Nils Frahm is the reigning king of ambient electronica. He has been releasing solo and duo albums for many years, but he has also worked with the Nonkeen collective. Nonkeen consists of Frahm on keyboards and synths with early ‘90s childhood friends, Frederic Gmeiner on bass and Sebastian Singwald on drums. It’s a modern variation of the jazz trio, even if that particular genre is avoided in the press release and largely absent in the music.
Whilst led by Frahm’s melodic and ruminative playing, the presence of a rhythm section makes All Good? into a different production than his usual work. It’s more relaxed and diverse, bringing out facets of Frahm’s playing that haven’t been heard on his releases for some time. It’s almost like he’s having fun rather than mining a deeper emotional and intellectual experience. Not that All good? is devoid of profound moments, but levity is thrown into the mix, making the eight pieces more human.
That said, All good? starts off in almost ecclesiastical fashion with ‘I’m sure’, where a slow build-up of drums and synth is joined by a swelling organ that expands upwards to summon the angels of electronica. It’s religious music for the faithless, inspiring ecstasy and enlightenment, albeit only briefly. ‘That love’ continues quietly with Rhodes keyboard, slow bass line and building drums, Frahm tapping out a lovely gentle melody. One benefit of drums is that they provide a real acoustic for this recording; it doesn’t depend on reverb, echo, or other effects to create a sense of space, and there is plenty of that to enjoy. Frahm doesn’t just provide the lead; he also conjures background textures with the occasional squiggles and blips, adding texture and body.
On ‘will never’, percussion and drums introduce synths that ebb and flow like the waves on a beach, over a low bass line that continues the down tempo theme established so far. However, the mood shifts when the bass line takes on a funkier tone and the keyboards respond with a higher pitch, building up to a climax before returning to the central theme. If this isn’t jazz, what is? ‘Be a’ continues the up-tempo vibe with a pulsing bass line and fx’d drums with lots of echo on the keyboard before Frahm’s signature wooden pipe organ brings a sense of serenity to the proceedings. But it’s not long before deeper, dirtier keys disrupt this tranquillity and take us into a bridge over Motorik beats that loses its way before finding a satisfying conclusion.
‘Product’ is the highlight of All good? It is perhaps the piece where Frahm sounds as good as he does on the best of his solo work. Here, he gains escape velocity without apparent effort and allows the listener to follow into a wider orbit before breaking things up and bringing it down only to take off again. Frahm is a very spiritual musician; at best, he matches Keith Jarrett’s ability to communicate on a different level, bypassing the intellect and revealing beauty that you cannot see with your eyes. ‘Of plasticity’ is reminiscent of his live work, with a percussive intro on the keys and drums, Frahm loves repetition and knows how to make it engaging but has the sense to add melody where needed.
‘Exclamation’ develops a pulse after a calm intro and gets into deep water before falling off a sonic cliff and rising again with string sounds that lift the spirit. On the final track, ‘mark’, the drums and bass build up a head of steam that inspires Frahm to loosen up and add some bottom end to his chords before the drummer unleashes a dramatic solo that provides the most dynamic sounds on the album. It sounds like someone is playing with phase and echo, and it soon becomes apparent that this is in a live situation where the audience’s excitement has spurred the band into action.
All good? ends with an exercise in low-end theory. No one does bass synth like Frahm, so this is a juicy workout for any system with decent extension. It rounds off an album that mixes ambience and engagement in good measure. It should appeal to Frahm’s fans and those less inspired by his more cerebral productions, and it sounds great.
There is more folklore attached to the LS3/5a’s than you can shake a stick at. This is surely one of the most iconic and long-lasting speakers in existence!
When the BBC wanted to construct a studio in the now-sold Maida Vale studios in the early 1970s, they built an 1/8 size mock up of the studio, (a similar but more successful technique than was used in the Barbican Concert Hall design) and created the LS3/5’s to simulate the properties of the studio. 20 pairs later, the 110mm drive unit was swapped and the LS3/5a was born. The monitors found their way into BBC vans for monitoring live broadcasts due to their even frequency response, bass being limited by their diminutive size of course. It was shortly afterwards that the BBC licensed the speakers to a pool of manufacturers to produce with exact specifications.
BBC Eleven
There were eleven companies given the license, only three at one time, and it was estimated in 2007 that over 100,000 pairs were constructed. This figure has increased since then as the speaker has found its way into the Pantheon of speaker classics. My awareness of the speaker happened at an audio show a decade or so ago, when I heard the LS3/5a’s fed by a passive pre and a high quality reel-to-reel, and I was blown away. It was the best sound at the show, and I was astounded that these tiny little speakers were sounding so articulate and persuasive, and so musical to boot.
This anniversary pair comes from Graham Audio, based in Newton-Abbott, Devon. Graham Audio’s designer Derek Hughes is the son of of Spencer Hughes who was involved in the original BBC creation, and thus carries the torch of apostolic succession. The units are hand built and assembled with British or European parts, in the case of these anniversary edition speakers, there are a series of upgrades which include WBT German-made audiophile grade terminals, Van den Hul cabling for the internal wiring, and a redesigned crossover with upgraded components.
The tweeter is of the soft dome variety with a perforated metal grille, surrounded by thick felt pads – with velcro to hold the main grille in place. The bass unit is 110mm bextrene-coned, made by Volt to Graham’s specifications. There are also changes to the stiffness of the front baffle using higher density materials, said to result in a reduction of vibrations. Interestingly, there is a switch at the back to control the treble response. This came in handy as the speakers supplied had no hours on the clock, and were initially on the bright side.
Breaking in
The manufacturer suggested that a reasonable break-in time was around 50 hours, so I duly left the speakers to play for around seventy hours to be on the safe side. The finish of this pair was eucalyptus veneer, and a rather beautiful one at that. Graham Audio also supplied some solid metal stands for the speakers.
Listening through my VAC 200iq’s, Allegri Reference preamplifier, and dCS Bartók APEX DAC, the amplifiers had no problem in providing enough power for the speakers, at 83db sensitivity the manufacturer recommends 50 watts, this was comfortably exceeded.
Mozart’s Rondo for Piano and Orchestra K382, Barenboim conducting and playing with the Berlin Philharmonic is beautifully recorded, and presents the opportunity to show how a Steinway piano comes across, as well as being able to illustrate the orchestra at some distance back. To extract the detail here can sort out the wheat from the chaff. My first impressions of the sound is to marvel at the large and substantial soundstage these diminutive beasts are throwing out. The piano is lightening fast, I can really hear the attack on each note, the decay is precise and highly believable.
There is a roundness and generosity to the tone, even a complexity to the tone which speakers of this size more often than not miss. While the orchestra doesn’t present with the weight I’m used to with my reference pair of B&W 802d4, at many multiples of the size and price, the result is impressive for this concerto. There is oodles of detail coming from the woodwind and strings, I can see why these speakers were used in BBC vans as they give a lifelike picture of a orchestra, and with the exception of low bass they provide extremely useful information with which to create a mix.
Pleasantly Surprised
To some large and weighty orchestral music, Mahler 5th Symphony – 2nd movement as conducted by Solti on Decca with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, I am really pleasantly surprised how the Grahams give a sense of space. Even though the bottom octave isn’t present, there is a real feeling of the presence of the orchestra. The rapid interchanges between the different sections of the orchestra come across amazingly convincingly and there is no ‘soupification’ when the textures merge.
These speakers are keeping the textures separate, in their own boxes. The cellos and basses whilst not having my B&W’s full range capabilities, do sound credible, and interact coherently with the other textures. When the climax arrives, the speakers don’t break sweat, they keep an orderly control on the unfolding musical hysteria. There is very much a sense that they are presenting the orchestral sound as is, not embellishing or colouring the sound. Masses of detail and I am dragged onto the Mahlerian rollercoaster. Really impressive!
In the box
Listening to Forcione’s “Tears of Joy” feels like sitting in the box for a live recording. There is such a vivid sense to the presentation. The guitar is fast and percussive, the rhythmic textures snapilly portrayed, with razor sharp precision. Again there are no congestion problems when the climax arrives, just a portrayal of the main players. There’s a phase-coherence which is maximising the 3d imagery, and I can hear exactly how the mix is constructed. Clearly, ‘Auntie Beeb’ was onto a good thing here when the Corporation stumbled on these speakers.
Switching to some some jazz, Kenny Burrell and ‘Chitlins con Carne’, a high res remastered on Qobuz, the percussion-work comes across like it’s in the room. The sound of the skins being thwacked is utterly convincing! There is an effortlessness in the timing of the track, and totally on the money.
There is also a switch on the back, which has 0,-1 and +1 and gently boosts or cuts the treble.
Ohm is where the heart is
I have a pair of the earlier version of the Rogers LS3/5a which I listen to as a reference. These are 15 ohm versions and between forty and fifty years old. They have their share of magic and are the sonic equivalent of a pair of shoes that have been well-worn and are tatty but comfortable. There is a small difference in sound to their modern cousins: the Graham Anniversary speakers are much tauter, they are, to return to the shoe analogy like brand new handmade leather-soled brogues, more detail but a bit more uptight.
