TAGA Harmony are based in Poland and offer a wide range of loudspeakers and other products to suit all pockets. Here Ian Ringstead tries out their TAV 616F SE floorstanders costing €735.

“This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to listen to a pair of TAGA loudspeakers at home and are a relatively new name to me. They are a Polish company offering high quality products for the hifi and audio-video market. The main types of products are: high-end, hifi and home theatre speakers, in-wall/in-ceiling and outdoor speakers, multimedia speakers, hifi electronics and accessories for speakers. Started in the early nineties the company is run by enthusiasts who felt that a lot of high end equipment was expensive and didn’t always offer the sound quality it should have for the money. They wanted to do something about this and so formed TAGA Harmony – “To Achieve Glorious Acoustics”…”

Read the full review here

Tannoy is a household name, and not just amongst audiophiles. Here Dominic Marsh takes a listen to their  £599 Revolution XT6 loudspeakers.

“TANNOY.  Now there is a name many people will recognise and it’s one of the few names that are deeply embedded into the way people around the world would describe a loudspeaker system.  The name actually occupies the same lofty and unique territory in our everyday language as the name “Hoover” is used to describe vacuuming your home, as in “I’m going to Hoover the carpets”.  How many times have you read in a newspaper, book or magazine, or perhaps watched a TV programme or film containing these words:  “An announcement was/will be made over the TANNOY system for all passengers to . . . . . . . “ and is still in regular use even today?   No surprise then that Tannoy are still manufacturing Public Address systems as well as a huge range of professional studio equipment…”

Read the full review here

We are well into the summer now but June has been a very busy month. We ended the month with a fantastic two-day North West Audio Show at the sumptuous Cranage Hall  . There was plenty of other news going on though so here’s a round up, just in case you missed anything!

Wilson Audio  Alexia Series 2 Pricing And Spec

Optoma Expands Hi-Res NuForce HEM Series

TANNOY Legacy Prices Released

C SEED Announce New Outdoor Speakers

Amare Musica Announce New Valve Amplifier

Audeze Adds New Colourway To In-Ear Headphones

Gryphon Audio Designs Announce New Exclusive North American Distributor

Acoustic Energy Release New Bluetooth Loudspeaker

Spendor Launch New A-Line Loudspeakers

Blue Horizon Launch Professional Rack System And Sanctum Isolation Platform

SparkoS Labs Announce SS Phono Amplifier

Octave Launch First Single-Ended Tube Amplifier

Black Rhodium Release New STREAM Power Cable

iFi Launch Pro Series iESL Headphone Energiser

PS Audio Announce Free Update For DS And DSJ DACS

ECLIPSE Announce End Of The Line For TD-M1 Wireless Speaker

Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems Win Manufacturing Excellence Award

New Improvements For Bliss Music Library Management Software

exaSound are a Canadian brand that make just a handful of products. Here David Blumenstein takes delivery of their $3499.00 e33 Digital to Analogue Converter. 

Five years ago I embarked upon a decision to pick up sticks and emigrate to London from New York City. This was made somewhat more concrete for me as a result of my father’s passing and my desire to get away and make a fresh start.  I knew that wherever I would call home music, more specifically my library would come with, but not all my gear and definitely not my records and CDs. The decision was to streamline as much as possible and limit gear to whatever could fit in good sized Airline approved carry-on roller bag. This meant that I had to digitise all my music and that apart from my speakers I would be taking my Mac Mini, hard drives and trusty universal, 110/220v, Bel Canto Design s300 integrated amplifier with built-in 24/96 DAC. Everything else would be purchased upon my arrival. I went through a slew of speakers before I finally felt comfortable with the Audio Physic Tempos, and it was during that time that not only did I find myself downloading and acquiring more HD, high definition files, but also  discovering something new to me called DSD, Direct Stream Digital.

Read the full review here

Pro-Ject make a huge range of turntables to suit pretty much all pockets. Today Ian Ringstead takes a listen to the £1400 Pro-ject 6 Perspex SB Turntable Package.

I have been a huge fan of Pro-Ject turntables ever since their introduction back in the nineties. As a company, Pro-Ject never rest on their laurels and are constantly introducing new and innovative models to the range. The choice can be daunting at first glance, but there is logic to it and they certainly cater for all tastes and pockets.

The Pro-Ject 6 Perspex SB is an update of the original Perspex 6 with some radical design improvements. It comes with a new perimeter drive belt mechanism where the motor sits in its own pod in a dedicated cutout at the back left of the plinth. The cut is lined with damping material to cut down on resonance issues. The AC motor is in a smart looking machined metal housing that has its own speed control incorporated and is controlled by a simple push switch that actuates speeds of 33 1/3 and 45. You just push the switch to engage the speed and if you press it for a second or so it will change speed. To stop the motor simply hold the switch down and the platter will stop rotating. The motor has been designed to offer better speed stability through the electronic circuits incorporated in the motor pod housing allowing for a stable speed unaffected by mains fluctuations.

The plinth is superbly engineered from Perspex and incorporates the sub-chassis; platter and TPE damped aluminium coned feet. The sub-chassis is unusual in that it is made from Corian which I remember from years ago being used in a Technics turntable. The Corian has great isolation properties and so suits this design very well.

The other unique part of the design is that the sub-chassis is isolated from the Perspex plinth by using magnets so creating a floating platform. The platter is a vinyl/mdf sandwich that is accurately balanced for excellent speed accuracy and rotation the same as car tyres and wheels are balanced to run smoothly.

An inverted bearing is used which has a stainless-steel axle with a ceramic ball and is greased to allow smooth running with minimal wear. Like many of Pro-Ject’s designs the platter is topped off with a vinyl layer to act as the interface with the record. Finally, the platter has a threaded spindle so you can use the supplied screw on record clamp.

The arm supplied is the excellent Pro-Ject 9cc as fitted to my Extension 9 turntable and is a very successful design which I can vouch for. The phono cable supplied is detachable from the rear of the deck and is the Connect-IT E, a good quality lead which can be upgraded if you so wish. Finally, a nice dust cover is supplied to protect the unit when not in use.

Not only does the 6 perspex SB look great, it also sounds great. After unpacking the deck and setting it up (which took about half an hour) I sat back to enjoy my records.

Henley kindly supplied an Ortofon  2M Bronze moving magnet cartridge which at £200 is a good starting point. You can buy the deck from Henley Audio as a package deal with either the Ortofon Quintet Bronze or Black moving coil cartridges and save between £190 and £254. I can vouch for both cartridges as a I use a Black and used the Bronze recently for another review.

The great thing about the design is that it allows for tweaking if you so desire. I experimented with a better arm lead and used my Pro-Ject 9 turntable weight instead of the screw on clamp. Both of these reaped rewards in performance.

The Sound 

Straight away it was obvious that this turntable was a good design as it gave a very clear and reasonably deep sound stage. If I had put my Quintet Black on it would have improved again, but I wanted to see what a decent moving magnet could offer. I tried the deck through several amps and speakers varying in price from about £1000 to £3600 for the amps and about £800 for the speakers. The deck worked well with all of them and did not disgrace itself when paired with the Densen 150 amp I am currently trying out. Speakers were either my resident Triangle Titus EX or floor standers from TAGA.

I tried all genres of music and dug out some records I hadn’t listened to for ages. I have a large collection of vinyl going back 40 years and it surprises how well a lot of older albums were recorded. Bands from the seventies, Yes, AWB, Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, etc. all sounded good and it was easy to hear the interplay of all the musicians and their individual instruments placed in a coherent and believable sound-stage.

I recently attended a live concert of the Messiah, a favourite choral work of mine and it reminded me how important it is to regularly listen to live music. I was sat on the front row, not an ideal position you might think, literally a few feet away from the musicians and conductor. Normally in a concert hall I would prefer a seat mid stalls or balcony, but it amazed me how good it sounded even close to and I could clearly hear all the singers and musicians located perfectly. Going back to the Project in my system, this did a similar thing like any good component should do, but not all are equal. As I mentioned earlier I played around with the deck by putting a much more expensive silver interconnect on it. This upped the game in detail and I would recommend this to anyone if they buy this deck to try. I did this with my Project 9 and the difference was well worth it. The record weight also improved the bass and clarity to a degree, but the screw on clamp works well. It just takes longer to screw and unscrew as opposed to the weight’s simple placing on and off.

The Isolation system worked well and placing the deck on my rack gave no issues, even when playing music loudly.

Overall the Project 6 Perspex SB offers a lovely looking package that is easy to use and allows for improvements to boost its already good performance much further.

AT A GLANCE                                                                                          

Build Quality:  Excellent build and finish

Sound Quality:  Detailed, clean and transparent with good sound staging that can be tweaked to take it further

Value for Money: Excellent considering the competition is tough at this price point. Even better when you factor in Henley’s package deals with the Quintet moving coils 

Pros: 

Great build quality, excellent looks and very good sound to boot. Tweakable, a plus point for enthusiasts wanting to experiment

Cons: 

The screw on clamp slows things down; I’d have preferred a weight instead

Price: £1400 without cartridge

Ian Ringstead

If you have experience in pro audio then the name Prism Sound may not be unfamiliar, but now the company are taking their professional credentials into the home audio marketplace. Janine Elliot takes a listen to their £1795 Callia DAC. 

Prism Sound is a company I didn’t know much about, though actually I have been using some of their gear for many years. Initially a professional audio company specialising in DACs that grace many studios around the world, this company also bought (on April Fool’s day in 2008) a digital editing system called SADiE that I had been using at the BBC since the Noughties, a system both loved and hated by Studio Managers.

Prism Sound was set up in 1987 by two electronics engineers; Graham Boswell and Ian Dennis. The pair met in 1981 while working on digital signal processing (DSP) technology at British mixing desk manufacturer Rupert Neve & Company. Their work on DACs has not gone unnoticed, winning the Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2011 and it is good to see that they are now extending their knowledge into the domestic hifi fraternity. The Callia is their latest offering for the home, though using technology taken from their professional products. This curvy 2/3 pint-pot sized unit only lacks a remote control to get me really excited, although it does allow automatic selection of input type. Only the large and small potentiometers for line and headphone output respectively meant you occasionally needed to lean forward to turn a dial. The design goal for CALLIA was to provide excellent audio in a sophisticated but easy to use box for home use, and they certainly have succeeded in this respect, and all for a very reasonable sum of money.

The supplied instruction manual doesn’t let you know much about the product, though it gets you up and running quickly, but the unit comes complete with probably the best looking USB stick containing comprehensive manual and more importantly the drivers required for operating from your PC or Mac, plus updates.  Coax and optical inputs allow up to 24bits and 192kHz plus DSD64. Whilst the USB input allows PCM up to 32bit/384kHz and DSD64 and DSD128 any sampling rates higher than 192 are reduced to levels at or below this using a high performance decimation filter. So for a 384kHz source, for example, it will be converted to 192kHz. In addition to the DSD64 (5.6448 Mbit/s) and DSD128 (11.2896 Mbit/s) bit rates, the Callia also supports the 48kHz-derived rates of 6.144 Mbit/s and 12.288 Mbit/s. The Callia uses an AMD Cortex processor for the USB side of things, and rather than today’s addiction and convenience of ESS Sabre or Texas Industries DSP chips, it uses the Cirrus Logic CS4398, though all bit different from Boswell and Dennis’s early days in digital work at Neve when everything was designed from the box up. The design is fully-balanced throughout with an excellent headphone amplifier.

