an overwhelming realization. And the greatest love? That of Bill and Nancy Johnson. If, after absorbing the story of Audio Research, you feel as I do about its importance in the history of high-end hi-fi, let it be known that Nancy is an unsung hero, as Bill’s supporter and enabler. And without whose input this book wouldn’t exist.

McIntosh first introduced the C22 preamplifier in 1963 and it’s been a top seller ever since.

The combination of subtle styling, a plethora of inputs, and high performance, have made the C22 a true definition of the phrase “control preamplifier.” It was ahead of its time with two turntable inputs. Now, with the Mk.V edition, the C22 takes a slightly more modern approach to this classic, with a headphone jack on the front panel, vacuum tubes visible via a see through glass top window, and balanced inputs and outputs.

McIntosh claims the C22 Mk.V is very similar to the current C70 preamplifier, but offers the style you know and love. For the first time, the C22 also shares the backlit green faceplate of the rest of the lineup.

With MM and MC phono onboard, it continues the tradition of two phono inputs, in step with the current level of vinyl enthusiasm, and remains an all-tube design, sporting a 12AT7 and five 12AX7 tubes.

These are available for order now, with an MSRP of $6,000.

mcintoshlabs.com

There’s a new amplifier from the First Watt division of Pass Laboratories, and it looks exactly like all the other First Watt amps. However, every First Watt amplifier has different characteristics and is optimized for a different kind of speaker.

If you’ve ever met Nelson Pass, you know that in addition to being a creative genius, he’s also got a great sense of humor and practicality. Using the same case keeps the cost down, and that’s a good thing. According to the recent press release, the F8 is an improved version of their J2, the most popular amplifier in the First Watt lineup. Pass says, “I enjoy amplifiers with a little personality. They don’t have to measure perfectly, they just have to sound good. This is a simple little Class A amplifier with a very nice personality and I hope you like it.”

Producing 25 watts per channel into an 8-ohm load, but only 13 into 4-ohms, the F8 will not be for everyone. But like all of the other First Watt amplifiers we’ve experienced, those of you that will enjoy the F8, will enjoy it like no other. And you won’t get this sound anywhere else. Sound like a compelling challenge? We think so.

If you’ve got fairly sensitive speakers that can work with a 25 watt per channel amplifier, this is a piece of audio art you won’t want to miss. Mr. Pass usually makes these in limited quantities, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

The F8 is available now, at a cost of $4,000

http://www.firstwatt.com/f8.html

We’ve had an influx of CD players to review lately. Hmmm….

Though streaming is all the rage, there’s still a lot of fun to be had
spinning a physical disc. We’ve always been fans of the Compact
Disc, no matter how unpopular it has been.

Line Magnetic’s LM-24CD uses the ESS9016 chipset and offers
a vacuum tube buffer output stage. We’ve got a review in the
works.

http://www.toneimports.com

McIntosh Group announced today that as part of a partnership with Alps/Alpine, Sonus faber and McIntosh, they will soon announce their arrival in premium autosound.

This should prove a powerful force, and we anxiously anticipate hearing what they’ve come up with. About a year ago, when we last visited the McIntosh townhouse for a Sonus faber event, Senior Marketing Manager David Mascioni winked when we asked them if McIntosh would ever return to the autosound space. Now you know!

And for those of you that remember the legendary McIntosh car stereo systems, you know what we’re talking about. We will keep you posted as events unfold.

One of the toughest parts of putting together an analog player is determining what bits play well together.

When buying a budget analog deck in the $500 – $1,000 range, it’s pretty tough to go wrong – nothing resolves enough detail to screw it up too much. However, when you take the next leap or so to a $2,000 – $4,000 analog rig, you’re thinking about tonearms, cables, resonant points, etc. and, of course what cartridge is going to maximize your analog experience, it’s a bigger world. Now, you’re extracting enough information from those delicate grooves to make a real difference. And there are quite a few good choices.