The treble cut control at the back serves to change the brightness when switched to -1, the bright and airy top gets attenuated, and the speaker sounds much more like its ancestor, but with more detail. Some of the air and space goes, but then so does a touch of the brilliance which works on some recordings but not others. Having switched between 0 and 1, I’d like a 4th option, a -0.5 which with the current state of break-in would strike me as ideal. This is a useful facility, a tone control by any other name, but one which changes the performance and presentation of the speaker in an intelligent way.
Rather miraculous
These speakers are really rather miraculous. For their size, they certainly pack a hefty punch, they make listening to music an utter joy, and it is reassuring to know that an idea that started life in the seventies as a BBC research project, still has legs and the power to go forward and and hold its head high in the world of rarefied small speakers and to be counted in the speaker hall of fame. This version of the classic has been intelligently developed and is stunning to look at and should be a high priority for someone searching for a compact speaker.
Technical specifications
Graham Audio BBC Licensed LS3/5A Anniversary Edition
Here’s a ‘fourth wall’ secret: all audio reviewers have a Pile of Shame. Our equipment racks are filled to burst with benchmarking products, devices under test, and products running in before their test. Then, there’s the room full of boxes and crates, some empty, some not. And when this Pile of Shame gets to heroic proportions, there’s a burning desire to throw everything out. And with that comes the inevitable philosophical noodling: if you stripped everything away, what would we be happy with? What is your ‘desert island’ audio system, the no-fuss product you’d happily switch on time after time? For me, when it comes to electronics, that’s the Hegel H190v integrated amplifier. That’s the original H190 integrated amplifier with a built-in phono stage.
A what? Hegel crossed one of its own ‘no-no’ lines with the H190v. Until a few years ago, the company said, “Hegel will never put a phono stage in an integrated amplifier. It’s just not the Hegel way. If you want a phono stage, buy someone else’s phono stage. We’re just not that into vinyl.” That started to change with the V10 phono stage. And now, there’s the Hegel H190v integrated amplifier, a direct replacement to the H190, now including an MM phono stage. The reason for this is more than to reach the vinyl market. Although, admittedly, that has become such a fixture in modern audio. Demand for excellent phono replay circuits inside and outside the integrated amp has recently seen a renaissance. Hegel has an exemplary phono replay circuit.
More Beef
Here’s the thing, though. In transitioning from the original H190 to the H190v, Hegel needed to do a bit of housekeeping. A beefier power supply and a minor re-think of the board layout are required. The result is a better-integrated amplifier all around. Adding that phono stage upgraded the line inputs, the DAC performance, the power amp stage… the works. So sometimes, if it ain’t broke, update it.
The Hegel H190v integrated amplifier retains the company’s pithy descriptions of technologies that underline it’s unique way of making an amplifier. There’s the crossover-distortion cancelling ‘SoundEngine’. Then, there’s the physical separation of voltage and current gain stages known as ‘DualAmp’, each with separate ‘DualPower’ power supplies. It also features a ‘SynchroDAC’ (as opposed to asynchronous digital conversion, which Hegel suggests has lower resolution and more distortion). There is also a low impedance balanced linear phase ‘LineDriver’ circuit in the analogue side of the DAC.
There’s also an optimal sampling frequency for that DAC (known as ‘Hegel Optimized Clock’). This keeps the signal precise without the open-wallet surgery required to include a high-precision Master Clock. It has a ‘USB’ circuit that acts more like a computer’s sound card, all wrapped up in the company’s ‘OrganicSound ethos. OrganicSound treats the signal to minimal change and, therefore, sounds more like the recording and more ‘natural’ in the process. While these audio aphorisms are best considered ‘gnomic’, they at least point to what they relate to and do so far more elegantly than a collection of Three three-letter acronyms. It also means we can describe most of the inner workings of this 150W Class AB amplifier in a single paragraph.
Swiss Army Knife
I’ve described Hegel amps as audio Swiss Army Knives, which still holds with the H190v. There’s not much this amp can’t do in real-world terms. It supports AirPlay, is Roon Ready, likes almost anything with the word ‘Connect’ in the title (such as Spotify Connect) and will support UPnP local storage. There is a Hegel app (Android and iOS) for remote control and set-up, but it’s not used in the H190v, and the amp is one of the more ‘agnostic’ in terms of third-party apps. In a way, I prefer this approach to a more rigidly controlled app ecosystem because it allows the end user more flexibility. I also like that setting up is less ‘kid gloves’ and more ‘child’s play’ as you can get the amp up and running in minutes without a problem.
The amp sticks with Hegel’s well-known minimalist approach, although the H190v is available in black or white finishes as a concession to wild and crazy Nordic eccentricity. Two knobs, a central display and a headphone socket on the back, a good array of balanced and single-ended analogue and digital audio connections at the rear, and three feet and a central standby switch on the underside.
Wake up!
Hegel has made the H190v quick to wake up; play something from Tidal or Qobuz apps on your phone or tablet, and by the time the online service starts streaming the track, your Hegel amp will have woken up and be ready to play through the network connection, using a blisteringly fast ‘Wake on LAN’ approach. Couple that with an ability to work with standard TV remotes and IP control for smart home integration with brands like Control4, Crestron, and Savant and this amp becomes something custom installers looking for a good hi-fi system room can get behind, which no doubt contributes to the H190v’s success.
Of course, there are those two little phono sockets with a ‘GND’ terminal. The onboard phono stage is MM only, so most people using a £3,250 amp as the nerve centre of their system are likely using turntables with decent moving magnets or high-output moving coil cartridges. Few are going to use a cartridge that costs more than the amp—hopefully!
Writes itself
A Hegel amplifier review almost writes itself, and the Hegel H190v integrated amplifier is no exception. The company is highly consistent in its designs. If you like the cheapest Hegel amplifier in the line, the more upmarket designs consciously add or subtract nothing but more power, authority and grip over the loudspeakers and a little more transparency. The tonal balance doesn’t change; adding the phono stage and headphone circuit highlights consistency.
The amp is powerful, controlled, detailed, well-balanced, and neutral in the treble if slightly forward-sounding. This is not a treble ‘lift’ or even an ‘accent’, and that top end is refined as it is extended into the bat-eared regions of a recording. It’s more accurate to say the Hegel H190v has an otherwise black and rich presentation, and the treble matches modern loudspeakers well. ‘Detailed’ without being ‘forthright’ is probably the best way to describe it.
The part people latch onto first is the bass because it’s got the right combination of power, control, and rhythmic ‘bounce’. Playing ‘Hollow (16-Bit Remix)’ from Björk’s Bastards album [One Little Indian] is sensational, even on relatively small speakers. The amp’s incredible grip over the loudspeakers (thanks to that damping factor of over 4,000) means those almost unplayable low-frequency tones are kept in check and make some rhythmic sense. Neighbours thought I was trying to inflate an angry goose, but the track’s pace and depth were abundant.
Speaker-mashing
This holds outside of speaker-mashing dance music. As a complete contrast, the same bass control and top-end extension also made Pablo Casals playing Bach’s Cello Suites [Archiv] spring to life. In fairness, this recording has excellent potential to sound good. Still, the benefit of image solidity and space and the all-round ‘first, do no harm’ tonal balance turns this superb recording into a blood-pressure-lowering musical event. And, given the probable loudspeaker matches the H190v is likely to see, this makes that musical experience even more striking. I also have this recording on original pressings from the early 1960s, and the H190v’s phono stage nails it. As the Boy Scouts say… Job Done!
This track also shows how much the slight changes to the circuit to add that phono stage pay dividends in the Hegel H190v integrated amplifier. I would put the amp at the top of Hegel’s ‘entry’ range but some distance from the big-hitter H390 and H600 integrateds. The H190v closes the gap a lot.
The big question
The big question, however, is whether an existing H190 owner should upgrade to the H190v. The OG version of the H190 was – and remains – an excellent performer. The H190v is more dynamic and detailed, but not so much that it will force your hand here. The one exception is if you have a record collection. Then, the H190v is all you need.
That ‘all you need’ is the core of the Hegel H190v. It’s such an obvious and elegant solution that meets most people’s audio electronics requirements. It’s hard to think of something with a better balance of price and performance. Sure, you can spend more, and sure, you can get more. But this does everything most people want or need from their audio equipment.
Technical specifications
Type: Integrated amplifier with network, DAC, and MM phono connections
Regular readers may recall that I reviewed the Gold NotePH-5 in Issue 219 and then the matching PSU, and was thoroughly taken with them. More recently, I hosted their stablemates, the IS-10 integrated amp and the matching PA-10 EVO power amp. In the interests of transparency, let me add that I had already bought and paid for the same company’s PH-10/PSU combination for my own system, and they formed part of the review system, but my reviews are not influenced by that buying decision.
The IS-10 integrated amplifier is another in the half-width Series 10 components offered by Gold Note. The review sample was finished in the same black anodised aluminium as my two existing pieces, but there also silver and gold options available should the buyer prefer. It weighs in at just 4kg, with the usual Series 10 dimensions of 200x80x260mm (WxHxD).
Layout
The front panel is laid out just like the PH-10, with a colour screen just left of centre and a control knob on the lower part of the right-hand side. To the left of the screen, at the top, is the now familiar Gold Note logo embossed in gold, then the IR receiver for the remote control and below that, a full-size 6.3mm headphone jack input.