Arriving in a posh cardboard box that would put any Apple presentation carton to shame, the important electronics are no less attractive; a curvy grey coloured front panel (reminding me of an Arcam of old) with enough blue LEDs to light up a Christmas tree, that either illustrate the digital credentials of your chosen source, or hold hands around the volume controls for both line out and headphones. For the line output the number of lights depends on how high you set the controls; this is a functioning work of art that makes the unit disappointing to look at when it is switched off. The power switch on the right also acts as a selector for your digital source. Sources include the usual choice of Toslink optical, S/PDif coax and USB. The first four LEDs indicate the three sources with the first LED showing whether selection is automatic. The last 6 LEDs on the front will indicate digital format and bit rate specifically showing “DSD”, “x2”, “x4”, “44.1”, “48” and “24bit”. So, for 24 bit 192kHz it would indicate “x4”,”48” and “24b”. Whilst this may look very pretty it’s a bit trying to work out the time on a binary watch. A simple 2-line display would be much easier in my opinion.  Interestingly the DSD signals are internally converted to PCM before decoding to analogue (DoP; ‘DSD over PCM’). Prism Sound Chief Technology Officer Ian Dennis writes much about their choice of decoding in the Callia, and hints that most DACs will convert from DSD to PCM before decoding to analogue, something I had suspected when reviewing another DAC a while back. Certainly the design of this DAC made all inputs I tried work well, with the sound quality and design showing their background in professional audio, as well it should. That includes the four dip switches on the rear. The first switch disables the front volume control and sets the unit to a fixed output level. I personally liked this as the unit is not acting as a preamplifier. Switch 2 controls the amount of head-room when in DSD playback mode. When this switch is set to “on” the output is +3.1dB, meaning that any peaks of output won’t be clipped, though noise floor is that much less.  The last two switches are for optimising the headphone impedance. Usually the line output will be muted when connecting headphones, but even that can be disabled if you wish on one of the 4 permutations of the last two dip switches. Trying both 40ohm and 300ohm headphones I found the headphone amp worked well. The unit accepts any mains voltage between 90V and 250V, so no mains voltage selection is required.

Sound

The word Callia is Greek for “very beautiful” and I hoped that all I heard would be beautiful. Indeed I was instantly drawn to the music it decoded, but I personally would have chosen a name Timios, meaning “honest”. The DAC is very honest, with plenty of attack and detail, not adding anything or taking anything from the music. I did feel, however, that the vocals were the definitive point on whether this unit was ‘beautiful’, and on a number of times I felt that midrange frequencies – particularly vocal range – seemed very slightly weak and made my own new album ‘Boxed In’ rather light in the vocal range; quite surprising me and making me sound even worse than I already think I am!  Violins – within this frequency range – were extremely clear and entertaining and soundstage was captured as honestly as a professional sound engineer in a studio using Prism Sound professional gear would expect. The headphone output is surprisingly good and the balanced architecture means that the unit works well as a preamplifier in its own rights, if only it had a remote control.

Playing the Binaural Chasing the Dragon “Espana – A Tribute to Spain” album gave a sense of three-dimensionality that I hadn’t heard from other DAC/headphone amplifiers. The clarity in all frequencies and quick speed from the instruments, particularly pizzicato strings and percussion just gave a better binaural experience through my closed-back 43 ohm Audio Technica W1000 headphones than I have heard to date. Those cans have a clear and open mid and top, though some might find them slightly recessed in the bass line, though it does mean that bass is crisp and clear. The headphone section might me an add-on for the Callia, but to be honest it surpasses many headphone amplifiers I have had the pleasure of listening to over the years.   As musicians turned the page at the end of each piece of music it allowed me to gain a closer relationship with all that was going on around my head. Clarity in the high frequency region was excellent. Only lowest bass seemed economical at times.

Dire Straits “Telegraph Road” from ‘Love over Gold’ is one of those tracks any prospective hifi purchaser in the latter years of the last century would have used to audition separates in Lasky’s or Comet. The track has ‘pin-sharp’ guitars and cymbals, and deep bass drum bursts that would test any woofer. The Callia’s clarity meant the infamous bad edit at 3’37” with a shift across the soundstage mid verse was even more annoying than it was when I first heard it.

Turning to the +14dBu XLR output into my balanced Krell gave for an even greater sense of clarity and power. This miniature unit was not anorexic when it came to engagement, detail and speed. This unit ensured nothing was added or taken away. The decaying long “A” on the strings linking the second half of the 14 minute movement was not an afterthought in the music. I could hear and understand why Mark Knopfler put it there, though wish I had the patience to play a single note on the violins for over 6 minutes. This sound bite was separated from the rest of the music as if I had my own 48 track studio in my living room to pre-fade each nuance individually. I could focus in on all the individual sounds, rather than just hearing a ‘mix’ like many a DAC.

Handel Organ Concertos Opus 4 (Academy of Ancient Music Richard Egarr, Harmonia Mundi 24/88.2) have many a conversation between the light flute organ melody and the heavy strings, giving an enchanting and relaxing performance, only hindered occasionally by the harmonics between some notes on the organ that resonate on an ancient organ that has perhaps seen better days. This work from around 1733 might have been aimed as interlude entertainment between acts in Handel’s popular series of oratorios, but this recording makes them centre stage as works in their own right.  Whilst Egarr might have trained as a harpsichordist, his playing is beautifully poetic and detailed. The close mic’ing at St Jude’s Church in London of the English portable or ‘chamber’ organ with its four stops and characteristically sweet tone, it could be perhaps described as just a box of treble and bass recorders. Its delicacy of performance is particularly clearly heard through the Callia, though not putting me off listening. This is no Westminster Cathedral organ, and the Callia is honest enough to maintain it that way, with a speed and clarity that makes it easy to pick out tonal and mechanical errors of that organ. Only the noise of passing traffic outside the venue where it was all recorded was not as audible as I had heard in my choice headphone amplifier. Bass was perhaps not quite as generous as I would have liked, though one’s attention to the mid and high frequency detail and clarity meant that I didn’t really miss it. The accuracy and ease of production of the music was something I heard in all that I played. Much of this can be down to the lack of jitter. In order to help create that perfection in digital conversion the unit employs their CleverClox hybrid digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) clock circuitry, which I remember from their Atlas USB multi-track audio interface. Indeed, much of the circuitry is taken from their Atlas, Lyra and Titan professional products.

Conclusion

At £1,795 this is an excellent price for a combined DAC and headphone amplifier, even passing well as a preamplifier, and with balanced and coax output. A repeating observation as I reviewed this unit was of a sound that crystal clear and fast with nothing added or taken away from the music, meaning imperfections in the recordings can always be heard, which can be a bit annoying if you want just to be entertained, but ideal if you are a sound engineer. I must stress that this didn’t make the sound clinical, rather that it is detailed and accurate. Only vocals could have been a little more forthright.

If you want a slower, more relaxed and coloured sound then you need to go elsewhere, but for something that sounds this good and looks stunning as well, particularly with all the blue lights, then this may well be your best choice to decorate the music room.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:  Excellent build and good curvy looks, with attention to using good quality connectors and lots of lovely blue lights. That curvy aluminium front might look a bit “plasticky” to some

Sound Quality  A very accurate and detailed sound, better than many DACs at higher price. A very able headphone amplifier, working with both low and high impedance drivers  

Value For Money:  At £1,795 this is a very able machine in a small package. I strongly advise you give this machine a listen

Pros:

Fast response
neutral presentation of all types of music
excellent clarity across all frequencies and using all digital formats
Open soundstage to pin-point each instrument and voice

Cons:

Could sound clinical to some, and mid-range can lack some detail
No DSD256 might upset a few

Price: £1795

Janine Elliot

The Russ Andrews Power Purifier is a modular power conditioner that you can have fully loaded from the off or choose the base unit and add to as and when you feel the need. Janine Elliot pops it on her rack and experiments with the £329 (base unit) £1107 (fully loaded) box. 

Mains noise can sometimes be the biggest destroyer of sound quality in a system, and equally, some mains conditioners can do the same; altering EQ, reducing dynamic range, and narrowing soundstage. Where I might get excited about new hifi products, these are usually exotic turntables or honest sounding amplifiers of one form or another. Mains conditioners are likely to be last on my list, despite me having designed and regularly using them. The Russ Andrews Power Purifier is different to anything I have seen before and raised more than a few sparks of interest by me at a recent hifi show, so I requested to review the product.

This is not a “one size fits all” product, but rather it is one that you can tailor to your own finances and audio-visual needs and ‘add-to’ when necessary. This single box has space to accumulate different mains calming devices that you simply plug in yourself and stick down to the base of the unit with double-sided tape, that when joined together are there to combat the three major areas of mains contamination; spikes and surges, mains noise and Wi-Fi interference. All in a single 226mm x 68mm x 243mm plastic box with a high-gloss acrylic face panel with central blue indicator just so you know it is doing its job. Costing £329 it comes as standard with the Russ Andrews UltraPurifier™ filter and SuperClamp™ surge protection. You can tailor your PowerPurifier by adding extra filtering as and when your budget and needs allows, meaning a MegaClamp, a mains Zapperator and up to four ClarityMains can be fitted to the PowerPurifier. The review sample came complete with all options carefully attached. Russ Andrews will even connect all the additional filters you buy for free, just charging for the postage, though the Allen key supplied allows you to easily and quickly open the box to do all the work yourself, should you so wish.

Having recently celebrated their 30th anniversary, Russ Andrews is a name most hifi audiophiles will be aware of, from a humble small cabin in 1986 to their present empire and major presence at hifi shows. As well as a growing range of accessories to cater for most audio needs, they have particularly specialised in mains improvement products, all with great names and equally great claims.

Each element you attach has different uses. The PowerPurifier itself comes complete with two components; their UltraPurifier™, a basic broadband power conditioner, and their SuperClamp™.  This part provides very rapid reaction to over-voltage spikes on the mains. RA recommends you replace this every five years to maintain its effectiveness.  From the basic set up you can also add the following components;

The MegaClamp (at £180) which offers enhanced spike and surge protection, which is many times more effective than the SuperClamp. This unit will also last indefinitely.

The Mains Zapperator is a mains conditioner that deals with very high frequency noise that is particularly caused by wireless computer networks. At £142 extra this can be added to your Purifier.

The Clarity Mains is a mains conditioner that utilises “Coherence Technology”, and up to four of these boxes can be added to the PowerPurifier, with each one costing you a further £114. The “Coherence Technology” was introduced by Russ after he was approached back in 2007 by a US designer who had an audio device that claimed to help to reduce noise in signals. The Clarity Mains helps to reduce noise of the mains supply.

Whichever boxes you decide to add to your Purifier, each one comes with its own coloured connector, and which can only fit into its respective coloured socket, meaning that assembly is easy. Just remember that when you stick the boxes using the double-sided tape, you cannot re-position them later!