In this case, the latest T-3 turntable package from LSA/Margules and Underwood HiFi hits the scale at $3,499 and ticks all the boxes. Featuring the T-3 turntable/arm package, it also comes with a $2,000 SoundSmith cartridge pre-installed, aligned, and ready to rock. Underwood even packs an alignment protractor and a digital stylus force gauge, for the day you decide to change cartridges. An excellent phono cable is included. Unlike some tables that lock you into a fixed cable, or others that utilize a tonearm cable requiring a DIN connector, the T-3 uses standard RCA connections, just like VPI and Luxman. Of course, we can always argue about cables, but I like the practical approach here. Just for giggles, I substituted a much more expensive Cardas Clear cable, optimized for tonearm duty, with integral grounding wire. In comparison, it does provide another step up in performance, your well on the right track with what’s supplied.

The competition heats up pretty fiercely as you move upscale to the $2,000 – $4,000 range. The jewel here is that all the heavy lifting is done – you only need to unbox, do a little bit of quick assembly and you’re playing records. Double-checking LSA’s work with a full suite of Analog Majik software reveals they did an excellent job setting the table up. I was still able to fine-tune it a smidge, but for those not wanting to go the extra mile, you will be delighted with how this table plays right out of the box.

Our review sample exhibits excellent speed accuracy, and even though three drive belts were enclosed, Underwood stresses that you only need to use one. (It does look kind of cool with three belts, though.) Much like earlier Regas and some VPI tables, changing speed is the only manual adjustment you’ll have to perform. If your record collection is mostly 33 r.p.m. records, this won’t be an issue. If you listen to 45s a lot, this may become aggravating, and some tables in this price range don’t require bothering, with a speed change only a button click away. If you are new to this kind of thing, make sure your hands are always clean when handling turntable drive belts. Getting your skin oil on the belts will make them fail prematurely. I wouldn’t call this one a deal-breaker, because again, this means less complexity, but you need to be aware.

Being there isn’t much setup, spinning records comes quickly. Again, kudos to Underwood for getting you to play right now. Listening begins with Joni Mitchell’s Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter. Not always a favorite of Joni fans, but a record that is somewhat of a tracking torture test and prone to inner groove distortion. Like my Grandfather used to say, “do the thing you like worst, first.” The T3 aces this torture test. Going back to the insanely deep bass riff in the opening track reveals not only the amount of low-frequency information this arm can handle but also how the table does at controlling external vibration.

This turntable is not a sprung or isolated design, so sitting in the same room with a six-pack of REL no.25s is a challenge for the T-3. In room two, as part of a system containing the new Egglestonworks Nicos, (with substantially less LF output) on top of a Quadraspire rack, everything is as it should be. You can turn the volume up as loud as need be to rattle the stuff on the shelves. My mid-grade Linn LP-12 does a better job with this, my Technics 1200 mk.5, worse, the VPI Classic One about the same. As with any table in this category, if you crave subterranean bass, mount that baby on the wall!

Listening to solo acoustic music, or classical pieces with a lot of space and air illustrates the table’s overall quiet, indicating the motor and bearing both do their job and interface well. This is usually where the lesser than tables slip up, with noise creeping in at higher volumes through the quiet passages. Going way, way back to an old favorite on the Phillips label, Beethoven Wind Music, performed by the Netherland Wind Ensemble, is played without the grinding in the background that is present on a budget table. This is one of the main things you should get when stepping up to a table in this price range. More of what you want – the music, and less of what you don’t want – noise, speed inaccuracy, and a restricted sound stage.