The casework has angled striations along the whole length to help dissipate the heat created within. The rear panel has a lot of socketry but does not feel overcrowded. Two pairs of analogue RCA inputs are in the upper half of the left-hand side. To the right of those is a single RCA, which allows the user to use the IS-10 as a mono amplifier in conjunction with a PA-10 EVO power amplifier, a configuration to which we shall return in due course. Next are two pairs of loudspeaker outputs that can accommodate banana plugs, spades or bare wire connections. The last item in the top row is the IEC power input.
The bottom row of sockets gives access to the digital wizard within the chassis. From the left, we find inputs for Ethernet, USB-A, an RCA coaxial input and two Toslink optical receivers. In addition, there is a USB-C input (for firmware updates) and boss onto which the user can attach the supplied WiFi antenna.
Impressive
The technical specifications are impressive, too. As an integrated stereo amplifier, the IS-10 has an output of 90W into 8 Ohms, which rises to a very impressive 280W into 8 or 4 Ohms when used in mono mode with a PA-10 EVO. We shall return to that later.
The D/A Converter is an AKM AK4493 PCM. The quoted frequency response is 5Hz -50kHz, with THD of 0.001% (1kHz @ 1W). The LAN/WLAN wi-fi is 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Dual and (10/433Mbps). Bluetooth is the High Definition 5.0 (44/16).
All-in-one?
When describing this as an All-In-One device, Gold Note is not exaggerating. It is Roon Ready and supports the following streaming services – deep breath – AirPlay, MQA, Qobuz, Deezer, Spotify Connect, Tidal, Tidal Connect and vTuner. It also supports UPnP, which means that I can access the library of WAV files held on my Naim UnitiServe. I’ll spare you another long list of file-type acronyms – suffice it to say that it can handle almost anything you throw at it.
It is necessary to download the Gold Note app (GN Control) to your mobile device to use your smartphone as a remote and access some of the streaming services (Qobuz, vTuner, Deezer). I logged into my Qobuz account at the first attempt, and it never missed a beat thereafter. The only slight oddity with the app was that it would only run in the portrait orientation on the iPad. I generally use the device in landscape mode, and it took a few days for me to remember that the Gold Note app doesn’t switch between the two. This is more of a commentary on me than a critique of the app.
I plugged my PH-10 into the first RCA input pairs using Tellurium Q Statement II interconnects, with my modified Linn Sondek LP using a Vermeer Dark Sabre moving magnet cartridge in the Linn Ittok arm. My AURALiC ARIES Mini streamer was plugged into the coaxial input, and my TV was into one of the two optical inputs. These come with a protective cap installed. Be sure to put them somewhere safe if you need them later – they are small and easily lost.
My Harbeth P3ESRs, sitting upon Harbeth’s new bass enhancement stand, the Nelson, were the speakers in use. The speaker cable was Tellurium Q Ultra Black II.
Listening to the IS-10
It has taken me almost as long to write all that as it actually took to get the system up and running. My experience with all the Gold Note equipment that I have encountered has been that it is well made, easy to set up and easy to use. The user manuals are always well written, concise but with enough detail to be useful. Yes, I do actually read the user manuals of everything that comes into the house – experience has taught me that it usually saves me hours of frustration!
After letting the IS-10 warm up thoroughly for a couple of days I sat down to listen properly, and being lazy I grabbed the iPad, booted up the Gold Note app and got into my Qobuz account, specifically my Favourites section. Does anyone else do what I do, and keep adding albums to that list? It rapidly becomes an absolute hotchpotch, with no logical ordering. The latest selections go to the top of the list, but I can find no way to arrange them in any sort of order. However, I did manage to land on a perennial favourite, Stephen Stills and Manassas’ eponymous debut double album from 1972. I still regularly play my original copy on Atlantic Records.
Streaming
Through the IS-10’s streamer, it flowed from the Harbeth’s diminutive drivers, with every musical strand perfectly delivered and plenty of tuneful bass thanks to Nelson’s contribution and irresistible propulsive force. I have greatly admired Mr. Stills’ work since I first heard Buffalo Springfield a few years earlier than this release, and I think this album was an artistic high-water mark for him. Much credit must go to his Manassas bandmates, each of whose contribution was delivered with perfect weight by this system.
I roamed randomly through the unwieldy collection I have assembled on Qobuz and was never disappointed with the results. I navigated through the eclectic aggregation of albums, like a slightly intoxicated driver on an unfamiliar mountain road, from the Allman Brothers Band to ZZ Top, with excursions into classical, jazz, folk, reggae, dub, and all sorts of other weird and wonderful stuff.
Back to vinyl
Switching to vinyl replay a few days later, I revisited my 52-year-old copy of the Manassas album. Yes, the sound certainly had more depth. The Dark Sabre is astonishingly good at digging out vast amounts of information from ancient and modern grooves. The IS-10 and PH-10 are excellent companions, and I was utterly gripped by the music that flowed through them.
Evenings here tend to see music replay giving way to television as our source of entertainment. This gave the IS-10’s optical input a great workout, and it proved to be masterful there too. Spoken word voices sounded truly lifelike, and when the action kicked in, there was plenty of power behind gunfire and explosions.
The final stage of my extensive listening sessions with the IS-10 on its own was to try the headphone output. For this, I used my closed-back AudioQuest Nighthawks (long since discontinued) plugged into a QED extension cable with a 6.3mm jack at the amplifier end. I started by streaming from Qobuz through the IS-10’s streamer. I selected Jordi Savali’s magnificent recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Le Concert De Nations. The climactic fourth movement evoked a profound emotional reaction in this listener, and as the last notes faded it took some minutes for me to regain my composure. The headphone performance was as good as every other department in the IS-10’s offering.
Listening to a record through headphones is always an intense experience for me. Listening to my original 1973 UK pressing of Pink Floyd’s peerless Dark Side Of The Moon was no exception. I whiled away an entire day playing through the headphone output on the IS-10, and since then, I have used headphones more often with whatever amplifier has been in use.
Adding the PA-10 EVO
The second phase of the review was to switch to a dual mono amplifier configuration. This was executed easily once I had got clarification on how to do it from the very helpful team at Airt Audio, the UK distributors for Gold Note products, who had supplied me with the review equipment. Using the RCA sockets on the rear of both boxes, I installed an AudioQuest Pegasus to link them. The IS-10 is smart enough to know that the presence of an RCA plug means that It has to reconfigure itself as the mono left channel, with the power amplifier beside it taking right channel duties. The part that caused me cognitive dissonance was that the right-hand speaker cable had to be moved to the left channel outputs on the PV-10-EVO. There are also three small push buttons on the rear panel, one of which configures the unit for mono.
With that done, I resumed my listening chair and returned to the Manassas album on Qobuz. Holy Moly! We now had a pair of amplifiers, each of which could deliver more than 250W into an eight ohm load. Clearly, I was not going to jeopardise the welfare of my little Harbeths with injudicious use of the volume control, but I did advance it a little. The outcome was a noticeable increase in musical dynamics and in the precision with which notes stopped and started. The soundstage grew bigger in every direction without ever feeling overblown.
Powerhouse
Vinyl replay through this pocket-sized powerhouse amplification was remarkable. It could handle the shimmering, ethereal flute and synths of Shpongle with the same aplomb with which it delivered the down-and-dirty Texas crunch of ZZ Top. When Frank Beard’s drums burst into life on the classic track ‘La Grange’ I could feel the power hitting me right in my flabby midriff. This was a real exercise in controlled power. The last side of Pine Floyd’s epic post-Waters live album Pulse features some of David Gilmour’s finest guitar work, and through the dual mono Gold Note amplification, it had huge emotional and aural heft.
The final phase of the review process was to contrast and compare the built-in streamer of the IS-10 with the AURALiC ARIES Mini. In my system, the pint-sized streamer has been bolstered with a power supply from Network Acoustics, the same company’s ENO ethernet filter, and punches well above its size and weight would lead you to expect. Returning to some of the music I had already streamed, there was an added sense of realism to the sound, which I noted as being “more analogue sounding”. But the performance gap between the IS-10’s built-in streamer and the AURALiC would not have been enough to leave me feeling short-changed if I relied solely on the Italian machine.
Tour de force
The engineering design team at Gold Note has delivered another sonic tour de force with these System 10 components. I exhausted my Florentine imagery in my last Gold Note review, but I wish I had left some for this piece. The IS-10 is a wonderfully versatile single-box solution. For anybody coming new to building a great minimalist system, the IS-10 makes an incredibly strong case for itself. Add a pair of the loudspeakers of your choice, and you will have a genuinely impressive system. However… add a PA-10 EVO and you have a true aural heavyweight, in a rather dinky form factor.
This a great time to be a buyer – there is an embarrassment of choice out there, so when compiling a shortlist of components to audition, it would be easy to overlook the Gold Note offerings, which would be a severe error. If your current budget only stretches to the IS-10, you will not be disappointed, but start saving again because the PA-10 EVO deserves the small amount of shelf space it will occupy. Once again, I shall end like this – Bravissimo Gold Note.