Their UltraPurifier™ filter also appears in the RA catalogue as a separate unit or built into products such as their 8-way Power blocks, largely due to its clever ‘shunt’ filter design, meaning that there are no components between the supply and the hifi or video equipment.  It can simply be added where you want it to work. As a result I have found these designs have a much more mannered result than many a “conventional” mains conditioner that can change the audio frequency response or dynamic range, resulting in them sounding far different – even if at times that might make the sound more ‘exciting’ and therefore temporally more desirable. What actually set this unit more desirable for me was that the dynamic range didn’t shrink, moreover that it expanded, and using with video made colours clearer but not unreal as they can when you press the “dynamic” option on your TV or projector.

When I first saw their £301 mains plug with MiniPurifier and MegaClamp, and felt that while it might work well, its small size and plastic body wouldn’t inspire me to part with that sort of money. So whilst this unit under review now might be over 3 times size its basic setup only £18 more, this is amazing value and still a reasonable £1107 when fully charged with all the extras. Its design is more advanced and for me much more tempting, particularly as you can configure your own specification.  Since it was not built into a 4 or 6 way mains extension lead it meant that testing the unit was far easier for me, as I could plug it in or not to hear the differences, without switching on and off all my hifi.  Being based on the use of shunt-connected mains filters, it meant the devices could effectively ‘suck’ the interference out of the mains without actually coming between mains and audio equipment, thus less likely to turn into a glorified tone control.

For the review I had all the ingredients at my disposal, including 4 Clarity Mains blocks, and I tried different recipes to see how effective each part was, making a meal of assessing whether there were differences.  I used my Slee power amplifiers with Townshend Rock 7 turntable and the Prism Audo Callia DAC as one of my systems, and Pre Audio turntable into Manley phonostage and modified vintage Leak Stereo20 power amplifier as the other.

Testing

I wasn’t able to create any audible spikes when testing; even after playing about with my fridge and other ‘noise’ creating artefacts. After many years of trying to create the perfect audio listening space that part of my mains is thankfully house-trained. However, my mains isn’t the cleanest, though thankfully modern power engines built into hifi separates can improve things, as does my own mains conditioner. Removing my own conditioner to try another product was like weaning my children off their favourite food to try another brand. Initially I needed to remove all conditioning completely to get used to that sound and then try the RA. Playing music I knew well, including recordings I had made or been in the studio when they were produced helped me to know what I should be listening for.

The PowerPurifier works passively, meaning that it doesn’t have the drawbacks of some other mains filters – things like loss of musicality and reduced dynamic range. The latter degradation is something I have noticed with many conditioners I have tested over the years. In some respects this type of unit is harder to review, because you don’t actually want to hear any audio changes, rather you want the audio to be cleaner and not affected by external influence. Listening to my aged Dire Straits ‘Brothers In Arms’ illustrated to me straight away just how good this device was at showing detail in the source material; through my brilliant PreAudio Tangential tonearm the space and clarity of the brilliantly engineered album showed me just how well this device was working in the background; no extra bass, extra mid or treble, or compressed audio, just a pin-sharp clarity made even more apparent by the improved signal to noise ratio. The soundstage didn’t seem over-enlarged, just more realistic.  The bird noises and the punchy drum influxes in “Ride across the River” were well placed precisely across the 10 foot stage that is my living room.

Compared with no audio taming devices I noticed an improvement in the focus of the audio. For example, David Gilmour’s “Then I Close My Eyes” (from ‘On an Island’), I noticed improved position in the landscape between the ride cymbals, muted trumpet, cello, acoustic guitar and backing vocals; this is a thickly textured but very laid back track, and I could easily close my eyes and imagine I was indeed on some deserted island with no infestation of audio snow or hail. Interestingly I didn’t find the unit added any tonal character of its own, as some mains conditioners can do. In an ideal world you want the unit to be tonally transparent and allow the equipment to work as well as it did in the designers’ laboratory.

Listening to FLAC and DSD files can often still come across as brittle or clinical compared to my choice vinyl or reel to reel, but even listening to albums such as the Sir Simon Rattle Sibelius Symphonies from Berliner Philharmoniker or the 24/192 remaster of Eagles Hotel California, sounded surprisingly transparent and lifelike via the mains conditioner.

On to Mike Valentine’s Big-Band Spectacular, an album performed with such precision in terms of both performance and sound quality, available in vinyl and digital and now reel to reel formats. The massive soundstage at the Air Studio’s was brought into my own living room, and the Leak Stereo 20 just opened up in a way I hadn’t expected it would. The aged ECC83/EL84 unit gave of itself in a way that even Harold would be smiling, with great speed and cleanliness, and even more focus and musicality. The sound was as realistic as I remembered in the studio. Nothing was added or taken away from the music. That was great news to me. But I could hear a greater noise floor than I had imagined the Leak could give, and improved space and depth between instruments. This was like getting a new set of glasses; the images were clearer and cleaner, though I was still looking at all the same objects.

Turning appropriately to video, I found the Purifier produced cleaner colours and definition, but not like turning on the “dynamic” button on your television or projector, as some mains conditioners might.  Honesty was the name of the game here, with a noticeable reduction in “noise” in the picture.

Conclusion

Even fully loaded with all the units at just over £1000 this mains purifier is highly recommended for the price, and even better that it comes with a 60-day trial, so if you are not convinced then you can return it. Where so many conditioners fail by changing the audio or video this unit just tidies it up. Tackling three areas within a single box is a highly favourable aid to taming your mains.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:  Simple acrylic design but well made, and easy to get inside to add components

Sound Quality:  Honest and open portrayal of your music and video

Value For Money:  At £329 for the base model and £1107 when fully loaded it is very reasonable, and best of all leaves you in charge of how much you wish to spend

Pros

Helps to tackle the 3 major areas of mains contamination.
Improvements in definition and transparency of sound.
Add components as and when you wish

Cons

Not at this price

Janine Elliot

Wyred 4 Sound are based in California and produce a wide range of products from amps to music servers. Here Janine Elliot wires up their DAC 2V2 costing £2299.

“I was excited to review the Wyred DAC 2v2 for two reasons. Firstly, this was yet another company who choice of name is an interesting conversation starter. “Wyred 4 Sound” reminds me of a 1981 Cliff Richard album and title song that I am embarrassed to admit I actually really liked when I was young. As the company informed me the name was really just a play on words, and a shame that there never ever was a ‘Mr Wyred’, just as there was never a ‘Mr Schiit’ at Schiit Audio.  But it certainly gets your attention. This company was set up by an E.J. Sarmento in 2007 after he left Cullen Circuits (a company producing electronic circuits and modifying others) and produces distinctive looking products that have two slanted ‘end caps’ at each end of the front panel, the whole in two-tone matt finish that fit well alongside my similarly dressed Krells.”

Read the full review here

Pro-Ject make a huge range of turntables to suit pretty much all pockets. Today Ian Ringstead takes a listen to the £1400 Pro-ject 6 Perspex SB Turntable Package.

“I have been a huge fan of Pro-Ject turntables ever since their introduction back in the nineties. As a company, Pro-Ject never rest on their laurels and are constantly introducing new and innovative models to the range. The choice can be daunting at first glance, but there is logic to it and they certainly cater for all tastes and pockets”

Read the full review here.

Audio Files take a standard Audio Technica AT-LP5 turntable, add a new arm and carry out other modifications and offer a stylus upgrade to the standard cartridge. Total costs including the stylus upgrade is £835, Ian Ringstead listens to see if this is a worthwhile route to take over the original AT-LP5, available at time of review available for £319. 

“Audio Technica have been known to me for over 40 years and was a favourite range of cartridges and accessories I sold in my retail days. Whilst visiting the Stylus Show at Manchester I came across a room that was being shared by Audio Technica and The Audio Files a company new to me. They were eagerly demonstrating the differences between a standard AT-LP5 and there modified AT-LP5 IPT. What’s the difference you may ask? Well the philosophy behind the AT-LP5 IPT is that the standard AT-LP5 which is highly regarded could be improved upon without spending a fortune…”

Read the full review here

Dan Worth takes a look at the Innuos Zenith MK2 an all in one streamer, CD ripper and SSD storage unit costing from £2299 depending on storage capacity chosen.  

So what is an Innuos Zenith MK2? I hear you ask? Well, it’s an all in one streamer for local files and streaming services such as TIDAL, Spotify and Qobuz, Internet Radio as well as a CD ripper. The ripper itself stores music ripped in the FLAC/WAV formats to an internal solid state hard drive of a size designated during purchase. Available options are 1TB, 2TB and 4TB.

Whilst expecting the Zenith MK2 for review I was somewhat sceptical to the benefits of it over the various Vortexboxes which I believed the Innuos Zenith MK2 was based on. I have previous experience with VBs – having built and tried many, which range from basic installations on standard PCs to more bespoke hardware installations and multiple linear power supplies.

Despite many believing that “bits are bits”, unfortunately there’s a whole world of “nasties” that go with them that influence the sound quality throughout the Hifi chain such as power noise, jitter and high-frequency EMI. Many think that a simple galvanic isolator would just turn any computer into the perfect digital source…if it was only that simple.

Innuos say that a digital source should remain as transparent as possible, allowing the amplifier and speakers to imprint their own signature as per the end user’s tastes. In order to achieve this, Innuos first target for the Zenith is the power supply. They design the Zenith so that rather than producing a lot of power noise and then trying to clean it up, they implement critically chosen parts for a triple linear psu design that is inherently clean to begin with and specifically implemented.

“We had to go through a very detailed oscilloscope for measurements. We have literally tested dozens of system boards and the noise patterns you get vary wildly between them. Some are absolutely dreadful and should never be used for audio. The key innovation here is our triple-linear power supply, designed and manufactured in-house. By providing three independent linear power supplies that separately power key components of the system, they prevent the power noise those components produce from contaminating the power circuits for the outputs, both USB and Ethernet. The triple-linear power supply design contains ultra-low noise regulators (40uV) and specialised audio capacitors (Nichicon MUSE) that further help maintaining the transparency and realism of the Zenith. This is then complemented by using medical-grade mains filters, that both filter the Common and Differential Mode noise coming into the Zenith from mains as well as preventing any noise produced by the Zenith itself to contaminate the remaining Hifi chain.”

This approach would inevitably clean the USB and Ethernet channels providing very clean digital outputs. Isolation transformers on the Ethernet ports also help keep some of the noise traveling through the Ethernet cables at bay. Connecting a streamer as I did with the Aurelic Aries Mini using a short Ethernet cable to the ‘Streamer’ port on the Zenith provided better sound quality than connecting the streamer to a my router or switch, even though both are already on linear supplies, the quality of the Zenith 2’s in-built psu, onboard single routed Ethernet switch and linear NAS function made for a better all round performance feeding files directly from the internal SSD and clean pass-through of internet ensuring a cleaner signal from the supported streaming services.