Playing substandard records often reveals more of a turntable’s character than playing pristine ones. In this case, the T-3 scores a B+. Part of this can be attributed to the moving iron design of the SoundSmith cartridges. Like the Grado moving iron cartridges, these cartridges all have a lovely midrange, with the dynamic feel of a MM, yet are easier to deal with than an MC cart, because they utilize 47k loading. The Aida 2 cartridge has an output of 2.2mv, so it will not require the additional expense of an MC phonostage. Again, with so many excellent MM phono stages in the $1,000-$2,000 range, this is a table/cart combo you can put in your current system without the additional expense –  a big bonus. However, these cartridges are never the last word in tracking, though the current Aida 2 is better than past SoundSmith designs, and at the top of its class. Remember, your analog setup is a system, so a $3,800 table and cartridge (with solid phono cable thrown in for good measure) that doesn’t need a phonostage upgrade is a major value right there.

Some of the worst rock records from the 70s that feel like they have a soundstage the size of a basketball, deliver the goods when played on the T-3. Those awful Monkees records of mine sound a lot better than they have a right to, and Rare Earth’s “I Just Want to Celebrate” is dynamic and forceful. The more sheer resolution a turntable/arm/combination can offer, the better it can unravel poorly recorded records, making more of your collection genuinely listenable—another plus for the T-3.

The Aida 2 does so much right, and along with its major dynamic swing, has a very natural tonal balance that has a drop or two of warmth in the mix. I prefer this sound, but your taste may vary. Reaching for some records that have better production, the SoundSmith/LSA combination really shines. The overall sonic picture that it paints is reasonably large and dimensional. It’s easy to see/hear what making the next step up from the $1,000 tables brings to the party.

Going through several well-worn favorite pressings, it’s easy to see that the arm and cartridge work incredibly well together. Again, this plays to the system concept of the T-3, so you could  save a few bucks if you already have a cartridge you are fond of. (but it might suck, when you mount it up, and then you’ll be wishing you bought that bundle…) Still, after trying the table with a few other comparably price cartridges from Dynavector, Sumiko, and Ortofon, I think you’ll be hard-pressed to get substantially better performance from something else. It won’t be a screaming deal like the T-3 and SoundSmith combo. Check the Underwood Hifi site for exact pricing, sans cartridge if you prefer to be stubborn and go your own way.

The only thing we haven’t really discussed this far is the aesthetic of the T-3. This is always personal, but I enjoy products that sound great and are a bit more fashion-forward. In the never-ending quest to get more hifi in the living room where all can enjoy it, the T-3 makes a bold statement with its curved plinth. That’s pretty cool. The T-3 is not a “me too” design.

What makes the T-3 worth one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2020 is the way it performs as a complete analog system. Stepping up to a table at this price can offer more performance than your average $1,000 table, but with higher performance, also comes the chance to screw it up. The wrong arm, an arm/table/cartridge mismatch, an underperforming tonearm cable can sour the recipe, leaving you wondering what you spent all that extra cash on in the first place.

If a $3,499 table/arm/cartridge fits your budget, and you don’t want to fuss, the T-3 with SoundSmith Aida 2 is one of the biggest values going. Especially when you consider they throw in all the accessories you need to boot. Those wanting the table alone can get it for $2,299 (with accessory kit and dustcover), or with the SoundSmith Carmen cartridge for $2,999.00. I say get the big box of chocolates, but I’m great at spending other people’s money!

www.underwoodhifi.com

Features

Old School:

The Audiophile Apartment:

Mine: It Should Be Yours

Music

Playlists:  We share our readers choices from around the world

Future Tense

Gear in our immediate future

Cover Feature:

The Egglestonworks Nico

It might strike some of you to start a Rega review talking about Naim, but the comparison begs to be made. Rega’s io is destined for legendary status.

Naim’s original Nait amplifier was a fantastic product, offering incredible musicality in a compact form factor at a price everyone could afford. It enticed thousands of audiophiles based on the above, and to this day, those still in possession of a working Nait cherish it.