Technical specifications
Gold Note IS-10
Type: Integrated streaming Amp/DAC
Inputs: 4x digital, 2x RCA analogue
Power output: 90W/8Ω (Stereo mode), 280W/8Ω (mono)
January 30th, 2025 – This Saturday, February 1st, Loud & Clear Edinburgh will host its annual All Things Vinyl Day. This year’s event promises to be the best one yet, featuring an exhibition of paintings by Kyle Blain.
The All Things Vinyl Day is always a popular event at the store, and this year will be no exception. A wide selection of turntables from renowned brands such as Rega, Vertere, and VPI will be on display and playing throughout the day. Customers will also find an extensive range of vinyl accessories, including everything from phono preamps to cartridges. The store’s friendly and knowledgeable team will be on hand to answer any questions, and there will be special offers available.
Scottish artist Kyle Blain will showcase his artwork throughout the store, featuring unique paintings of artists including David Bowie, Billie Eilish, Eminem, Sam Fender, Fontaines D.C. and Dave Grohl. Blain’s art explores themes of music, identity, nature, and pop culture, using abstract brushwork to create expressive yet realistic pieces. His works have been exhibited throughout Scotland, as well as in London and Athens. Best of all, Kyle’s pieces are affordable, with originals starting at just £300.
Kyle will be in the store throughout the day, available to answer questions about his artwork. He will be happy to discuss his artistic methods, creative choices, and more. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, he will also have extra prints available, specially created for the occasion.
In addition to exploring Kyle Blain’s artwork, customers can browse Loud & Clear’s extensive collection of vinyl records. The coffee bar will also be open, serving what is probably the best cup of coffee in the city, brewed on the brilliant Fracino machine.
Loud & Clear Edinburgh’s Managing Director, John Carroll, said: “We take great pride in our mission to be the world’s best hi-fi store, and events like All Things Vinyl Day are a key part of that. This year’s event, with the addition of Kyle Blain’s fantastic artwork, promises to be our best yet.”
Whether or not a special event is taking place, Loud & Clear Edinburgh is always worth a visit. The store offers a calm and welcoming environment in which customers can experience a carefully selected range of premium hi-fi products. Alongside major audio brands, the store also features smaller companies, including loudspeaker specialists Living Voice and YG Acoustics. Manufacturers trust the team to match products to customers’ individual needs through thoughtful consultation and detailed listening sessions in the perfectly calibrated demonstration room.
Great electronic music is very hard to find. To me, at least. There is lots of it, but it is seldom mainstream, which makes it hard to get exposed to and even harder to sort through the vast selection. Though far from an expert in this field, The Last Resort from 2006 by Trentmøller is an extraordinary album.
Often, electronic music falls into one of two categories: either too monotonous or too annoying. The Danish DJ Trentmøller has managed to avoid both of those categories on most of the tracks on The Last Resort.
So the album is not entirely electronic; bass and guitars were used on some of the tracks, and while you sometimes might hear what could sound like static and/or distortion, it is simply part of the soundscape that Trentmøller lays out for us. And except for a few spoken phrases in one or two tracks, there are no vocals.
For listeners who need a label to define it, the closest would probably be a mix of many electronics genres, from Minimal and Ambient techno to Progressive House. Most of the tracks are long, over five minutes and some close to ten minutes, sonically waxing and waning and lots of time for the track to evolve.
The album opens with one of the best tracks on the album, ‘Take Me Into Your Skin’. It’s undoubtedly the most energetic, with many ebbs and flows in the music and significant tempo changes. Like on the whole album, this track features fantastic bass. This is a must-have album if you want to hear great deep bass or test how well a particular DAC or speakers can reproduce bass. Editor Alan Sircom uses ‘Chameleon’ from this album to evaluate gear. The tracks also feature high-frequency ambient pings, eloquently echoing back and forth between the channels – all these features make for a great dance track.
‘Evil Dub’ is another great track from the album. It is slightly darker and more subdued, with a low pounding bass line interspersed with various higher-frequency sounds. ‘Nightwalker’ is another track similar to ‘Evil Dub’; it is subdued, dark, melodic, and hypnotic, as if you’re in a trance while listening. ‘Miss You’, the final track, is probably the most easily accessible for people who are not well versed in this genre. It is melodic, low-key, and enjoyable, with a cool vibe.
‘Into The Trees’ is one of the only tracks where you feel like real drumming is involved, that is to say, where the drums stand out and almost dominate the bass. The aforementioned ‘Chameleon’ is probably the best track on the album and suitable for illustrating Trentmøller’s excellent way of constructing a track. He claims to have Depeche Mode as one of his inspirations, and ‘Chameleon’ (and several other tracks) share some traits in melody escalation that Depeche Mode often used on their 12-inch singles in the 1980s. It starts with a simple bass rhythm; Trentmøller then lets ambient sounds drip in and continues to add and escalate the bass and small ambient sounds on top of this essential rhythm. He then adds layers of sounds to underscore the growing intensity while keeping the original basic rhythm.
I imagine a high-end private lounge where this album plays in the VIP section. You chill and sip fancy cocktails while watching a glorious sunset over a suave metropolitan city’s skyline.
This album can certainly be enjoyed as excellent background music for hanging out, but it shines when you punch it! Viscerally feeling all that incredible deep bass moving through your body. As with most electronic music, you can certainly dance to most of the tracks on this album. But it also has a very mellow side, making it much more melodic than most electronic music I’ve heard. This album is recorded very well and has excellent sound quality. I’ve heard it both on vinyl and digital, and both sound great.
Highly recommended and the best electronic album I’ve heard!
Take a deep breath, cancel all your appointments, and get some wine and snacks for an epic listening experience: Kamasi Washington has a new album out. But what’s this? Washington’s debut, The Epic, came in at a triple-LP-hogging three hours – quite the statement for a first offering. His second, Heaven and Earth, was four LPs long – one was hidden in the elaborate sleeve! – and clocked in at two-and-a-half hours. But his third, Fearless Movement, is a mere double, running to an hour and a half across 12 tracks.
What’s happening? Has Kamasi lost his mojo, has he run out of epic tracks… or maybe, just maybe, he has developed a true sense of worth and managed to strip the album down to a dozen absolute bangers. No spoilers, but we are edging towards the latter.
The album is also more mixed than previous offerings: less epic jazz, more spirituality, hip-hop, and all-around funkiness – George Clinton even makes an appearance. In fact, a celebratory vibe runs through the whole record, at least part of which Kamasi himself credits to the birth of his first daughter.
This is a sign of deep maturity in a musician. Even in jazz, there is a strong ‘stay in your lane’ drive, especially when your music is successful. But the greats never stop moving forward, they are always innovating and looking toward the next concept, the next collaboration, and the next groove. And here, Kamsai Washington shows greatness!
Reassuringly, Fearless Movement features a plentiful array of Washington’s reliable, highly talented sidekicks. These include Ronald Bruner Jr. and Tony Austin on drums, the exceptional Ryan Porter on trombone, Miles Mosely on upright bass, Brandon Coleman and Cameron Graves on keys, and the wonderful Patrice Quinn, whose vocals always lend Kamai’s albums a touch of feminine class. His dad also appears again on flute, although the headline flautist must be Andre 3000, more of whom later.
But let’s start at the beginning, with the opening Lesanu, which clocks in at over nine minutes and very much gives you the impression of business-as-usual. It’s a wonderful, spiritual jazz workout, with chanting featuring alongside shared piano freakouts and Kamasi’s highly recognizable sax style.
Asha The First is where things start to get a little crazy. For starters, it features long-term friend and collaborator Thundercat, who, as you would expect, does what Thundercat does best: lay down some incredible bass lines in an opening solo. This is followed by some sounds that, at least according to my ever-alert dog, sound exactly like a Ring doorbell going off! The middle section introduces a rapping segment that stands out from the rest of Kamasi’s previous output. We’re not saying it’s a bad thing – it just takes the listener who hasn’t studied the track credits by surprise.
Elsewhere, standout tracks include the Zapp cover Computer Love, which brings Patrice Quinn’s vocals to the fore, and The Garden Path, which is classic Kamasi and features, to my ears, some of the best soloing on the record, both from the band leader and his co-conspirators. But the true moment of wonder is Dream State, a blissful nine minutes that features the newfound flute skills of Andre 3000 and brings to mind the spiritual vibes of Alice Coltrane at her best.
The album closes, rather ironically, with the wonderful Prologue, which is a considerably more up-tempo piece than the rest of the album and is a fine closer to both this brave new record and, we would imagine, to his recent live shows.
Fearless Movement is a great album, but one where jazz traditionalists may feel he has strayed too far from the path of righteousness. Who knows, maybe we can all look forward to Kamasi’s fourth record being a 45-minute single album of funk workouts; we would not stand in his way.
Historically speaking, any product called ‘Classic’ isn’t going to champion bold new industrial design. But in the conrad-johnson Classic Phono preamplifier, the company walks a very well-trodden design path. Everything from the colour scheme, the control surfaces, even the graphics and fonts on the front and rear panel, have changed little since the earliest days of c-j. You could easily mistake the Classic Phono for the TEA2 or even the EV1 phono preamplifier from 24 years ago on looks alone. While I applaud this dedication to c-j’s gold-fronted minimalism, such products can be lost in a roiling sea of marketing campaigns pushing ‘edgy’ looking products. Which is a shame because the new conrad-johnson Classic Phono preamplifier deserves not to fly under the radar.