These benefits, along with the extensive internal vibration control and isolation would all be worthless if it wasn’t for the expertise of Innuos when it comes to software implementation. From the motherboard BIOS to the Operating System kernel and audio sub-systems, they have optimised settings to extract as much musical performance as they can. One key feature in this area is the 4Gb RAM buffer available for memory playback on the Zenith 2. This means when the user plays a track, it gets loaded almost instantly to the system memory from the SSD and then played directly from there. This is another advantage of using the SSD on the Zenith as it makes this transition imperceptible – playback is instantaneous. The onboard TEAC drive is a more bespoke version with unlocked firmware, ready for InnuOS’ tweaks to enable more efficient and effective ripping with less errors.

InnuOS – innuOperatingSystem

Moving on to the software installed on the Zenith MK2. I had initially mistaken this for a tweaked version of the Vortexbox platform until having an in depth conversation with Managing Director Nuno Vitorino. The complexity and intelligence of the operating system is presented in the most classy and user friendly manner, which deserves its own in-depth look here. The software is an absolute breeze to use and each feature has self explanatory options, leaving the unit without the need of an operating manual. 

There is also a lengthy video on YouTube showing off the InnuOS platform, posted on the Innuos channel with Innuos saying:

“One of our key values is listening to our customers and providing them a great user experience. Through direct contact with customers with our Zen Mk.I systems, which were based on Vortexbox, we noticed a number of shortcomings:

1.   Users required a PC/Mac to manage their music library (adding, deleting or changing music data). The applications to do this can be quite cumbersome for those who are not technology-oriented and we needed frequent remote support sessions to help our customers do this. They were very slow to save changes as users generally did this from Wi-Fi connected laptops.
2.   More and more customers don’t have a PC anymore, only a tablet. This made it impossible for them to manage the music library.
3.   Every time the server could not recognise a CD, it created an Unknown Album that was a real pain to identify later. This required the above tools to do the change itself.
4.   Customers with Classical music were often affected with missing metadata and they could only make changes after the CD had been ripped. They then needed a PC to do such changes.
5.   When copying files ripped on Mac systems, particularly Classical music, they could have very long filenames
6.   People had very disorganised music libraries as essentially they just copied files and folder to the Music folder. This meant duplicates and lots of incomplete metadata.
7.   If customers didn’t realise their Internet connection is off, the system would create a whole lot of Unknown Albums. One of our customer ripped 150 discs before he realised the server was offline. This meant deleting everything and ripping again.
8.   Different network settings made sometimes difficult to find the systems on the network, leading to a lot of frustration.
9.   The User Interface was very technical and most people did not understand the options available and we’re displeased with how it looked.”

I can relate to these customers concerns as I have had a lot of experience with Vortexboxes and like using any PC, people have to perform constant maintenance and coercion in order to keep the system working well whilst waiting for the next tantrum.

Rather than telling their customers to brush up on their technological abilities and or offer continued support for what they considered a somewhat fragile environment to use consistently, the company who have a great team of software developers and technicians give birth to the Innuos.

What InnuOS has achieved is an operating system that sits lightly on the system hardware and over its two and half year development has been refined extensively to be as comprehensive as possible, integrating features such as TIDAL, Spotify, Qobuz, CD ripping, album management, network integration and more, with the most straight forward of GUIs that I have ever had the pleasure of using. Calculating all nerdy type processes and individual key strokes firmly in the background, with the end user visualising only the key component task features on screen.

Currently – typing ‘my InnuOS’ in on a google search brings the user to the control software, which can be accessed by any PC/Mac, tablet or phone connected to the same network as the player. InnuOS are in the process of producing an app to replace this function on portable devices for completeness but the operations of the software will remain consistent.

Once loaded the software sees the player on the network immediately and the user can begin to utilise all the functionality of:

• Assisted Ripping mode – In this mode, rather than the system ripping a CD immediately with whatever metadata it found, the user is presented with the metadata and is able to change all of it, including cover art, before the CD rips. This is particularly useful for Classical or World music

• Rip to WAV or FLAC – Ripping to both WAV uncompressed format and FLAC with zero compression depending on user’s requirements (FLAC is more compatible)

Quarantine – Whenever there is an issue with either a CD or music being imported, it goes into the Quarantine section rather than the Music Library, so that the Music Library is kept nice and tidy. This way, the user knows which music needs some attention. If the ripping mode is Automatic and the server can’t find metadata for it, it shows as an Unknown Album. The user can then play the music directly on the tablet to help it recognise the album and edit the information directly. Once saved, it’s then moved to the Music Library. If a CD is ripped twice, it’s marked as a duplicate. If the server is offline when ripping, then it’s marked as offline and the user can simply click a button to retrieve all the metadata again.

• Import – This is one of the most complex engines on the system. TheImport engine allows users to import music from USB, NAS, another music folder or music placed in the Auto-Import shared folder on the server. The Import engine then as a number of (growing) rules to apply to the files as it imports. These are just a small number of rules applied:
  1. Organise based on the file quality (compressed, CD Quality or High –Resolution) and structure them in different folders accordingly.
  2.   Automatically create a consistent Artist/Album folder structure
  3.   Import files contained on a zip or tar file (which is usual with downloads from high-resolution music stores such as Qobuz or Linn Records)
  4.   Shortens potentially long filenames and removes problematic characters that can cause problems
  5.    Detects if the album already exists with the same quality on the music library. If you have an album in CD Quality and add the album in High-Resolution, the system knows and adds the respective tag to the album such as [HD96] for a 24bit/96KHz high-res file

Music Library – Allow to browse and change the metadata for the music already stored in the Music Library from any tablet, smartphone or PC/Mac Backup – Allow to backup the music library to either an external USB drive or to a NAS automatically. The automatic backup is actually based on storage rather than time. So instead of backing up once a week, for example, it backs up every time you add the equivalent of 50 CDs. This way, it will do frequent backups when you are adding a lot of music and them do it a lot less often when the user is adding only a couple of albums per month.

Fit and Finish

The casework to the unit is very nice, with a contoured front fascia and simplistic approach, a single CD slot and power button with indicator LED (which can be changed to any colour on a software level to match other equipment) are the only pieces of hardware adorning the front panel. To the rear there are two LAN sockets for Ethernet connection from the router and to route in a separate streamer, rather than connecting that direct to the router.There are two USB sockets, one for the audio output and another for a USB backup drive for safe storage of a duplicate library containing all ripped files that reside on the internal SSD.

Internally the main board sports a powerful processor and plenty of memory for quick operation of all remote app functions and boot up speeds, along with a TEAC ripping drive and a solid state hard drive. The multi-rail power supply on board runs from a large toroidal transformer with multiple layers of regulation and a large bank of smoothing caps in order to keep things ultra quiet and precise.

Setting Up

Setup is just so simple with the Zenith 2. The Squeezelite embedded software (which sits inside InnuOS) for audio playback piggybacks two main control apps (separate to the My InnuOS Software which is for system management), Orange Squeeze for Android users and iPeng for iOS customers. These apps are the current best way for controlling playback and integrate all playback features into one handy remote app. I used the iPeng app on my iPad and I must say it’s brilliant, version 9 is much more intuitive than older versions I had previously used in a past life with Squeezelite.

If you have a NAS drive already, this is the easiest way to get up and running by transferring files across the network to the internal storage. Ripping CDs is done into either FLAC or WAV.

The setup of TIDAL, Spotify and Qobuz is easy, clicking on the apps side tray allows for the installation of the apps and simply entering the user account name and password gains access to all pre-saved playlists and the full experience of searching for music, with all other menu functionality available by simply going back to the main menu leaving the current playlist (in iPeng) visible on the right hand pane of the screen for track skipping and pausing etc. The interface itself is so comprehensive yet so simple to use and all features and functions are literally idiot proof and self explanatory, which is a god send in this day and age for the technophobe.

A fixed volume output or variable (max volume is bit perfect according to Innuos), along with designated parameters for bit depth, sample rate, album, artist and genre options along with many more less significant features, all to be configured with a few touches proved to be extremely quick with no lag to the system, even during playback due to the Zenith MK2’s powerful CPU and memory abilities. To boot – Internet radio stations on average took less than a second to begin playing, which from a friends perspective is much faster than his MK1 version although we are in differing parts of the country and with bandwidth considerations, still worth noting.

When choosing music the app offers fantastic visuals with artwork showing for all radio stations as well as InnuOS ripped albums with all accompanied metadata. InnuOS will also tag non previously tagged albums that the user sent over to the InnuOS’ storage folder from another drive.

With a three cable setup (power, USB and Ethernet) alongside the downloading of the corresponding app for either Apple or Android, setting up the Innuos Zenith MK2 was an absolute breeze. 

The Sound

On first inspection the sound of the Zenith 2 was surprisingly good as mentioned above, I ripped a couple albums and played music from my NAS and TIDAL, I compared the sound with my modified Mac Mini which has been a reference source of mine for sometime now, outperforming many other front end gear during the time I’ve owned it. I found the two to be different in character but struggled to find big performance differences between the two through either the DiDiT 212 SE or Mytek Brooklyn DACs. There was a touch more refinement and depth to the Mac than that of the Zenith 2 which provided a soundstage of fantastic separation, clarity and body to the music, presenting a firm controlled weight and good raw timbral qualities.

Chris Jones’ ‘Long After Your Gone’ had a wonderfully controlled fluid bass performance allowing for vocals to stand in good height within a central focus which made sense musically and gave great bandwidth of the vocals. The lovely way the Zenith 2 does separation gave air to guitar strings and decays, which were obtainable through the player in a very clear non-artificial manner, giving insight into the acoustic arena and mic setup.

The same was very apparent on Fink’s live albums, where in fact over my usual setup I was more taken by the vocals, especially for their strong positioning within the soundstage, the lesser amount of depth seemed to allow the singer to stand more proud so to speak, never dominating the performance but simply stated a more commanding role rather than forwardness.

Intricacies of guitar strings across the two albums and the complexities of Derrin Nuendorf’s guitar was very much a treat to listen to, masking of micro details was very little and almost came up to spec with my Mac setup during my initial listening tests, the smaller details in recordings generally have a way of flavouring a performance as their ability to shine controls micro tempos, which add to a sense of overall flow.

Masculinity in tone and or delicacies contained within the vocal palette portraying much of the emotional quality of a performance along with the intensity of good dynamics kept the music interesting and explorative. Although the micro details were very cleanly and clearly expressed their dynamics (micro dynamics) were not as strong as say the Mac, but then the added refinement of the whole picture may be why they are easily or easier to determine, the Zenith 2’s raw and honest quality is infectious and again, neither worse nor better, just a little different and I am splitting hairs and doing some very critical listening between it and the highly specced one of a kind Mac.

Micro details and micro dynamics really do not necessarily go hand in hand, many people mention both in sentences as if they do but in my experience they don’t, a micro detail can be present and just like any other more defined detail can be either dynamic or not. I would say that the smallest of details in the Zenith 2 were very marginally masked by the foreground, although I haven’t heard anything that stands out to me that I can say does a far better job for around about the £2k mark, so I feel that my own personal comparisons to the one of a kind Mac needs to end here. For my own personal information though the test was very informative, proving that areas of the Zenith’s sound lit a chord with me that I feel was very beneficial indeed.