 We’ve always been huge fans of Rega’s $900 Brio-R for the same reasons. While the Brio-R bests the vintage Nait in every way, it remains true to the concept of high performance, high value, and minuscule form factor. Though lacking the onboard digital section of something like the PS Audio Sprout (come on, this is Rega we’re talking about), the sound quality of the Rega’s discrete design and overall build quality is far superior. Rega says that the phono and amplifier section of this amplifier are straight from the Brio, so it’s easy to hear where its brilliance comes from.

Lowering the stylus on my older Rega P3 with Elys 2 cartridge, via a pair of FYNE 500 speakers makes beautiful music with a minimum footprint. Tracking through the first side of the purple bonus disc of Prince’s One Night Alone is spacious and delicate. Even though the FYNE speakers only have a sensitivity of 87db/1 watt, they are driven and controlled by the 30 watts per channel offered by the io with ease. The io only offers MM phono, but it is of very high quality. There are plenty of standalone phonostages selling for the $595 MSRP of the io failing to reveal this much music.

Different legos

Swapping the P3 out for a vintage Technics SL-1200 facilitates trying a few other MM cartridges from Sumiko, Clearaudio, and Shure. All offer equally fantastic results, so any cartridges in the $50-$500 range should be a good fit. The phono section of the io is extremely quiet, but Rega has been building great budget phonostages for decades. Experience makes the difference.

Also included in the io is a front panel, mini headphone jack. Trying to stay in the budget ethos, a few phones from B&W, Grado, and an original pair of Audeze 2s make for great personal listening. Again, we can’t think of a $595 headphone amplifier with onboard phonostage that we’ve enjoyed this much. Apartment dwellers not yet ready for speakers would be smart to acquire an io as a headphone amplifier for now, adding speakers later. The io is the perfect building block to transition you from personal listening to full room listening. Merely plug your phones in to disable the speaker outputs.

In addition to the MM phono input, there are two more line-level analog inputs around back, so you can add a DAC/streamer, possibly a tuner, or maybe even a tape deck. Staying compact, we used the Gold Note DS-10 DAC/streamer to provide digital files for additional listening beyond analog.

Quiet quality

In the end, the amount of music that the io reveals is the value proposition. There have been a handful of notable low power solid-state amplifiers over the decades, and we submit the io for top billing. Most amplifiers at this price (and beyond) struggle just to drive a pair of speakers. The io sounds like a component you would expect to pay quite a bit more for.

One of the biggest keys to Rega’s ability to build this much for this little is their corporate frugality, combined with major engineering chops, building nearly everything in-house. Having been to the factory a few times, their commitment to excellence and efficiency is amazing. They use a limited number of enclosures for the same products to minimize tooling costs, with as much raw material overlap as possible. Everything they do is refined, distilled, and simplified as far as it can, but no more. Finally, the highly skilled workforce at the factory assures things are built and tested to perform for the long term. The io is built with the same level of care that Regas top components are.

Sublime sonics

Using the io as an anchor for a $1,500 system will provide plenty of sonic bliss, but going upstream a bit proves just how much more this small amplifier is capable of. Swapping the FYNE speakers for the $1,500/pair Wharfdale Lintons and even the $4,000/pair JBL L-100 classics – both with excellent result illustrates how much resolution the baby Rega amp can muster. This amplifier could easily be paired with components costing a lot more. 

The io provides a lot of bass control, offering a lot of low-frequency definition when listening to bass heavy tracks. This was always an area that the original Nait lacked.

The ios’ high frequency response (especially when listening with more revealing speakers) has a level of polish that you’d expect in a $3,000 integrated. Again, there’s something special about a high quality, low power amplifier used within the realm of its capability. This amplifier plays music with the best.

Selecting tracks with multiple vocal layers shine through, and acoustic pieces give enough insight to feel natural. The io is dynamic, but like the Brio-R will hit a wall. 30 watts only goes so far, and this amplifier does run into a wall when taxed. It does not clip hard though, it merely flattens out dimensionally. The solution is easy, keep listening levels modest or get a pair of very efficient speakers.