Despite the changeless looks, this is a modern take on conrad-johnson’s line. It builds on the successful – and now discontinued – TEA1 and TEA2 phono stages (we tested the TEA2 back in Issue 70). Like many brands in 2024, c-j has been rationalising its line, and there are now just two phono preamplifiers in the range; the Classic Phono and the ART Phono (tested in Issue 226), although the Classic Phono is available in a premium SE version, where 20 passive components are replaced with custom Vishay metal foil resistors and proprietary CJ Teflon (PTFE) capacitors.
Regardless of SE status, the Classic Phono is a zero-feedback design with a passive RIAA equalisation network. It uses two cascaded single-ended triode amplifiers with a single-ended triode cathode follower. This is conceptually similar to most c-j phono stages and a very familiar design to users of the TEA2. The circuit results in a low distortion and wide bandwidth design, with low output impedance (below 700Ω) making it an ideal partner for current and vintage c-j line preamps.
Two gain options
Again like its predecessors, the Classic Phono is available in two gain configurations – High Gain (53dB and using 3 x 12AX7 and 1 x 12AU7 double triodes) or Low Gain (40dB with 2 x 12AX7 and 2 x 12AU7 double triodes). Don’t be fooled by the seemingly low gain values in both variants; c-j’s line stages have around 20dB of gain, so the sum of phono and line preamplifier gain values is more than enough. Moreover, the circuit is so quiet and noise-free that even when used with a low gain line stage (9dB in case of this review), the High Gain version remained respectably quiet, even at ‘respectable’ volume levels, and that’s with a MC cartridge with just 0.2mV output.
As befitting a minimalist phono preamplifier, controls are limited to an on-off switch on the front panel and a pair of phono terminals in and out, plus an earth connection. There is provision for adjusting cartridge loading, but it requires unplugging the Classic Phono, removing its top plate and adjusting the settings on two tiny four-gang DIP switches on the circuit board near to the input RCAs.
Factory door settings
These switches are set to 47kΩ out of the factory door, but you can assign a resistive load of 9.6kΩ, 2.4kΩ, 560Ω, 460Ω, 250Ω or 160Ω. I’d prefer these to be adjustable without removing the top-plate, but they are once-per-cartridge, fit-and-forget settings.
It’s such a c-j design fixture that it’s almost a cliché, but great attention has been paid to the Classic Phono’s power supply. The phono preamp uses discrete regulated supplies to yield minimal impedance up into the highest frequencies. Although the SE version adds more top-end components to the list, the standard Classic Phono bristles with high-grade components in its own right and the case features good shielding and anti-RFI measures. While these are not as thorough as the case-within-a-case of the ART Phono, this was still a conscious consideration throughout the Classic Phono’s development.
TEA-time is over
The TEA1 and TEA2 stayed in the c-j line-up for many years, albeit with the former going through three iterations over its long life. But they left the line-up for good reason; the Classic phono is better. A lot better. Recent c-j products have had what is both a sonic renaissance and a convergence of old and new. They retain much of the sweet musicality of early-era c-j but with the detail, focus, snap and precision of more modern designs. The combination of the two is close to the ideal for many.
So, if we are continuing to discuss those older conrad-johnson phono stages; the EV1 of the turn of the century sounds a little too ‘rose-tinted’ by today’s standards, but in some ways what came after – the TEA1 and TEA2 – overcompensated making a sound that while dynamic, precise and detailed, was lacking some of the ‘magic’ of old. It’s pretty clear that the synthesis of both means the Classic Phono – like the ART Phono before it – is a return to form and the perfect balance of what models like the EV1 and TEA designs did right. And where it scores highly is it blends those boons without sacrificing performance in other aspects.
Classic Phono improves over TEA1 and TEA2 in that fundamental synthesis of old and new. It takes the detail and tonal accuracy of the TEA models and gives it some of the musical insight and romance of the older designs, and the result is better than both. The romance is the right side of ‘lush’ and doesn’t get in the way of more forthright beat-oriented music. The Classic Phono’s blend of audio insight with intense musical communication makes your music come to life.
Soundstaging
A big part of the conrad-johnson presentation is about soundstaging. The Classic Phono presents an image unconstrained by the loudspeakers and is only limited by the rest of the system upstream and down. In particular, it has an image depth that draws the listener deeper into the music. That is coupled with good image solidity and a sense of dynamic shading that makes instruments in that stage sound believable and ‘in the room’ with you. While this is strongest with live instruments, it’s a universal effect.
It’s less of a detail machine than predecessors like the TEA1 and TEA2, but it retains those phono preamp’s fundamentally accurate tonal balance, and arguably ‘detail’ is replaced with ‘insight’. While that sounds like an oxymoron, the Classic Phono’s focus is less upon knowing what gauge and brand of strings the guitarist is using and more about how they are playing the music. String noises and squeaks on acoustic guitar are still presented with great clarity, but these seem set more into the context of the musical whole, more in line with older c-j phono replay.
That doesn’t mean the Classic Phono smooths over all kinds of music and adds a ‘niceness’ filter; albums like Optical Delusion by Orbital [Orbital] are very hit and miss, with tracks like ‘Dirty Rat’ sounding thin and undynamic… because they are thin and undynamic on LP. However, that honesty does not come at so high a musical price that you have to tailor your musical tastes to suit your system.
Notes in common
My listening notes shared a lot in common with those of the ART Phono, just in a slightly smaller scale. But, unless you have a system of such resolution that it demands a phono preamplifier with the gravitas of the ART Phono, the Classic Phono preamplifier is probably all you need. While audio reviewers spend their word counts on analytical aspects of performance, the Classic Phono is all about the music.
I’d like to hope the Classic Phono will be followed by a reborn Classic Line preamplifier to complete the series. However, I also fear the minimalist specification sheet of this Classic product is off-putting. While the conrad-johnson Classic Phono preamplifier has got it where it should count most – in the sound quality department – regrettably, many products today are sold more on specification that listening test. The Classic Phono’s ‘back to basics’ approach might be too basic to convert new customers to the c-j cause.
That all being said, I suspect the market for the conrad-johnson Classic Phono preamplifier will not be first time c-j owners. The clue’s in the ‘Classic’ name; this is a product for the vinyl music lovers who already know what the gold-fronted electronics can do and want that synthesis of old-school warmth and new-generation detail. If that’s ‘playing to the choir’ then get ready to sing!
Technical specifications
Type: Valve Phono stage
Valves: 2× 12AX7, 1× 12AU7 double triodes per channel
PHONO 1: Gain 53dB, load fixed 47kΩ
Gain 63dB, load fixed 46Ω (with step-up transformers)
PHONO 2: Gain 53dB, load variable 147Ω to 47kΩ, 20pf to 956pf
Hum and Noise: <500µv
Output Impedance: Below 200 ohms
Dimensions (H×W×D): 1 3.8 × 47.6 × 40.4cm
Net Weight: 14.1kg
Price: £7,495, $7,000 Special Edition version £8,995, $9,000
When a product in your inventory starts being associated with the words ‘icon’ and ‘legendary’, the business of making changes to it becomes fraught with risks that simply don’t apply to normal production items. The temptation to simply leave the device in question to just crack on being highly regarded must be a very strong one.
Panasonic Corporation; the parent company of the Technics brand has long held a more relaxed attitude towards tinkering with their big name products than most organisations. Having produced the SL-1200 turntable in one form or another for nearly forty years, the company unceremoniously pulled the plug in 2010 and canned the Technics name altogether shortly after. When the Technics name was resurrected in 2014, the SL-1200 returned a year or so later, almost completely unrelated to the outgoing model suggesting that Panasonic had no desire to preserve the design like a coelacanth with a tonearm. Now, it is time for the GR model to receive its first significant revamp with the imaginatively named GR2 replacing it.
Principle changes
The principle change for the new model concerns the business of rotating the platter. The GR2 is still a direct drive design, with the motor operating directly on the platter which connects to the hefty drive assembly via a single-rotor, surface-facing, coreless direct drive motor as opposed to a twin rotor unit in the more ornate G series models. The platter is still a metal casting with a rubber mat for the playing surface and it makes contact with the drive over a magnetic contact section.
What has changed is the manner in which this arrangement is fed with electrical power. The company calls it Delta Sigma drive and it refers to the means by which the electrical supply is controlled; in this case using Pulse Width Modulation. This is in turn controlled via a digital to analogue conversion stage which means that the Technics to all intents and purposes has a DAC in it. A low noise, high speed switching power supply is now used to supply as clean and interference free power as possible (while also eliminating the need for a bulkier transformer). For good measure, an active noise cancelling system is then employed to further improve the signal. The outgoing GR wasn’t completely analogue in terms of the power supply but this is a significant revision. Technics is not alone in this approach- we’ve seen a few such PSUs, but it seems to be something that upsets particular corners of the internet.