Bass performance with the Zenith 2 is equally very interesting, I adore the way the bass doesn’t feel as if it’s been crumpled into a heap at the bottom of the soundstage, a kick drum hit has a realistic height and a density of tone, then after you here the room interaction within a split second and any lower frequency or accompanied drum strike lower its position in the soundstage to convey a more exacting frequency – the room becomes quickly filled with great rhythm, as if the tone and frequency is within an artificial three dimensional grid, allowing for each beat to be considered relative to its natural aural take and physical feel of the note.

Playing some electronic music showed that immediacy of a strike and flow of deep rolling notes were timed terrifically without any unwanted sag or looseness.

Loreena McKennitt, one of my favourite female vocalists has a ‘Live At The Alhambra’ album and one of my most favourite tracks is ‘Raglan Road’. In order to nail this one a system has to be able to control the upper midrange peaks especially and deliver subtleties which allow her voice to retain its beautiful yet powerful tone. I’ve had the Zenith 2 running for a little while now and it’s really coming on well, maybe in its initial days of listening its refinement could be called into question and possibly some remarks I made earlier in this review could have been slightly tweaked to the more favourable side, but that’s the nature of the review process and it’s progression.

Now the unit has settled into its stride a little more – what I appreciate is how it doesn’t mollycoddle the music much, allowing for a little more rawness or truthfulness, which in turn characterises individual pieces of music very well – essentially very transparently. In this case Loreena’s vocal, so proud it stood in the centre stage that I felt the true realism and honesty of the piece, which with the little added refinement that came on after a couple weeks of playback, aligned the characteristics of the unit further.

I must admit, I am sitting here a little confused as to how Innuos have managed this, being similar in functionality and implementation as a Vortexbox based systems essentially and also running the common Squeezelite software on a hardware package that to me doesn’t have fancy clocks, TCXO’s, separate USB cards,  SATA filters, RAM filters or pure silver internal power wiring, leads me to believe that what Innuos achieve hardware-wise with synergy, noise control, the implementation of a very nice linear power supply and their own custom designed software and firmware is nothing short of impressive. It’s not the individual parts that make the difference but the combination of the whole.

I turned to TIDAL next and went through some of my playlists and took a few journeys exploring new music into the small hours and I must say I was captivated. At low listening levels, resolution remains strong, I’d imagine some decibel decreases in dynamic abilities at the lower volumes but everything still seemed really quite relative. The presence of the vocal at these lower levels was great, I really can state that the ability to convey some emotion and tangible feeling when the lights are down low and everybody is in bed is fantastic.

All too often have I listened to equipment that does well during the day, struggling at night at much lower levels (not just speakers but electronics also). Complex passages tend to smear, with under dynamic and blunted edges, causing many others, along with  myself to turn to the headphones, well not here folks, I can still even depict real space around instruments.

Note: make sure in settings that volume level is set to fixed output in iPeng or turned up full (bit perfect) in order to achieve greater lower volume listening pleasure. 

Before submitting this review to the Oracle (Stu) I had the opportunity to get a good listen to the Zen MK1 with a Teddy Pardo and Paul Haynes power supply. The Paul Hynes supply sounded better but was more expensive and surprised I was at how much more aligned the sound was with a better supply, giving better timing and noise floor than standard. Both Zen and Zenith have the same feature rich abilities, it’s just the levels of performance that vary. The Zen is a very capable unit but the Zenith is a true leader for the brand delivering a level of performance that Innuos can be proud of calling their flagship model.

Note: both units worked out of the box with an Audiobyte Hydra Z and Gustard U12 SPDIF converters, giving better control, focus and timing. 

Conclusion

If anyone wants to say, it’s just a Vortexbox then please do, as I did, then get one, then plug it in then turn it on, then listen to it and then repeat the first statement – if you can! If I felt that this piece of equipment was just a hyped up and rebranded commodity, I would say to just send the unit back with an accompanying note to express my feelings. I chose to except the Zenith MK2 for review as I had instant scepticism and the best way to deal with scepticism is to be open minded and try things out –  there’s nothing worse than an uneducated know-it-all!.

The Zenith isn’t just another streamer, it has its own personality and that’s Important. Innuos have designed a complete fuss free digital front end, that combines carefully chosen hardware and sophisticated software into an easy to use product which has honesty and transparency at its heart.

The sound of a Zenith 2 is transparent, honest and truthful and any system that reflects a balance that the user is happy with will benefit from its implementation. Setup and usage is easy and playback and library management is straightforward and intuitive.

What I adore about the Zenith MK2‘s usability from Innuos is that it’s not a celebration of what can be achieved in the future, it’s a celebration of what can be achieved right now.

AT A GLANCE 

Build Quality – Simple stylish looks, solid and heavy, well damped also.

Sound Quality – Fantastic transparency, strong detail and presence, great soundstage separation.

Value For Money – A little pricey when it comes to the higher capacity models but the base model works well for me considering its feature rich software and sound quality. A 1TB drive should be ample for most.

Pros:

Wonderfully engaging musical sound

Feature rich software package

Easy implementation into any system and network

Cons:

Higher capacity models can be a little expensive

Only comes in black

(Possible silver version in mid 2017)

Price:

Innuos Zenith MK2

1TB – £2299

2TB – £2899

4TB – £4599 

Dan Worth

Auralic refer to the Aries as a “bridge”; basically a digital device which refers to a networked music library from the likes of a NAS drive, or by use of an external USB hard drive, connected directly to the Aries. What we have come to know more lovingly as a streamer – although you could argue that they are usually an all in one device, often with an on-board hard drive and with analogue outputs from it’s on-board DAC. Dan Worth takes this £1495 box of tricks for a whirl. 

The difference between the Aries and a standard build streamer is that it has only the ability to output a digital signal – bridging the gap between library and DAC. The Aries boasts dual FemtoClocks, for the USB audio input and the digital outputs, a low noise internal design to eliminate jitter and Auralic Purer‐Power™ based 10uV low noise external linear PSU. A whole host of supported music services are available and a fully featured and easy to use App for Android and iOS devices – necessary for operation of the Aries as opposed to the included remote, which controls more basic features of playback.

Aries is powered by Auralic’s own Tesla hardware platform that includes a Quad-Core ARM Coretex-A9 processor running at 1GHz, 1GB DDR3 onboard memory and 4GB internal storage…for those who are interested. For the workload that the Aries has on its plate the specifications are overkill and the system runs very smoothly, although startup is fairly lengthy, allowing the ARIES to simply go to sleep when not in use is the most sensible way to use it day to day and with extremely low power consumption…so not a worry as far as  energy bills are concerned.

The Tesla platform has a calculation ability of 25,000 MIPS, more than enough to decode a vast spectrum of audio formats, including AAC, AIFF, ALAC, APE, DIFF, DSF, FLAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, WV and WMA. Auralic has chose this platform for a long term supporting consideration, the feature planned include DSD upsampling, room acoustic treatment and other acoustic DSP function.

By using OpenHome structure which is adopted by UK-based streaming solution manufacturer Linn, ARIES, as well as all other Lightning based products, supports several advanced functions such as on-device playlist that allow control software to turn off during play and the complete supporting of a multi-room system. 

Streaming Services Available

• Local uPnP/DLNA library content from NAS or PC/MAC
• TIDAL, Qobuz and WiMPonline streaming
• Internet Radio
• AirPlay and Songcast
• USB hard drive files
• RoonReady

Media Server Compatibility

• Built-in Lightning Server
• Minimserver, Twonky, Asset UPnP, JRiver
• DLNA/uPNP compatible server software 

Inputs

RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet

Dual-Band WiFi connection

USB 2.0 High-Speed for external disk

Outputs

USB 2.0 High-Speed for compatible DAC**

AES/EBU, Coaxial, TOSLINK

Though larger than its little brother (the ‘Aries Mini) Aries is still a wonderfully compact device at 25cm x 20cm x 7cm and weighs a mere 0.8kg (in no small part due to the off-board linear power supply), this allows ARIES to be easily implemented into any system. Pop it in a cupboard, under a rack, behind another piece of equipment or simply throw a towel over it, many options are available – so you don’t have to look at it! Now I’m not saying that it’s going to make you cry when you open the packaging, but beware, it’s not going to win a ‘sexiest at show’ award (although we have given Auralic the ‘Hifi Pig Loves You’ award at Bristol this year).

Removing the Aries from it’s packaging and feeling it’s sumptuous plastic body won’t get the juices flowing either. The half router, half freeview box design has a lot to live up to if you shop with your eyes but be patient, the best is yet to come, this Hunchback of Auralic has a generous heart. 

The Sound

The sound of the Aries is remarkably clean, remarkably detailed and remarkably sincere. From the outset with the already well run in review circular, the Aries will grab you, seat you and firmly glue you to your listening chair for substantial amounts of time.

Its musicality has an honesty about it. With the noiseless, grainless and clean sound, poorer recordings won’t get the benefit of a coloured glow to round the rough edges, but anything better than adequate will engage the listener wholeheartedly.

Listening to Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ gave me a notion of complete envelopment, far more accomplished than the already musically satisfying Aries Mini I reviewed a while back and during any out of phase, widely dispersed tones and layers the centre stage maintained incredible focus. Front spread was also very good and promoted excellent dynamics to the boundaries of the room, which my speakers are around four to five foot on each side away from the walls.

Bass response is equally as satisfying, in fact I am scratching my head as to how the lightweight, plastic, adorable only from a certain angle in the correct light, Aries can really sound this good. Given that Auralic purposely used a plastic enclosure in order to use a high powered aerial, I’m forgiving the exterior due to its endearing sound quality. If first impressions can be deceptive then the Aries is the epitome of the popular phrase.

The bottom end received by the listener is intuitive, controlled and very detailed. Playing either London Grammar’s ‘Hey Now’ or Urban Species’ ‘Blanket’ allowed me to easily discern each and every subtle change in note. Good extension with tempo driving the music along combines this detail with good flow and bouncyness.

Delving up into the midrange, the tighter detailed upper mids pave way for vocal extension to be beautifully pure, conveying a good representation of natural range. A very slight forwardness in the midrange allows for these vocals to be very well pronounced. Well tuned and versed, the Aries is somewhat of an accomplishment at its price. Whilst vocals stand true, the other elements of the midrange behave as I would have liked from a unit of this price. Transparency in the midrange gave good structure and depth to live performances, involving me deeply into the music.

Climbing up the frequency ladder the upper midrange only ever became rough and etched when listening to a few bad recordings, which I enjoy very much for their lyrics and am happy to accept. Overall a very clean and open upper midrange, with enough control to keep the vixens of vocals tamed and busy music well separated.

Top end air is wonderfully apparent in the Aries, I remember the top end of the Aries Mini being a tasty plate; if not refined or as airy, it had personality. The Aries has bags of personality, along with the additional refinement and inner details that two properly implemented Femto clocks should produce. A more accurate display up top gives the listener the experience of hearing all the fine delicacies and acoustics in their music. More can be obtained in higher-end products, but unlike some other high-end products sometimes more is less, leaning towards a more stringent and analytical performance. The Aries gives enough detail that the listener feels well fed and at the same time the music is tastier and easier to digest.