Head of the class

The Rega io is so good, one is tempted to summon up a cauldron full of well-worn audiophile clichés. While it is excellent at first listen, the toughest part of reviewing a component offering such a high level of performance is that it begs being connected to much more expensive ancillaries to experience the depth of its true capabilities. You could grab a pair of budget speakers and a thrift shop turntable and live happily ever after with the io, but like that other legend from the UK, don’t be surprised to see this one in the company of much more expensive components. Watch for the audio forums of 2050 to speak of this amplifier in hushed reverence.

Of course, the io is worthy of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2020, but that doesn’t truly explain a product that gets the essence of the music so right. Audiophiles beginning their journey here may be spoiled for a very long time.

I need one!

The Rega io

$599

soundorg.com (NA distributor)

rega.co.uk (factory)

Those of you that know Underwood Wally of Underwood HiFi, know he’s the king of spotting great value and performance. You might have seen this interesting table at the last Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.

Now shipping, this table was originally going to retail for $3,795, bundled with a great suite of accessories: coolio (and massive) record clamp, high quality set of interconnects, along with a well thought out ground wire, dust cover, and cork mat. They’ve even included a digital scale and protractor. Such a great way to roll – you can pull it out of the box, set it up and start spinning records, now.

But, as they say in the movies, “wait, there’s more.” In this case much more. For a limited time, Underwood HiFi is selling this table for $3,499, bundled with a SoundSmith Aida 2 cartridge installed by Peter Madnick to perfection. A quick check with our Analog Magik suite revealed it’s set up well right from the factory. The cart alone is two grand! And this table is drop dead gorgeous too. The curved plinth is said to help control resonance, and it is a major design statement as well.

This has to be one of the biggest analog deals going. Initial listening proves it to be more than good enough, we can enthusiastically recommend this one! But to be fair, we need to give you a more detailed analysis, and go over the fine points.

Whether this is your first table (if so, bravo for making this kind of commitment on your first go) or you’re a vinyl lover with a $500-$1500 table that is really getting into it and wants to make a big move forward, this combination is rocking.

Here’s the site, if you’d like to get out the Visa card!

https://www.underwoodhifi.com/products/lsa-turntables

In the 70s and throughout the 80s, the JBL L-100 was a very successful loudspeaker. Having a production run from 1970 to the mid-80s, the L-100 sold in more significant numbers than any other model, and perhaps one of the greatest selling speakers in audio history.

For those squealing about the $4,000/pair cost, a quick look at a currency calculator reveals that the $546 it took to buy a pair of L-100s in 1970 is worth about $3,700 in 2019. By comparison, a brand new Camaro (V8 sport coupe, not a Z28) back in 1970 was about $3,100, and a new Camaro goes out the door, moderately appointed (but still with a V8) is about $45,000. Clearly, JBL has done a better job of keeping pace with inflation. However, to be fair, a 1970 Camaro in great shape will fetch 50 to 100 thousand dollars at auction. A clean pair of L-100 originals about $1,500.

Considering what three to four thousand dollars buys in a pair of speakers these days, the new JBL will not be everyone’s cup of, but the value they do bring to the table is unmistakable. There are definitely more audiophile-y speakers out there, but to this writer, loudspeakers are like buying a painting. Some prefer the French impressionists, while others like Andy Warhol, and yet others like something else.

If you want more resolution and a broader sound field, think about a pair of comparably priced MartinLogans, or Magnepans. If you’d like a midrange that does a better job with the human voice, think about some Harbeths, Grahams, or ProAcs. We all know that there are tons of choices, and $4k/pair is an excellent speaker budget. You should be able to find something you love with four thousand bucks in your pocket.

Just as one person would rather peel out with a nearly 600 horsepower Dodge Challenger than get a wimpy four-cylinder Porsche Cayman S that is only about 300 horsepower (but goes around corners way better), it’s easy to see the attraction. Fun can be delivered within different paradigms and still be fun.