This approach is designed to help reduce vibration and high harmonics which can otherwise make their way to the playing surface where it can be picked up by the cartridge. Technics also says that the result has improved pitch stability as well although it is only fair to point out that the outgoing model was hardly lacking in this area. It has no effect on the operation of the GR2 which retains buttons for 33 and 45rpm playback and 78rpm is achieved by pressing both buttons at once. In keeping with tradition, there is a sliding pitch controller as well although some of the real DJ niceties like reverse playback remain the preserve of the Mk7 model.
Subtly different
Technics is less forthcoming about other changes on the GR2 but the revised model does feel subtly different to the outgoing version. The most significant area is the tonearm. It’s still an S-Shaped model with an aluminium armtube and detachable headshell but it is by far the most confidence-inspiring example I can remember using. Some of the slightly vague travel in the older version seems to have been eliminated and it has a precision and positivity that wasn’t always the case before. The supplied headshell is the same as other more recent Technics models and I’m not terribly keen on the sloped front edge which makes fitting some cartridges harder than it needs to be. It is easily changed though.
The only other real usability gripe on the GR2 is the placement of the mains socket and audio connections. The former is mounted at right angles to the rear panel under a lip and is a pig to make a connection to with no discernible benefit in neatness or cable fitment. The RCA outputs are slightly less concealed but still something that requires a degree of fumbling to attach a cable to and the vertically mounted ground post is also somewhat odd.
These quirks are thrown into sharp relief by how pleasant every other aspect of the Technics is to use. It was always going to be fairly unlikely that any significant adjustment would be made to the styling of such an iconic device but this is undoubtedly helped by the ergonomics of the GR2 being as good as they are. The separate speed selection and start button is utterly logical and while the strobed platter edge looks a little fussy, you know at a glance that your rotational speed is correct. No cartridge is included in the purchase price but the arm is more than up to the job of supporting all but the most leftfield options without issue.
Beautifully made
The whole turntable is also beautifully made. Compared to the more expensive G Series components that make more use of machined sections, the GR2 is more prosaic but it’s still bolted together with a thoroughness that makes pretty much anything else at the price resort to words like ‘artisan’ to describe how they are constructed. Thanks to usefully pliant feet, the Technics is fairly unfussy about how it is placed and the inclusion of a lid is a very welcome one too. As has been tradition for most of the SL-1200’s production life, an SL-1210GR2 is also available which is identical in every way save for being finished in black, and, in keeping with later production GR models, the tonearm is now black as well; an aesthetic tweak that I’m not completely sold on.
For my initial listening, I fitted the Technics with an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge for the simple reason that much of my listening of the SL-1500C that I reviewed in issue 224 was carried out with the same cartridge and it provided scope to listen with a little context to that non Delta Sigma equipped design. The jump in performance was considerable and somewhat unexpected. Of course, some of this is because the GR2 is a more expensive and ornate turntable than that 1500C but I would have considered that the more affordable model, once equipped with a better cart and mat could have kept the original GR honest but that isn’t the case here.
The most important thing to stress when trying to frame these differences is that the fundamental character of the Technics is unchanged by the changes made. Listening to the title track of Hot Chip’s boisterous Freakout/Release [Domino] is everything I want a record played on a direct drive Technics to be. It’s urgent, propulsive and something that engages you at an emotional rather than cerebral level. It’s as utterly pitch stable as the digital file while possessing an energy and texture that is considerably more exciting.
Plenty of bass
Some of this is down to the bass on offer. There is plenty of it and it starts and stops with the same urgency that the platter of the 1200GR2 does when you press the start/stop button. It’s far more than a blunt instrument though. Even with the relatively affordable Ortofon in place, there is texture and detail present that brings material to life. Change tack completely to the huge orchestral swells of Berlin Sunrise on Fink Meets the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra [Ninja Tune] and this ability to capture the fine detail in the bottom octaves helps to bring the music as a whole to life.
This more refined piece of mastering is the first clue that the internal revisions that Technics has undertaken here have yielded results. I have never really considered the older models to be noisy in terms of their operation but the GR2 is exceptionally quiet and this has impressive results in how much fine detail that is worked into the presentation. By the time I changed the Ortofon out for a Gold Note Vasari Shibata; one of my very favourite cartridges under a grand and capable of exceptional detail retrieval in its own right, the GR2 was demonstrating an ability to find information in records and proceed to convey it in a wholly natural and self-explanatory way.
This is combined with a more intangible but repeatable effect that the GR2 is much more comfortable with less ballistic music than any 1200 model I’ve tested so far. The charming and delicate World on the Ground by Sarah Jarosz [Rounder Records] is reproduced without sounding forced or as if Jarosz has assumed the dimensions of an NFL quarterback. This is by far the most effortlessly delicate performance I can recall from a 1200 and it is still underpinned by a level of pitch stability that even the long sustained piano notes of Orange and Blue cannot defeat.
Final element
The final element of the improvements relates to the space and soundstage that the GR2 is capable of. The SL-1200 has never struggled to sound big and confident and in this regard nothing has changed. The vast title track of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome to the Pleasuredome [ZTT] is as sprawling and epic as it should be but there is more air around the recording than has traditionally been the case. The birdsong at the beginning of the track occurs in a space that extends far beyond the placement of the speakers and that lends the whole piece an epic scale. This is something that the Technics has consistently demonstrated with a selection of cartridges and running into a variety of phono stages and amplifiers. Where once the perception of scale the SL-1200 delivered was more akin to a ‘wall of sound’ effect, here there is more space around the music itself, helping to unfold and open out even very dense and congested recordings.
This being an SL-1200, there is more to be had from the basic turntable too. Changing out the headshell, as well as making fitting cartridges a good deal easier, can extract more from the arm as some testing with an Audio Technica MG-10 and a Goldring Eroica HX demonstrated pretty quickly. Likewise, getting shot of the stock rubber mat and substituting the lipped Achromat from Funk Firm is a very sensible option too. The improvement in performance is less marked than it was on the 1500C but it still cleans up the midrange and further improves the already impressive clarity. Once your warranty has ended, there’s scope to look at the more extensive rebuild options which tap into the fundamental strengths of that tremendous motor and freshly tweaked power supply.
Deeply impressive
Crucially though, I don’t think you will be rushing to start tearing the GR2 to pieces in the pursuit of higher performance because what it can do out of the box is so deeply impressive. Judged at the asking price, this the most complete and capable example of the breed I have yet tested and I suspect it has the scope to run the G Series models closer than might be idea. Panasonic’s lack of deference towards their design icon might seem callous at times but there is little arguing with the fact that they keep pushing their fifty year old turntable forwards at an impressive rate of knots.
The really clever bit is that this has been done without impinging on any of the things that make the SL-1200 the turntable it is. The GR2 looks and feels every inch the design classic and going back to simpler turntables afterwards can have you looking at aftermarket cueing lights and wondering how to rig them on your current turntable. Once you’ve made the connections, it asks nothing of you while delivering an exceptional level of overall performance. The SL-1200 might be a legend but it isn’t relying on past glories.
Technical specifications
Type; Direct drive record player with fixed axis tonearm and moving magnet cartridge
Motor 110-240v Delta Sigma controlled direct drive
In issue 97, we reviewed the original Burmester 111 music server and streamer. That was almost 12 years ago, and the 111 is still in production.
In fairness, the 111 has held up well over the years. It’s surprising how much modern heavy-lifting an audio platform from the early 2010s can muster. However, Burmester has this covered for future-proofing. The platform is upgradable in hardware, software, and firmware. The latest 111 might look identical to its 2012 counterpart, but it’s very mid-2020s on the inside. Thanks to an upgrade path, 111 owners can—and should—bring their older machines up to the latest specification.
Big Changes
The significant change is from spinning hard drives to SSD drives for music content storage. That gives it two 4TB solid-state drives instead of the older Winchester-style hard disc drives. This means no more worrying about RAID arrays or disc crashes and less latency. The other big upgrade is the move to the X-AMP 3.Developed for the new 232 integrated amp, the X-AMP 3 is a three-stage, fully balanced signal amplifier with outstanding audio characteristics thanks to careful component matching. Even without negative feedback, it has high linearity and almost complete independence from environmental or operating conditions.
The X-AMP 3 circuit uses components within a very narrow tolerance range. These are selected according to rigorous standards, with the transistors in the circuit subject to intense scrutiny. In addition, the shielding aluminium cover protects the sensitive electronics from external interference. This discrete amplifier module is an all-analogue design and raises the performance significantly.
X-AMP 3 is a custom operational amplifier with 100 components per module. It can be used as an output amplifier stage for DACs, phono modules and the volume controllers in preamps. Most high-end brands will use discrete amplifier circuits. They dismiss op-amps as an exercise in cost and size-saving. However, a custom op-amp controls the stage’s thermal and noise properties and bandwidth. As the name suggests, it’s the third iteration of the X-AMP. Burmester has been using operational amplifier modules since the late 1980s.
Recap
Given the original dates back so far, a quick recap is in order. The big screen might look quaint by today’s standards, but it still serves the Burmester 111 music server and streamer well. It is a helpful command and control interface when streaming, serving or ripping. Since many hide their servers from view, the Burmester demands to be front and centre of your system. It can be used as a preamplifier as well as a server. Although best used as a ripping server, it can act as a CD player.