I’ve been using an Innuos Zenith 2 for some months now after producing a review for it which will be live in conjunction with this review CLICK HERE. My reasons for mentioning this is that one feature of the Innuos is that it has an onboard ‘Streamer’ LAN Output. Basically an Ethernet internet connection output which allowed me to plug the Aries into and use the Innuos as the router, switch, internet passthrough for my streaming services and a directly link to my music library saved on the Zenith’s internal SSD. All of this covered by Innuos’ triple linear PSU offers an incredibly strong platform for the Aries to work with.

Coincidently Auralic UK set the Aries up piggybacked off the same Zenith in demonstrations, at shows and dealerships and the combination of the two takes each unit to the next level with a combined price of £4000. So how does the Aries sound now? Even more accomplished!

I’m now hearing more detail, with a far blacker background. Taking all the noise out of the chain of command with standard routing options gives a confidence to the Aries whether playing Qobuz or Tidal – and from the direct onboard library of the Zenith, this is where things really get serious. The sound gains more resolution and bass premise, the tightness of the Aries alone gains a little more weight with it’s umbilicalled partner and dynamics get a nice helping hand also. But for me the most stand out attribute of the combination was the soundstage.

Everything is more easily discernible and vocals become more expressive, adding a nice touch of emotion along with standing more confident in the mix. What really engaged me was the additional structure of the soundstage, where depth was good before it was now more complex. During Fleetwood Mac’s live version of ‘Big Love’ the way the guitar moved throughout the left rear of the stage and forward again during the solo was incredibly smooth and concise, sort of in film where there is a higher frame rate which allows the viewer to to see more of what’s going on in a more detailed and fluid manner.

Studio mixed Pop Music and Electronic music is always a fine test for how well an item can stage around the listener and into the rear of the room simply due to the way it’s recorded. The Aries already showed good detail encapsulation in this area and with the addition of the Innuos this area gained additional strengths… it’s a shame that Auralic don’t build a Universal Player because music and films would work exceptionally well with their digital expertise in a 2 channel system, which for most of us who prioritise Hifi look towards in most situations where a theatre system cannot be accommodated or wanted. I could imagine sitting here watching some of my favourite movies with a 2 Channel sound quality so strong.

Conclusion 

Auralic seem to be creating a bit of a trend here – they are producing some digital equipment which is just so well voiced that wherever in the range your budget gets you feel assured that what you will receive is a musical piece of equipment that won’t disappoint for the price.

Retaining musicality whilst extracting more accuracy and detail retrieval is not the easiest of tasks. Reducing jitter, laying out circuitry, planning out PSUs, choosing components etc all have dramatic effects on a digital signal which is not as robust as some people may believe. Approaching this without care and plenty of R&D could make for the cleanest sound ever, but without personality it’s nothing short of a flop.

The charisma the Auralic products seem to obtain speak volumes about their designers and how measurements alone cannot produce music with heart and soul, so to the Auralic team I salute you for never putting the music second.

AT A GLANCE 

Build Quality : A bit plasticky and not so pretty. Looks better from a few feet away

Sound Quality : Wonderfully clean, and beautifully musical

Value For Money : I would be very satisfied of the price it’s this level of performance 

Pros:

Strong detail

Excellent vocals

Great dynamics

Huge soundstage

Above all musical 

Cons:

Plasticky build

Not the most appealing visually

Remote looks basic and bland (most will only use an app) 

Price: £1495

Dan Worth

If you have experience in pro audio then the name Prism Sound may not be unfamiliar, but now the company are taking their professional credentials into the home audio marketplace. Janine Elliot takes a listen to their £1795 Callia DAC. 

“Prism Sound is a company I didn’t know much about, though actually I have been using some of their gear for many years. Initially a professional audio company specialising in DACs that grace many studios around the world, this company also bought (on April Fool’s day in 2008) a digital editing system called SADiE that I had been using at the BBC since the Noughties, a system both loved and hated by Studio Managers…”

Read the full review here

July was certainly a busy month with loads of Hifi news to catch up on.  Just in case you missed anything here’s all the news in one place!

Amare Musica Announce New Amplifiers, Octogenus Diamond

KEF ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Competition

SPS-500 Launch Completes SOtM’s Newest Trio

North West Audio Show At Cranage Hall, Cheshire 2017

Kraftwerk Upgrade PMC Monitors To Create 9.1 Dolby Atmos System

PMC Appoints Ian Sutton As UK Divisional Director

Avantgarde Acoustic Win German Brand Award 2017

Townshend Audio Allegri+ Preamplifier

Cary Audio Partners With Roon Labs

McIntosh Announces The MA9000 Integrated Amplifier

Media Partnerships at The Indulgence Show

VPI Cliffwood Turntable Launched

Goldring Release New MM Cartridges

McIntosh Group Names Jeff Poggi As Co-Chief Executive Officer

Gold Note Release First Pre-Amplifier, The P-1000

PMC R&D Dept Using Advanced Laser Measurement System

PureAudioProject Quintet15 Wall of Sound Open Baffle Speakers

iFi Pro iESL Headphone Energiser Launched

Harbeth Summer Of Sound Competition

IsoTek Builds On Polaris With EVO3 Corvus

VANA, Ltd. has announced the availability of the Audio Physic Step plus and Tempo plus loudspeakers in the US market through a network of audio retailers. The Step plus is a bookshelf speaker and the Tempo plus is a floor-standing speaker utilising the same midrange and tweeter technologies as the Step plus with low frequency drivers integrated within the enclosure. Both loudspeakers have been completely redesigned since the prior Step and Tempo models and benefit from many of the technological advances realised during the development of the company’s flagship speaker, the Cardeas 30 LJE.

The Step plus and the Tempo plus (Pictured) share a brand new 1.75-inch tweeter (HHCT III) and 5.9-inch midrange (HHCM II) that have been engineered exclusively for Audio Physic. These unique ceramic coated aluminium drivers utilise proprietary hybrid cone construction that combine the dampening characteristics of modern polymers with the stability and stiffness of metal. Each driver’s suspension system and basket chassis are mechanically decoupled from one another in a unique design that reduces unwanted resonances. Audio Physic refers to this technology as the Hyper-Holographic Cone chassis (HHC), which improves clarity and detail significantly verses conventional drivers. In addition to the elaborate HHC basket construction, the midrange driver is also equipped with a fixed metal phase plug designed to reduce heat. Each driver is housed within individual compartments in the cabinet. The entire inner cabinet has been updated to include extremely stiff open cell ceramic foam bracing elements that stabilise the enclosure. 

The Tempo plus incorporates two high-performance 7-inch aluminium bass drivers situated across from one another in the side walls of the enclosure. The Push-Push configuration of the woofers creates a symmetrical distribution of force on the loudspeaker cabinet.

Both the Step plus and the Tempo plus feature newly engineered crossover networks. The interior wiring and the premium grade WBT™ binding posts, all mechanically decoupled from the cabinet, are also a critical part of these new designs.

The unique cabinet shape of both new models serves to reduce standing waves in the interior of the loudspeakers that can jeopardise crisp midrange reproduction. The gentle rearward tilt of the cabinets helps to balance out phase differences between the midrange and tweeter, which are mounted flush to the surface of the baffle. The enclosures have been updated to include open-cell ceramic foam bracing elements in a labyrinth-like array that reduce cabinet wall resonances. Any acoustic energy emitted into the cabinet interior gets absorbed by the pores to a level of inaudibility.

The Audio Physic Step plus and Tempo plus are both available now. US MSRP is $2595 (pair) for the Step plus and $5995 (pair) for the Tempo plus in standard Cherry and Walnut Wood Veneer finishes, and $2795 and $6495 respectively for Black or White High gloss or Ebony Wood Veneer.

The Russ Andrews Power Purifier is a modular power conditioner that you can have fully loaded from the off or choose the base unit and add to as and when you feel the need. Janine Elliot pops it on her rack and experiments with the £329 (base unit) £1107 (fully loaded) box. 

“Mains noise can sometimes be the biggest destroyer of sound quality in a system, and equally, some mains conditioners can do the same; altering EQ, reducing dynamic range, and narrowing soundstage. Where I might get excited about new hifi products, these are usually exotic turntables or honest sounding amplifiers of one form or another. Mains conditioners are likely to be last on my list, despite me having designed and regularly using them. The Russ Andrews Power Purifier is different to anything I have seen before and raised more than a few sparks of interest by me at a recent hifi show, so I requested to review the product…”

Read the full review here

Dan Worth takes a look at the Innuos Zenith MK2 an all in one streamer, CD ripper and SSD storage unit costing from £2299 depending on storage capacity chosen.  

“So what is an Innuos Zenith MK2? I hear you ask? Well, it’s an all in one streamer for local files and streaming services such as TIDAL, Spotify and Qobuz, Internet Radio as well as a CD ripper. The ripper itself stores music ripped in the FLAC/WAV formats to an internal solid state hard drive of a size designated during purchase. Available options are 1TB, 2TB and 4TB…”

Read the full review here

Tellurium Q’s Black speaker cable instantly won fans around the world when it was launched, but now they’ve improved it. Ian Ringstead takes a listen to this £54 a metre loudspeaker cable.

I am a newcomer to Tellurium Q cables with regards to trying them out, but I have been aware of them for some time. I met Geoff Merrigan at the Bristol AV Show this year and had an educational few hours in his company. Geoff kindly offered me the chance to try some of his cables out and this is the result.

Tellurium Q Black was the first cable they produced and they were amazed by the results and the dealer and customer response. So why Black II?  The Black won multiple awards, surprising owners with its performance and more people than ever chose to use it in their systems?

But Geoff had been learning and developing, especially in the last few years and had come up with a way to make this great cable even better. Therefore, the new design has been launched. Switch Black for Black II and it is completely obvious which is which. Once you hear the difference, it is also completely obvious why you feel compelled to upgrade to Black II.

As I hadn’t heard either before I was supplied Black and Black II to compare, and hence my comment above. I eagerly put the Black in my system and straight away thought wow this is good. I use Van Damme concert series as a rule and like what it offers for the money, but the TQ Black upped the ante. The sound stage opened out and detailing improved. It was an immediate difference and obvious. I hate reviewing cables normally because often the differences can be subtle or indiscernible. Cables are a Pandora’s box to most people and many scoff at hifi enthusiasts making us out to be geeks and audio nuts. Even professional sound engineers (my close friend included) says it’s all a con and snake oil. Well if they feel that way fair enough, I certainly don’t see any point in arguing and although I don’t understand the reasons behind why there are differences (I don’t think anyone really does) I can hear them and that’s all that matters.  What I feel is important is that you can hear a difference and are happy to pay the asking price. Certainly, some individuals are out to empty your pocket, making huge profits, just be aware and trust your own ears. The same goes for equipment of course.

I changed to the Black II after a few tracks and was so flabbergasted by the improvement again that I didn’t bother going back to the Black. It really was night and day. What struck me the most was how natural and clear the cable sounded with no nasties or obvious short comings. Now I know it can’t be perfect, and Geoff told me wait till you hear our pricier cables (oh dear), but I can’t remember hearing such a difference so easily, which makes my life a lot easier both as a reviewer and simply a listener. Isn’t that what good kit should be about.