Comparing to the originals

It’s incredibly easy to let a romanticized past get the better of you. And as a boomer to all of you in younger generations, laugh now. Winter gets longer and more treacherous the older you get. It happens. But we try not to play it that way.

With a pair of mint originals at hand to make a direct comparison, it underlines even further what great speakers the new Classics are. The originals still have an unmistakable cool factor, and there are several updated crossover kits on that market that are claimed to make the originals otherworldly, but that has to be another day. One can only tweak so much.

Unlike today’s reimagined muscle cars paying fairly close visual homage to their 70s counterparts, the L100 classic looks incredibly close, whether the grilles are on or off. The pulp cone midrange driver (albeit updated) and woofer (same) are still in place, though today’s 12-inch woofer now sports a rubber cone surround, where the original featured a pleated paper surround. The paper coned tweeter in the original is now replaced by a titanium dome, which incidentally, JBL has done an excellent job at taming.

Best of all, the sculpted foam grille remains. When I sold these speakers back in the late 70s, everyone knew that grille. Whether on purpose or by accident back then, this was part of what made the L-100 an icon. And this charm remains. Foam choices are orange, blue, and brown.

My originals are orange, so it felt like a great idea to get more subdued brown ones this time. Fortunately, your JBL dealer can supply the other colors for $249 a pair, so I foresee some blue ones in my future. (Ed. note: since this was originally published earlier this year in our 100th anniversary issue, I have acquired a blue set, thanks to staffer, Tom Casselli, who now has the orange. Hmmm.)

While many snooty late 70s/early 80s audiophiles dismissed the L100 of the day, it was a much better speaker than many gave it credit for. Unfortunately, most mass-market retailers sold em with a crappy Kenwood receiver (or something else equally dreadful) that didn’t have the current drive to tame the woofer, or the refinement to get a decent top-end response. I always seemed to remember that connecting my pair up to a Conrad Johnson MV50 was pretty rocking, but again, that memory thing.

This time though, I was right. Hooking the original JBL’s up to the PrimaLuna EVO400 monoblocks with a full complement of EL34 tubes is indeed glorious, and in fact, even better than I remember.

Out with the old, in with the new

The L-100 Classics were far and away the hit of the 2018 Rocky Mountain Audiofest, even if they were hooked up to an awfully dry sounding Levinson amplifier. As part of the same conglomo, I’m sure they had to use that sterile, boring Levinson amp, but they should have pulled out a freshly re-capped Marantz 2275, or god forbid, a McIntosh MC275. Sometimes you have to cross party lines to reach the desired result. But I heard enough to get the essence.

Earlier this year, getting a pair of these for review proved nearly impossible. So, kudos for making this review possible go to Mr. Steve Rowell at Audio Classics for putting this together. I rarely buy a piece of gear before the investigation even begins, but I knew I wanted to get old with a pair of these. Staff member Jessica Sieracki took the vintage ones off my hands after, so onward and upward.

Like several other speakers with a metal dome tweeter, the L-100 is slightly bright out of the box. This went away after about 50 hours of play and is gone entirely by 100 hours. The midrange and tweeter level controls are much more useful than they are on the originals and come in handy fine-tuning to your destination amplifier, cable, and room choice. My living room is a bit livelier than in the main listening room, so a nudge of the tweeter control in the counterclockwise direction is both handy and welcome.

How do they compare?

Now that these speakers have been out for just over a year, the internet abounds with multiple opinions, many centering around the L-100 classic, not being an “audiophile speaker.” It is, and it isn’t. If by audiophile speaker, you mean hyper-detailed, with pinpoint imaging, and pretty much no bass to speak of, then the L-100 classic speaker is not an audiophile speaker.

While attending a demonstration of another manufacturer, the fellow running the show said that when making a speaker, you can go for accuracy, or you can go for something more fun. Clearly, the JBL engineers went for the latter, as these are without question one of the most fun pairs of speakers I’ve ever used.