What’s strange is the 111 shows just how far European and US listeners have travelled in the last few years. Many countries still use CD regularly (for good reasons, because the format sounds excellent in the right hands and because it’s hard to stream in countries where an internet connection is either very patchy or might end in a jail sentence). However, we may consider the format at best ‘legacy’ across much of the West. A disc, ripped into the 111, makes a very cogent argument to question that ‘legacy’ statement. It did so with the original version and now makes that argument more succinctly with the latest upgrades.
More than chrome
New purchasers of the Burmester 111 music server and streamer can do something hitherto impossible. The ultimate in shiny audio has introduced a more understated matt black coating scheme. I know many who love the mirror-chromed finish of traditional Burmester products. I also know that the chrome finish puts others off.
The new finish will appeal to almost none of Burmester’s existing customer base. They will continue to buy ultra-shiny products. Instead, it adds a new generation of buyers. It’s for those who want and can afford the Burmester experience but found the original chrome a little garish. Naturally, the black finish is beyond compare. Burmester’s products are astonishingly well-built. It’s not uncommon to find people with 30+ year-old Burmester products in their systems, and they look as good as new.
This longevity in Burmester products is part of the reason you rarely see one appearing on the second-hand market. But that burdens Burmester’s products heavily; they must be ‘deep time compatible’ by audio standards. And that’s not generally associated with music servers, with the 111 being a notable exception. That’s why the 111 includes a front-panel display built for mission-critical displays in aircraft cockpits.
In search of deep time
Despite this ‘deep time compatible’ standing, the Burmester 111 music server and streamer needed some gentle nudging into the mid-2020s. Perhaps more significantly, though, that ‘gentle nudging’ revolved around the X-AMP 3 modules. This is proof of concept for Burmester’s next big stage of development, as this module is the core of Burmester’s next generation of digital platforms and line-level devices. This is, in essence, the first product to sport X-AMP 3 modules, and it is available as a retrofit for existing clients. If it doesn’t make a big difference to performance, those clients will be less excited by the next generation of audio from the Burmester brand. So, the mid-2020s-spec 111 has a bigger than expected task.
The English have a phrase; “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” It’s apt in this context as it means ‘in improving the 111, don’t accidentally make it worse while trying to make it better!’ The 111 is now the core of many Reference Line systems – acting as a server, DAC, and preamplifier – and improving one leg of the stool could unbalance the others. Fortunately, in the case of the 111, the improvements are deep-seated and universal. Far from risking undermining the performance, the 111 is now better than ever in its individual parts and as a Reference Line hub.
Pre’s are good
When I last used the 111, I felt that although it had a delicate preamp stage in its own right, it was no match for the flagship 077 or classic 808 Mk 5 preamp from the brand. This still holds, but the gap has closed considerably. Cutting out the preamp middleman was a good idea in theory with the original 111; now, it’s more than just an exercise in cost-saving and shelf management. The improvements in detail resolution, transparency and bass integrity are immediately audible enough that if someone sends their 111 for an upgrade, they will hear the difference minutes after installing the revised version.
The X-AMP 3 modules are used throughout the latest and upgraded 111s. Still, if you use the original 111 in its fullest sense, improvements to the preamp stage will be the most immediately noticeable performance aspect because they apply universally. Improving the DAC improves the digital side, but the preamp benefits all inputs.
Not that the improvements to the server-side of the 111 are trivial; the sound retains its distinctly Burmester warmth and richness, but alongside that chocolatey-smooth presentation, the leading-edge performance, the dynamic range, the energy, solidity and soundstaging are all improved. I used both tracks back when initially testing the 111 and new additions, and it was clear the 111 had lost none of its platform-defining edges over the years. I suspect an original, untouched 111 might not have quite the same advantage, as there have been significant improvements in server and streamer performance in the intervening decade and change.
Trends change
That decade has seen listener trends move from ripping discs to local hard drives to online streaming, and the 111 takes both in its stride. It makes a strong case for being one of the best; it always had a tendency to bring out the musicality and elegance in a recording – listening to Billie Holiday and Donny Hathaway then and now brought a lump to the throat, and that happens whether the album is ripped or streamed. What’s happened over the years is you stop minding where the music comes from and focus instead on its sonic properties.
Although this is an audiophile product written about in an audiophile magazine, the 111 is intended for the music lover first and foremost. The audiophile obsession over the twinkly bits is a distant second. Music – whatever it is, wherever it came from – is portrayed with a rare grace and serenity that is not common to digital audio. However, grace and serenity are not codes for ‘bland’ or ‘boring’. This highly detailed and exciting player makes you want to listen to more and more music. It did that in its original guise; it does it much more today.
Is 2013 still with us?
There are aspects of the Burmester 111 music server and streamer that have not moved with the times. The original design pre-dated Roon, super-high-resolution PCM, MQA, and streaming DSD files’ popularity. However, many of those ‘important’ improvements to audio sound quality have waxed and waned in popularity. From a purely pragmatic argument, the 111 has all you need to listen to music in the real world. However, Roon is an omission.
The 111 Mk II uses the ‘plug ‘n’ play’ standards of the early years of the last decade. There are more automated installations today. That said, I doubt the end user installs many Burmester 111 devices, and the dealer requires those IP addressing skills, not the end user. This also has a stealth advantage; installation is exceptionally robust, and you won’t find a 111 having a temper tantrum – or a senior moment – unless your network is very sketchy. It connects to the outside world in a manner befitting its build inside and out, a solid, belt-and-braces approach.
Simply the best?
The Burmester 111 music server and streamer is tough to follow, so the company didn’t follow it up with a new model; it made the best, better. Things may change, trends in audio may come and go, and maybe the need to rip discs will be less of a draw in 2025 than in the early 2010s. But one thing remains constant: good sound never goes out of fashion. And the 111 makes an even better sound in its latest guise. For the CD hardcore, streaming is enjoyable. To those already happy with streaming, it represents the best in streaming. Back when it was first launched, streaming was more about internet radio than dealing with Tidal and Qobuz. Whether you use it as a CD player with a really, really long memory or a state-of-the-art network streamer, the Burmester mid-2020s 111 is still the high-end digital hub to beat.
Technical specifications
Type: CD-ripping music server and streamer
Storage: 2x 4TB SSD capacity for music data storage, SSD drive for system storage
Supported audio formats: FLAC / wav / mp3 etc.
Sampling rate for D/A conversion: can be selected from either 96 kHz/24 bit or 192 kHz/24
bit
7” display
UPnP server
Uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
Analogue inputs: 3x XLR
Digital inputs: 3x RCA, 3x TOSLINK
Analogue outputs: 1x XLR stereo, 1x RCA stereo, 1x RCA tape out (fixed) 1x headphone jack
Digital outputs: 1x RCA, 1x TOSLINK
Dimensions (WxHxD): 46 x 22 x 41cm
Weight: Approx. 28 kg (depending on configuration)
The front end of a system defines its performance. Whether it’s a record player, CD or SACD player, or digital streaming source, the system is only as good as its weakest link, and a good source can transform any audio system.
The nature of source components is in a state of flux. Turntables and vinyl remain as strong as ever, but digital audio has fans of streaming, local storage, and traditional disc replay through CD and SACD. Where a year or two ago, the notion of network filters and high-performance audiophile-ready switches was in its infancy, they have now become one of the most popular parts of the network streaming experience.
We’ve got exclusive access to some of the latest and greatest source components in both analogue and digital, covering the entire gamut of models from devices that get you started in high-quality sources to products that push the envelope in every way.
Also, in our ‘Out Of The Box’ feature, we will showcase new and exciting brands joining the world of quality sources. Whether they are entering the digital domain for the first time or have been stalwarts of high-performance analogue electronics for years, they all have one thing in common: They think outside the box!
And we want you to be a part of this. We want your questions and comments. If you are unsure what ‘compliance’ means when choosing a tonearm and cartridge combination, get in touch. Bewildered by network streaming? Then, send us an email! Let us know if you think LP, CD, streaming, or even DAT (remember that?) is the best format ever. Get in touch to reminisce over that first time you heard a really good record player, or the day CD changed your life. We want to hear from you, so send your email to [email protected], putting ‘Incoming! Sources’ in the subject line.
We can’t guarantee we’ll publish every email or letter, but the best Incoming! comment will get £250 to spend on AudioQuest products!
When hi-fi+ sits down with Richard Hawley in the London office of his record label, BMG, ahead of a private gig to showcase some of the songs from his new album, In This City They Call You Love, he tells us he’s recently returned from promotional jaunts in Belgium and France.
“The whole promo thing has just sped up to such a point that it’s so f***ing insane, and there’s all this internet content…,” he says.
“I don’t have anything to do with social media. I don’t know much about it, but both my sons and my daughter have said ‘Dad – don’t… You’ll really hate it.’
He adds: “The thing I’ve observed about social media is that if it was an actual place – a town, a village, or a city – nobody would go. Only the nasty, crazy f***ers would get on a bus, or on a plane, or a taxi to go there.”
Like a lot of his work, the title of Hawley’s new record was inspired by an actual place – the city of Sheffield, where he was born, grew up and still lives.