The Black II is a conduit to allow the listener to hear their system more naturally and realistically, so it makes equipment choice an easier task I reckon because the electronics and speakers will be heard at their best for a reasonable budget. Of course, the more expensive cables in Tellurium Q’s range will outshine the black II, but for budget to mid-range systems the Black II is ideal. Top to bottom is seamless with no obvious drawbacks and every album I tried sounded good to excellent. As Geoff told me simply listen and see for yourself.

Stuart and Lin use Tellurium Q’s Silver Diamond with their reference Avant Garde Duo speakers, and rightly so given the cost and quality of the system.

Conclusion

I’ll cut to the chase as I see no point in rambling on as to the qualities of this cable. It simply does a brilliant job of making your system sound far better for a reasonable outlay. Now £54 a metre may not seem a bargain to some enthusiasts and if you are like a true Yorkshiremen with short arms and deep pockets who says, “How Much?” then either change your perceptions or miss out on a real treat for your ears. Once you try these cables you may well want to go further up the range. Warning !! They are addictive.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: Excellent with a choice of good terminations to suit 

Sound Quality:  Superb, open and detailed 

Value For Money:  Brilliant 

Pros: Fantastic upgrade from the original and for anyone wanting to transform their system if they feel it is lacking 

Cons: They are addictive 

Price: £54 per metre inc plugs or spades

David Robson puts some zeros and ones through this Scottish company’s £80 The Director SE digital coax cable. 

Ecosse is a new brand to me. Arriving in the late 90’s which, unfortunately was the start of my Hifi hiatus. Due to house moves and relationship changes my hobby was put on hold for quite a while.

Ecosse have their base in Scotland where they have a factory in which they handcraft their cables. This cable uses “Monocrystal” Pure Copper, and is manufactured to a very high standard. The Monocrystal they believe gives a superior conductor material and having no “Grain Boundary’s”. This taken from the company’s website, an explanation of their theory. “a patented casting process (extrusion and annealing) is employed to produce a ‘mono’ or single crystal ultra-pure wire with significant advantages over other cables currently available. These other cables use ordinary copper or silver, which, no matter how few grains the manufacturer claims, have a grain barrier of oxygen and hydrogen. There are 9 perfect characteristics of this, by now, Monocrystal™ copper: Unidirectional, Free of Impurity, Flexibility, Fatigue-Resistance, Corrosive-Resistance, Low Electric Resistance, Non-crystal Boundaries, Rapid Transmissibility, Perfect in Structure”.

The Director Digital Coax (RCA) is a 75ohm cable and my sample here is 0.8m in length, you can customise your cable by adding lengths of 0.2m (20cm) for an extra charge, BNC connections are also available. The Director is manufactured with a multicore of pure microcrystal copper with polyethylene (PE) insulation and then a further foam PE coating; this separates the central core from the return braided copper which then has a very nice blue PVC outer sheathing. The cables are terminated with Ecosse’s own design MACH2Ag RCA’s. These are silver plated for best conduction of the signal. The outer PVC coating is a nice metallic looking blue colour and is of medium stiffness.

Having had this cable on for a few weeks I’m sure it’s well run in. Playing Van Morrison’s “Back On Top” CD the opening track on the album “Going Down To Geneva” has a Jazzy/Blues bouncing style, the rhythmical drive from bass and drum jump out in true foot tapping style, the Ecosse certainly has a presence. The track lends itself to more of a late night closing track in a hot, boozy club, the Director Coax has just enough detail to carry this effect off. The following song is a much more relaxed and laid back affair. “Philosophers Stone” has the simple tick, tick, tick of a cymbal and nice deep tones of piano and those notes carry a good weight with them, Van Morrison’s vocals strike up showing a little age and patina. Stereo imaging is good and has nice depth between the forward vocals and both the piano and electric organ sounds, these all easily distinguished and separate from each other. The crispness of the high tones from the brass cymbals could be a little better, but nothing too glaring, Mr Morrison’s harmonica does have great sound and voice though, peeping forward of the soundstage, the notes have a nice organic “live” feeling to them. Switching CD’s to Supertramp’s “Some Thing Never Change” CD, this a fabulously clean and clear recording has many layers and things going on, and is one of my all-time favourite “go to” albums. The Director by Ecosse easily transfers the digital signal from the CD drive to the DAC without losing to my ears anything in the way of clarity or quality. “You Win I Lose” starts out with a big reverberating bass drum, the “bounce” is very definitely heard and felt, the drum strikes have a hard edge and the cymbals have quite a crispness, maybe carrying a little too much “brittleness”, although not straying into sharp acidity.

Popping in Dire Straits “Dire Straits” and the second track on the album The Water of Love. This older recording from the late 70’s has had a great transfer onto the digital format. The Glockenspiel intro is clear as a bell (or a glockenspiel) in a stark darkness, there doesn’t seem to be any digital noise in this Director cable, as the track gets itself going the rendition of drums and the twang of the steel guitar feel a little restrained with a touch of hazing, nothing unbalanced and on the whole an even tempered performance. Onward to Six Blade Knife, the laid back, moody tune of the album has real presence to it, the melodic bass guitar leading the track, is tight and well formed. Knopfler’s vocals come hissing out, these have great texture with the Coax cable doing a fine job of conveying this to the listener. The slightly hard edge mentioned earlier becomes an asset with the lead guitar sounds as this fires out from the speakers with steely accuracy.

AT A GLANCE

Pros:

A well made cable, that’s priced well. Having good detail at this price point and is a good step up from the budget cables.

Cons.

Can have a slight hard edge to the sound, but does not become overbearing or fatiguing. Bright sounding equipment may not be this cables best friend.

Price: £80

David Robson

In this world exclusive review Dan Worth and Dominic Marsh take a listen to the new Allegri+ passive preamplifier using autoformers from Townshend Audio and costing £2400.

Unless you have been living on the far side of the moon that rarely sees the light of day, then Max Townshend will be a name that you associate with quality and extremely well thought out products, which  perform excellently and are solidly engineered. Townshend’s Allegri+ the successor to the popular Allegri has just been announced to be hitting the market and I’ve been lucky enough to get one of the very first units to leave the factory.

After the huge success of the Allegri Passive Autotransformer Preamplifier, the boffins at Townshend Audio Engineering, under the guidance of one of the industries true thinkers – Max Townshend, has created the latest and improved version of the Allegri Family. I’m sure many would agree with me that it was a real class act, offering a natural and dynamic presentation with infectious agility and speed. So what does the + version offer in terms of superior sound quality and build over it’s lower priced predecessor?

Fit and Finish

The Allegri+ comes in a very similar jacket to the Allegri, being only a centimetre or two larger all around and weighing in at a slightly heavier 2kgs against the previous units 1.5kgs, quite unnoticeable unless the two are side to side. The immediate visual difference being a 3.5mm stereo input on the front panel under the mute switch. Volume and input selector witches look the same along with the overall layout and dimensions. So not much going on visuals alone.

The Autotransformers are wound using Townshend’s very own Fractal wire and coated in ultra thin Mu foil to maintain transparency and dynamics. Being a transformer design – as I have explained previously – will in short (when designed correctly) ensure that the amplifier will be matched perfectly with the source component, leading to better dynamics, transparency and a practically silent noise floor.

I must admit, the Allegri+ doesn’t leap out of the box and do a sexy dance for its new owner but it takes but a few mere moments for one to take a moment and appreciate the quality of the engineering. The Allegri+ is far from ugly and Max should be offended if anyone was to call it industrial looking. Personally I like the styling, I love the footprint and admire the precision in its build.

Under the hood there are a few other tweaks, Max will only say that “inside are some critical upgrades to isolation, chassis and metallurgy, which in combination take the Allegri+ to a new level of musical performance.”

Installation

Installing the Allegri+ was an absolute breeze in comparison to many components due to its size and connectivity, usually I’m bending into all sorts of shapes tracking cables and running extra power leads etc, so being able to place the 1/3 sized component in between amps on my top shelf and easily connect the couple of Analogue cables without needing to empty shelves etc was a blessing, especially as it arrived one Friday morning while Dominic and I were having a little listening session before we went out for a bite and a beer.

The Sound

We soon had the Allegri+ plumbed in for a quick listen before we went out the door and both sat there happily listening to a range of different music for over an hour before we went out a little later than expected. We chatted about our initial thoughts in the car. I was very impressed with the bandwidth and dynamics but felt that midrange was a little forward and a touch hard during the early stages of its running in period and Dominic was pretty much in agreement, with us both being pretty stunned at how good the Allegri+ sounded fresh out of the box.

I’m running the Allegri+ from my DiDiT 212SE DAC which is fed files from the Melco N1/a2, into a Gamut d200 mk3 power amp, which is a great match for my modified Ayon Ceramics. The Gamut has been the best combination amp with the Ayons I have heard to date and the Audio Music R-T1 Preamplifier which added some real beauty to the powerhouse that is the Gamut. However installing the Allegri+ in place of the R-T1 did two things, firstly it increased the precision of the extension of the top-end and secondly sucked out the noise floor like a vacuum.

The R-T1 is a phenomenal piece of equipment and takes some serious beating, but where its beautiful valve line stage adds character/colouration to the signature of the system, the Townshend doesn’t…at all. The honesty of the Allegri+ is humbling, even for the R-T1. The R-T1 does many magnificent things and side by side the R-T1 is hard to beat, but the characteristics of the Allegri+ give fond memories of why I loved the Allegri so much.

The Allegri+ is one of the most effortless and honest sounds you will ever hear, with a top end that is as crystal clear as fine cut diamonds and has a bandwidth that stretches on for days. Play any of your favourite music and try and work out where all the added bass comes from. The common statement “it’s like having no preamp” is BS if you ask me, I prefer the term transparent. A preamp has an awful lot of work to do in refining the input signal and in most cases manipulating it which colours it inevitably, while matching output impedances etc. In the case of the Allegri+ you are fully aware when it hits the shelf; things change, for the better, well, it depends what preamp you have now and how coloured you enjoy your music, but if like me all you want is the truest, purest rendition of the music in the most natural and effortless way possible then read on.

Temptations arise so quickly to start digging out albums you haven’t listened to for so long once the Allegri+ is run in (over about three weeks). Gone is any forwardness allowing bandwidth extensions at both ends to gain more definition and inner details throughout the hugely wide and tall soundstage. I spent many a day listening intently to the Allegri+, I could say that I prefer the way some details are handled on the R-T1 and arguments could be made about its infectious midrange but the Allegri+ just has this, how can I say it… soul power.

It’s like falling in love with the cute girl next door and telling Claudia Schiffer to get her toothbrush and assortment of fancy frillies and go away! Because what has replaced her is a big hearted, kind souled human being that doesn’t need all the bells and whistles to be special in my eyes, she’s ambitious, honest and intelligent. Now that may sound a bit soppy but I don’t care. Emotionally the Allegri+ takes me to places where music makes sense. I like to be surprised and to be honest I didn’t really hold out too much hope for the Allegri+ being this much better than the standard version, which doesn’t do the job quite as well as the + but also has a big heart.

During my review period with the Allegri+ it was my birthday and after a good day out celebrating, some friends and family came back to mine for a night cap or two. My cousin is a huge music fan and has a modest system, which he has sounding very good. He hasn’t been over for a session for a while and in that time I’ve got into Fink a fair bit, mainly the Live album ‘Wheels Turn Beneath My Feet’, as I’m sure most of you will be bored of me mentioning, it is a staple for me now and it plays to my love for good acoustic music.