Like the originals, these are genuinely a garbage in/garbage out speaker. Pair them with  low quality, low-resolution equipment , and they will reveal what is behind them. Mate them to great electronics, and they stand up very well indeed.

The L-100s go deep. A comparable pair of mini-monitors from across the pond sound absolutely wimpy in comparison at first blush. But a side by side comparison with a pair of Harbeth Compact 7s reveals the Brit monitors to be cleaner and less cloudy through the mid-band – you can’t argue with the BBC. Think of the Harbeths as a cool white color rendition and the JBL’s a warm white rendition. I own both, I enjoy both, but if you have to choose one, it’s probably going to be down to your ultimate preferences.

The L-100s definitely go way down deep, but the character of the bass rendered is slightly warm. If you’re listening to classic rock or jazz, this is probably going to be pretty pleasant. Those of you on a quest for the absolute sound, whatever that is, will probably go elsewhere. Much like the originals, plopping a Joni Mitchell record on the turntable and easing back in the couch with the L100 Classics is one of life’s great pleasures. Especially with a good tube amp. I’d highly suggest the PrimaLuna, an MC275 or a VAC amp as my first choices.

The JBLs paint a fairly big sonic picture, but it’s more diffuse. While it expands slightly beyond the speaker boundaries, it’s not all-encompassing the way a pair of panel speakers or a perfectly optimized pair of Falcon LS3/5as can. They don’t entirely disappear in the room all the way, but that’s ok.

One other forgotten aspect is the ability to play at a reasonably convincing level. When the other speakers have long run out of dynamic capability, the L-100 Classics still have plenty of headroom left. Oddly, while they are slightly grainy in comparison to a few other speakers, this does not increase at higher levels. I’d venture to guess that some of the insight gained in studio monitor and sound reinforcement has trickled down to these speakers. If you want a pair of real rock and roll speakers, these will do quite nicely.

At the end of the day, the JBL L-100 Classics remind me a lot of that great American amplifier, the McIntosh MC275. It’s not the last word in any of the standard audiophile qualifiers, but I dare you to have a bad day listening to one. The same goes for the L-100 Classics. I dare you to have a bad time listening to your favorite music, no matter what generation it’s from when you’re rocking a pair of L-100 Classics.

And that’s their charm. Considering I’ve had a pair of the originals in one form or another for the last 40 years, the chance that these will be with me till the end is high. Want a good deal? Show up at the estate sale in 2055. I’m sure our kids will sell em to you cheap.

Classic ride, classic speaks. What’s NOT to love?

Friend and occasional TONE contributor Andy “Ammo” Schneider has been doing something incredibly creative with his spare time, combining a love for music, art, and high end audio.

You may have seen “Ammo” on the stage at Coachella, or selling audio gear at AV San Francisco in a past life, or roaming the streets of Seattle, where he now calls home.

An incredibly multifaceted individual, he’s combined his highly tuned visual skills and music love with an environmentally friendly and affordable approach to audio gear. He’s been wrapping, painting, and grinding secondhand, inexpensive gear to create one – off pieces of audio art.

We chat a lot on Facebook, so I’ve been following his progress. He had a few minutes to give me some more specifics into the how and why (or as they say in art school, “explain your process”) and talk about some of his friends/customers than now have a unique way to listen to music.

TONE: How did you come up with this idea, that is obviously way off the beaten path for audio?

Ammo: I started doing this in San Francisco years ago when I was between jobs, just to stay busy and sane. Though I have a decent 9-5’er now, I’ve got a bit more time since musicians like myself aren’t on the road touring. I’ve always loved collecting audio and am on Craigslist all the time. Friends are always asking me for help wading through the audio jungle, but it must look cool.  I’m always the one that friends call when they are looking for a system. Regardless of what I’m doing, I’ll always drop everything and start searching to find them something.
I think if you can make hifi look interesting, it’s a lot easier to step beyond an Apple or Google device to play and enjoy music more. Once it gets into the house, it’s like a Trojan Horse! I’m particularly proud to say that I have as many female customers as male, which having worked in audio retail, is not usually the case.