The record takes its name from a lyric in the ballad People, which is one of the album’s most beautiful and stripped-down moments – in Sheffield, people refer to each other as ‘love.’
In a solo career that’s lasted almost 25 years, the velvet-voiced singer-songwriter, who also spent time as a guitarist in Pulp, has made a string of great albums, including 2005’s Mercury Prize-nominated, Coles Corner.
His latest record – his ninth – is one of his best. Several of the songs were influenced by the passing of his lifelong friend and former Pulp bassist, Steve Mackey, who died last year.
In This City They Call You Love mostly sees Hawley shifting away from some of the heavy, psychedelic garage-rock he’s explored over the past few years, and returning to melancholy, ‘50s-style balladeering (‘Heavy Rain’) and country music (‘Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow’), as well as throwing in a touch of early ‘60s Elvis (‘Prism In Jeans’), and some soulful doo-wop (‘Deep Waters’).
Richard Hawley photographed in Sheffield by Dean Chalkley
First single and opener, ‘Two For His Heels’, is a dark, bluesy and cinematic twanger, while ‘Deep Space’ is the heaviest song on the record – an upbeat, crunching rocker that tackles the need for some peace and quiet – time and space – but also reflects on eco and social issues.
“I think it’s alright to not just have a heavy album or an acoustic album,” he tells us. “I didn’t really mind that this record stretched a lot sonically and tempo-wise.”
SH: Congratulations on the new record – I honestly think it’s one of the best things you’ve ever done…
RH: Oh, right – cheers, man.
For the most part, it feels like a return to vintage Hawley. You’ve moved away from some of the heavier, psychedelic and garage-rock stuff that was on albums like Further, Hollow Meadows and Standing At The Sky’s Edge. Was that a conscious decision or did it happen organically?
It was just completely natural. Basically, Shez [Sheridan – guitarist, co-producer] – that poor f***er – had the job of sifting through the songs first. I trust him. There were 86 songs to go through since the last bunch – because it was lockdown, and I had f*** all else to do, I’d amassed a load of material.
I definitely knew that I wanted this record to be voices – me, Shez, and Colin [Elliot – bassist, co-producer] – singing together, and a lot of space – musically, physically and emotionally.
A lot of big tunes demand that you pile loads of stuff on ‘em, but even the big tunes on the new record, when you actually break down the components, there’s f*** all to ‘em.
‘Deep Space’ is the heaviest track on the album…
Yeah – it is, but I actually recorded another four songs that were even heavier, but they didn’t make it. I thought, ‘Nah – that’s stretching it…’
The bottom line is that I’m a songwriter, and a guitarist and, I guess, a singer, and a producer, but, at the end of the day, the songwriter won this time. It’s like having different heads that you put on your shoulders, and I didn’t really mind that this record stretched a lot sonically and tempo-wise.
Once I’d done it, when we were listening to the playback, it was the first time it occurred to me that, it was kind of, not musically, but in terms of where it stretches to, like an old Beatles record – you’d have some heavier tunes, like ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, and then ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ – the gentler things.
That can be a dangerous mix, and [sometimes] it can’t work, but, on this occasion, I think it has.
I think it’s alright to not just have a heavy album or an acoustic album.
Before you recorded the tracks in Yellow Arch Studios in Sheffield, you worked up the songs in your home studio, Disgracelands, which is in your shed, didn’t you?
Yeah – but that was the thing… ‘People’ and ‘Deep Waters’ are just demos, but I added the backing vocals to ‘Deep Waters’ after.
Richard Hawley photographed in Sheffield by Dean Chalkley
Even though both those songs were dashed down quickly, the actual performances were just on one microphone, so you can’t separate the guitar and the vocals – it’s the sum of its parts.
I was playing ‘People’ to the lads in the band and our drummer, Deano, said, ‘If you add to that or change it, I’m leaving the band.’
He said it was perfect as it was – I didn’t think it was, and I was thinking we could add an orchestra or this, that and the other, but once he said that, I listened back to it, and I thought, ‘He’s right…’ After all this time, you trust people…
I wrote the song while Shez was putting the kettle on in the house – he came up with some coffee, and I’d finished it off. It was done in 15 minutes. I said, ‘I’ve got this song…’ He said, ‘Don’t play it – I’ll just mic it up…’
I said I needed a drumbeat, and he quickly got this pulse thing, and I just played along to it – it was one take, and we listened back to it, and said, ‘That’s pretty good.’
I left it, and then we got into the studio with the lads, I played it to them. They all went really quiet after, and I thought, ‘F***ing hell! Is it shit?’
They all said I couldn’t mess with it – it was perfect as it was.
Richard Hawley photographed in Sheffield by Dean Chalkley
I don’t want to say this record was easy, because it wasn’t, but it was one of the easiest records to record. The hardest thing was selecting the songs because I had so much material.
On this album, you’ve worked with your regular band, some of whom co-produce with you. Have you ever been tempted to work with an outside producer to see what would happen?
No – a producer, ostensibly, works for the record company, and they’re ultimately answerable to them to produce something with commercial value.
I know how to do that on me own – I don’t need help with it. That’s not to say that producers are a bad thing – they’re often a very essential component to a record.
Maybe in the future, when I’m farting dust, and I can’t decide whether I’m having a piss or a shit… I don’t know.
The first single, ‘Two For His Heels’, is a bit of a red herring – it has this dark, cinematic and bluesy sound, which isn’t representative of the album…
I don’t think any of the songs are representative of the album – there’s not one of them, apart from ‘People’, possibly… You could randomly choose three of them to play on the radio, but none of them would represent what it is.
Where did the inspiration for ‘Two For His Heels’ come from?
We live next door to an old family social club and there are loads of old blokes in there who play cards – cribbage. When one of them has a boss hand, they shout out: ‘One for the Jacks and two for his heels.’
I asked about it, but because of my complete ignorance of the game, it just sounded like surrealist poetry to me – it was bizarre. That was the starting point, and I just twisted it into an eloping song.
It has some dark imagery in it – a howling dog and a city at night…
Yeah, and there’s the threat of murder in it… I made that [song] up on an old Mexican instrument that I bought called a Bajo sexto, which means ‘sixth bass’ in Spanish.
I bought that instrument with Steve Mackey, who I’ve dedicated the album to because we’ve lost him. Me and him met on the first day of infants’ [school]. Losing him influenced a lot of the songs – ‘Heavy Rain’ and stuff like that.
As you get older in this life, loss becomes an increasingly big component of living.
Several songs on the album mention the passing of time, or getting older…
I don’t want to be thinking about death all the time – it’s not particularly the greatest motivational force on Earth, but the older you get, the realities of it come crashing in through your door, whether you like it or not.
It’s unavoidable. I’m a writer – I write songs… It’s not that I’m predatory with those situations, but you have to go with what you experience and what you know.
Losing so many people that matter to me in such a brief period of time is something that you can’t ignore. Losing Steve was one of the most hideous things that’s ever happened to me and his family and friends – he was a huge component of who I am as a person because we’d known each other for so long.
You mentioned ‘Heavy Rain’ – I think it’s one of the most beautiful songs you’ve ever written. It could’ve come off Coles Corner…
Well, that’s not a bad thing. It’s like a lot of artists … Johnny Cash, Charley Pride and Charlie Rich… the apple of what they were didn’t ever fall too far away from that tree. What they do is what they do… You wouldn’t go and see Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry if you wanted to hear some classical music. There’s a lot of width in terms of what I can do, but what I want to do is more important.
I’m a songwriter and how the songs are performed and executed is definitely under the branches of a certain tree, but there are lots of different colours to it – the influences and stuff – but, ultimately, I’m not going to be writing the most legendary hip-hop song you’ve ever heard. It’s not what I do, so it’s no great surprise – and I don’t apologise for it either – when I write something that could’ve appeared on a previous record.
On this album, you played a guitar that belonged to Scott Walker, didn’t you?
Yeah – that was a massive thing. Scott was a mate – he was someone I met when he produced Pulp’s last album, We Love Life, and, for a multitude of reasons, he and I clicked. It was to do with music, but other stuff as well – we had a certain sense of humour which both of us understood.
His manager rang up on behalf of his daughter, Lee, and the timing of it couldn’t have been more fitting… It’s a Telecaster – and she had it delivered to me three days into the recording of the record.
There are only three or four guitar solos on the album – I didn’t want to stretch to twiddling and psyching-out on this record – but once I started playing that guitar… It’s a great guitar… I didn’t just play it because it was Scott’s, but that was obviously a huge component… It was pretty f***ed actually, and my guitar tech, Gordon, had to sort it out. Once he’d fettled it, as we say, that was the main guitar on the record.
Do you still write songs by singing or humming ideas into your phone while you’re out walking your dog?
Yeah – I just wrote a song in Paris while I was on me own in my hotel room. I was trying to avoid getting pissed, which sort of worked…
It’s a constant thing – I don’t necessarily think it’s a talent, it’s probably more of a mental illness. It’s just something I don’t analyse – it’s best not to.
All photos by Dean Chalkley
In This City They Call You Love is out now on BMG.
"Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit..."
"There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain..."
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