With the Allegri+ in place I enjoyed a night of music that I haven’t fallen so deep into for some time, appreciating the Allegri+ for its fine qualities I previously mentioned. During ’Sort Of Revolution’ the floor tom hit sounded far more dynamic with more emphasis on the initial hit of the snare than the previous version, something that Dominic quibbles at when I have the valves in also. The Allegri+ gave more slam and attention drawn when the drummer played this beat.

Silences throughout the album really emphasised the emotional character of the performance well and allowing for decays to disappear into the darkness after their timbered fore-note.

Now that the forwardness of the midrange had disappeared through burn in, I found vocals to be earthly and almost eerie at times, standing proud and poised of the depth of soundstage that the Allegri+  added through its lack of background noise.

The height and breadth of the soundstage makes sense to me. The overall picture was as broad as the bandwidth and all notes, cues, decays, vocals and acoustics seemed to have been graciously given the correct space, making many other preamps at this price sound a little congested and restrained. The art of a great passive is simple to plan out, but extremely difficult to implement when it comes to employing the finer details of construction.

I’ve also heard many other passives that seem to fall short of what their technology stipulates is theoretically possible and only a handful in my time have been pretty good to great. That’s why I have never really championed a passive in the past in my system. Of course I went over to the Audio Music R-T1 which is an active hybrid (TVC with active valve line stage) we could say and that is a dream to own but it’s been the real first time that I have really fallen in love with a TVC.

What makes the new Townshend Allegri+ great is that it seems to clarify the signal, puts one arm on its shoulder and just says calm down, relax…now go! The speed in which drum rolls especially come rolling towards the listening position is almost startling. Transients swing up and down around and round. Play Rachelle Farrell’s ‘Can I Explain’ and give it some volume and the dynamics of her vocals are mind blowing at times, but what a good preamp will offer is an almost as astonishing dynamic natural tone to the accompanying piano and yes you guessed it, the Townshend really excelled here. The special awareness of the performance was almost as strong as the R-T1 costing a fair bit more and bettering many pres I’ve heard in and around its price bracket.

The R-T1 and Allegri+ amps sound different and the Allegri+ does do some things which are maybe kind of, I think, possibly a little better at times…but its main attribute is it just makes you fall in love with the music and if it doesn’t your listening too hard to the equipment and not the music, and if you’re not wanting the music to emotionally connect with, you get a couple satellites and a subwoofer!

A few more days had gone by and the dizziness from my birthday celebrations had subsided enough that I felt I could listen to some music again without needing paracetamol. It was a nice sunny day and I had been pottering about the house a bit and thought I’d put some tunes on. The mood I was in set me to play some Old Skool dance music, not really considering even having a proper listen I ended up coming back into the room many times and at one stage, thinking “I wasn’t playing it that loud was I?” Of course I had been steadily turning up the volume over the course of the afternoon.

The system sounded great, a lot of people state very often that dance and its associated sub genres aren’t music. Stuart and I talk about this a lot, there’s a hell of a lot of work that goes into producing dance music, with multiples of layers and vocals, with any good system with attributes of great speed, timing and low noise floor, ensuring strong dynamics will nail it and produce some of the most complex soundstages you will ever hear from your Hifi. I had been listening to the subtleties and beautiful natural tones of acoustic music it’s the Allegri+ so far but now it was time for some real energy and enthusiasm.

Here is where the differences I didn’t want to talk about in comparison to the R-T1 played its vicious little hand. The sheer scale of bandwidth alone once I paid some real attention to the music and parked myself in the listening seat was pretty damn insane. Bass notes felt like they were falling six feet down into my floor at times and cymbals has some of the cleanest and most controlled presence I have ever heard in this current setup with any preamp.

Taking a seat allowed me to appreciate what the mastering suite strived so hard to produce, which is often lost by its resale of albums in MP3 to the masses. It wasn’t just the layering in front of me that I found captivating but the encapsulation of the full global soundstage. I could hear full tonality in notes behind me, not just simple suggestions of out of phase trinkets which simply cue a certain manufactured effect. The sound was rhythmic and bouncy, fun and embracing, exactly what a good dance session should be.

I wanted to take the Allegri+ over to my mate Richard’s for a listen, I wanted to compare it with his Sowter transformer based passive and couple of valve preamps, however as usual Dick had two of the preamps on the bench making modifications and amendments to tailor them more specifically to his system and room. Fortunately the only pre that wasn’t being cannibalised was the Sowter based TVC. Fed into a Parasound Halo A21 there hasn’t been any hesitation in its abilities to drive the large Trolls Graveson design speakers which Dick has further modified.

His tastes in music are very broad and he really appreciates a lot of West African and Indian influences. Sometimes his tastes are a little too eclectic for me, but he does find some material which I really enjoy and during my visit with the Allegri+ he was kind enough to play some music which I really did enjoy.

Muslimgauze ‘Mullah Said’ was one of our first choices, with the Allegri+ replacing the Sowter TVC notes were far better defined and sound staging had far more air. The overall image was much cleaner and rhythms gained pace with far more expression of this massively expressive form of music which is constructed of many layered instruments and comes across as a real piece of art.

Amongst some of my more common listens we also spent a little time with Mari Boine a Norwegian Sami musician known for having added jazz and rock to the yolks of her native people. With a playful and sometimes sombre vocal Mari’s accompanying musicians had as much attention to their contributions as she did in the front. There no denying the clean and open nature of the Allegri+ but what it has to rivals others in the same playground is the ability to stay absolutely natural regardless of volume.

Conclusion

Choosing the correct preamp for any system requires lengthy amounts of ongoing research. Generally it’s easier, although not to be brushed off as simpler to implement a power amp that has all the basic requirements for driving the loudspeakers.

Valve, transistor, digital or passives such as TVC, AVC or simple attenuators have their pros and cons. A TVC is generally regarded as having an ease of installation between source and amplifier, due to its resulting impedance control, but in practice the topology isn’t fool proof and although the design states that perfect matching between source and amp should be attained, practice has proven that often this is not the case.

What Townshend Audio Engineering have managed is to do is create a set of transformers which will be compatible with the majority of amplifiers and to implement the topology in a way that sounds just sublime. Transparent to source and engagingly natural, the Allegri+ builds on the strengths of the previous Allegri.

Reducing the noise floor with tighter tolerance transformer windings using the companies Fractal wiring, with improvements in isolation and chassis damping, the new Allegri+ takes the natural and dynamic performance of the companies award winning preamp to the next level.

Giving the Allegri+ an Outstanding Product Award is so easy and I urge anybody who has been considering a passive preamplifier to put the Allegri+ from Townshend at the top of their list.

Dan Worth

Dan’s nomination for the Townshend Allegri Plus pre-amplifier to be awarded an Outstanding Product gong has to be tested and verified by a second Hifi Pig reviewer, so we now hand over to Dominic Marsh for his verdict to vouch for the nomination.

I was at Dan’s place when the courier delivered the Townshend Allegri + pre-amplifier during one of our regular get-togethers and rarely have I seen him in such a state of eager anticipation while waiting for the courier to ring on the doorbell.  We were actually due to go out for some lunch and my stomach was grumbling long before that doorbell rang and was very keen to go out and be fed, but Dan insisted we connect up the Allegri+ first before we went out.  Whenever Dan uninstalls or installs anything in his rack there is Dan on his knees with an arm reaching around a lot doing plenty of fumbling around behind the rack and a sizeable portion of cussing for good measure while making the connections.  Within a few minutes though, the Allegri was up and running with no accompanying profanities from Dan.  That was a real shock, not about the amazing speed of installation, but the utter silence from the man.  Note in diary was made.

I have a pre/power combo myself and to be honest I obsess a good deal less than Dan does over his system and I do like to stick to what I have, unless of course a component comes along that clearly and obviously is better than what I already have and I can warrant the outlay.  Having said that, in nearly 3 years of knowing Dan and his evolving system which has gone from “nice” in those early days to almost “stunning” now (!), each one of his upgrades has been worthwhile with rarely any sideways and never any backwards steps.  When the Audio Music R-T1 pre-amp was matched to the Gamut power amp and feeding his Ayon speakers there was nothing to fault with it according to my hearing. When the Townshend Allegri+ went in yet another perfect match was obtained and as Dan has said, the MUSIC took over the proceedings.

The sound became totally effortless sounding and try as I might, I could not hear any grain in the music at all, the treble as sweet and crisp as you could wish for, bass was very expansive and well controlled too for good measure.  I sometimes do wonder at the sound quality of streamed high resolution digital music that Dan has completely gone over to, when to me the silver disc at 44.1 kHz still has plenty of life left in it yet, but I was left in no doubt that digital files can impress with depth of timbres and tones, plus scouring out those tiny little inflections and nuances that only top flight systems can reveal.

Dan and I have a long standing debate over the drummer’s floor tom whacks in Fink’s “Wheels Beneath My Feet” live album during the track ‘Sort of Revolution’.  I had yet to hear the power and energy of those drum strikes from Dan’s system as I do from mine in my own listening room and Dan attributes this entirely to my room dimensions, whereas I say it’s system dependent.  With the Townshend Allegri+ installed there was considerably more power behind those drum strikes which did reverberate around the room far more than usual, so I say the score is one goal to nil in my favour.  No doubt ‘himself’ will still disagree and we probably will still squabble over this for a long time to come.

Another plus trait I found with the Allegri+ is the way it maintains a good relationship between sound level and volume, as in when the volume control is incremented upwards the sound levels increase commensurately without any blare or perceived ‘loudness’ breaking through and muddying the music.  There is nothing worse than when the volume is turned up the system starts ‘shouting’ or blaring at you and the way the Allegri+ did up the volume level and maintain the same linear amplitude levels was impressive and that shows excellent design and build.

Dominic Marsh

AT A GLANCE

To sum up then, I agree that the Townshend Allegri+ merits an Outstanding Product award and I endorse the nomination unreservedly.

Build Quality: Solid, sturdy and precise

Sound Quality: Natural, dynamic and expressively effortless

Value For Money: Show me a preamp that does more for the money and I’ll show you a bacon sandwich with wings

Pros

Exceptional transparency through to source

Natural effortless dynamics

Incredible bandwidth

Creates a truly emotional connection with the music

Cons

No remote

Price: £2400

SPECIFICATION

Frequency response:  8Hz‐100kHz +/‐ 0.1dB

Maximum signal level:  4V RMS 8Hz; 10V RMS 20Hz

Maximum DC offset :  5mV. (For undistorted 8Hz)

Distortion: Less than 0.01% at 400Hz, 10V (2nd and 3rd harmonic only)

Input impedance: Is dependent upon the load impedance and gain setting.

Inputs:6 pairs of phono sockets (gold plated), one 3.5mm stereo socket on front panel.

Outputs: 2 pairs RCA phono sockets (gold plated)

Width: 135mm (5,3in)  Height:     53mm (2.1in)  Depth:      326mm (12.8in)

Weight: 2.0kg (4.4lb)