TONE: Agreed. Visual appeal is something many manufacturers overlook, or some of the ones that pay close attention to aesthetics, build gear that is out of reach for more casual buyers.

Ammo: I’m definitely building these for people my age and younger, a lot of my followers on Instagram (you can find him here: @ammodrums under the “ammoflage” Highlights). I’m always trying to make something interesting and personal. Every single piece is a one off, done by me, by hand.

TONE: What do you look for in donor gear?

Ammo:  I try to keep it reasonable. I love stuff in the $25 – $100/per box range, as that makes it much more accessible for the end users. I love tackling new speakers whenever I can, though personally I love Andrew Jones’ earlier work with Pioneer. For a while you could get those for $50 a pair new!  I’m watching for stuff that’s easy to modify visually.

Athena speakers are great for the price, and the ones I’m always looking for since you can do some interesting contrast stuff with the different removable fascia pieces. I like some of the smaller Polk Audio models too.

It’s also interesting to note that used gear in Portland is way more expensive than Seattle or San Francisco. I suspect it’s because the gear stayed with families a lot longer, and how painfully hip Portlanders are with collecting vintage kit.

TONE: What was one of your biggest challenges?

Ammo:  My favorite challenges are when someone sends me a picture of their living room and lets me take it from there, carte blanche. My least favorite challenge was an old Denon amp that was the ugliest thing. I sanded everything off, telling the buyer to just remember the button and knob functions from a picture.

TONE: Yeah, I saw that one! Liked that, as well as those vintage A/D/S speakers that got the same treatment!

Ammo: It’s a creative outlet, and a way to get people to understand and enjoy their music in a new, fun way – ironically by focusing on how their stereo looks rather than sounds.

TONE: What else goes into the project?

Ammo: Art supplies. Lots of art supplies. I’m stocking up on art supplies just to keep up! I’m not really making a profit, but am staying even. If someone decides to pay me a decent price, I’ll gift another system to someone who can’t afford investing in a decent rig. Kinda like Toms for speakers, only without a business model. My audience isn’t necessarily the standard audio store customers either. But it is helping to bring more people to music – that’s way better than binging on Netflix all day!

TONE:  Can you tell us more about the colors and the rest of your process?

Ammo: I primer the cabinets, and then work with a wide range of mostly Indian and Thai hand-made craft papers. I stick it down with an adhesive compound – the paper is very delicate. This kind of negates scaling to a wider audience. But who knows?

TONE:  Do you go more for subtle or statement pieces?

Ammo: One goal is to make the pieces look as far away from original as possible. I look for interesting patterns, ranging from organic to psychedelic.

TONE: Do you take input from the recipients of your creations?

Ammo:  All the time. I work with my friends to see the color pallete of their living space. I always get interesting vibes and inspirations. I did one pair of speakers to match a friend’s shoes, because he told me he would be putting his favorite pair of shoes on one of the speakers.

TONE: Better than the cat, eh?

Ammo:  Hahahah. Hey I’d color-match someone’s cat if someone asked!

TONE: This is certainly a great way to introduce people to hifi.

Ammo:  I think so, and it’s awesome to hear from clients how much more time they’re spending listening to music, which is amazing. I’m not really trying to be a product evangelist, and most of this gear is mass market to be sure, but it still sounds way better than an Alexa, or Sonos all in one.

TONE: And that’s still a major step forward, for all.

Ammo: Agreed!

So, if you’re looking for something way more interesting than an Alexa, drop Andy “Ammo” a note on Facebook, Instagram, or email directly at [email protected]. These are some incredible creations.