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Quiescent T500VA

I’m getting emotional as I listen to David Sylvian’s ‘Praise (Pratah Smarami)’ from the album Dead Bess On A Cake [Virgin]. I don’t know why. All I know is that I’m listening to the Quiescent T500VA Balanced Mains Supply with Peak power cables. I’m grateful that talented people in companies like Quiescent understand the electrical noise present in our modern world. It corrupts the delicate signals required to reproduce music, making me feel the way I do. 

This was my first experience with a balanced power supply. I was fascinated by the Quiescent T500VA, with its inherent anti-noise properties and other innovations discussed later. I recently replaced the electrical mains power supply to my HiFi (see issue 237). The results have been fantastic, and the Quiescent T500VA was connected to that supply. Another reason I was fascinated is that I use a complete loom of Nordost Odin mains cables via a QB8 MkII mains block. It’s a high-end reference, which the T500VA would replace. 

Easy set-up

The beautifully designed, engineered, and manufactured Quiescent T500VA can be positioned horizontally or, in my case, vertically, like an old tower PC. Power input was provided by the wall socket using a Nordost Valhalla 1 cable. From the TV500VA, there are two types of power output: four balanced, primarily for low-power, sensitive electronics, and two direct, for high-power components. I used the balanced outputs to my dCS Rossini Apex DAC Player, dCS Rossini world clock, and my David Berning preamplifier. I tried the direct connections to each of my David Berning QZ Mono power amplifiers. 

The output connections from the TV500VA use the Neutrik powerCON insert-twist-lock-click connectors. Therefore, Quiescent supplied their Peak mains cables (tested in Issue 205) from the T500VA to connect to my components. I found the Peak mains cables interesting because they include 10% silver-filled oxygen-free copper, Teflon, and air dielectric. These are similar to the ingredients in the wires I usually use, albeit in a completely different configuration. A higher level of mains cable is also available in the form of the Apex, which is 100% silver. 

Quiescent also sent me Apex Couplers (reviewed in issue 197), which work brilliantly under the Quiescent T500VA to address electrical vibrations further.

Addressing the Vibes

There’s a helpful analogy; for once, it involves no cars, watches, or cameras. Instead, think of a flat pond. Throw in a pebble and watch the waves radiate out. When the waves hit the pond’s edge, new waves reflect and interfere with the original. Damping/absorbing those reflected waves is the goal. However, they need to be “critically” damped – not too much or too little – so the original waves suffer no interference at any time.

In a call with Nigel Payne, he explained how the Quiescent T500VA is the culmination of lessons learnt from his involvement with Vertex and the formation of his company, Quiescent.  Specifically, the focus remains on addressing vibrations caused by electricity when it is excited and energised. This causes high-frequency electrical fields, which result in radiofrequency and electromagnetic interference. Notably, Nigel couples this with the recognition that capacitors do not behave linearly as simple reservoirs at high frequencies, where they cease to conduct. The result is electrical standing waves/resonances, which, as he has observed, interfere with the original audio signal —the waves that reflect.

So, where does all this high-frequency noise come from? These days, one significant source is something that in modern civilisation we cannot live without – switch-mode power supplies (SMPS) that convert high-voltage AC into low-voltage DC. SMPSs can switch at frequencies ranging from a few kHz to a few MHz, so our hi-fi systems certainly pick them up. There are large industrial versions (multi-car battery chargers) to tiny SMPS in things like LED lights. However, not all SMPSs are evil! Some brilliant implementations exist in hi-fi, but others don’t care about our needs. Quiescent cares!

First Listen

My first listening session could have been better. The musical magic had gone. It was lifeless and dull, and piano notes lost their sparkle and bell-like quality. The music felt slow. I wasn’t that interested in listening. The Engineer in me said I must’ve done something wrong, and it will be something fundamental. A call with Nigel revealed that sometimes, there can be a mismatch between a balanced power supply and valve-based amplifiers. 

I connected the power directly to my David Berning Pre One valve preamplifier. The pre-amp has the option of a 230V AC direct input (that the Quiescent T500VA was feeding) or 12V DC (bypassing the internal power converter). I have a Linear Tube Audio (LTA) linear power supply that converts externally to provide 12V DC. Nigel suggested using the LTA powered by the T500VA. Bingo! The musical magic came back and more. The lesson here is that if you try the T500VA at home and don’t hear an improvement, take advice from your dealer.

Listening, joy

We all know the feeling: You make a good change to the hi-fi. You know that because you rediscover old favourite music with a wonderful new perspective, and you’re blown away. The new musical experience takes your breath away. This is the Quiescent T500VA effect. 

“Oh, wow!” That was my reaction listening to ‘I Dream of Spring’ and ‘Coming Home’ by k.d. lang from the album Watershed [Nonesuch]. Her pristine, expressive vocals combined with musical arrangements that include drum machine samples and banjos in a way that should not work. However, it does because the T500VA’s ability to integrate music at interfaces cleanly and naturally adds to the musical flow. 

I also noticed an improvement in low-level, low-frequency articulation, such as sounds like gentle, soft pitter-patters from percussive instruments. I could feel the texture of those instruments, combined with the slow push of air. This added to the physical presence of the music.

‘Drowned World/Substitute For Love’ by Madonna from the album Ray of Light [Maverick/Warner Bros] has been a family favourite since its release in 1998. The T500VA gave me a new and welcome, wonderfully intimate, close, and involving experience, further underlining my belief that this is Madonna’s best album ever. 

Low-frequency information

The Quiescent T500VA’s ability to articulate low-frequency information is mesmeric. When listening to ‘Kid A’ by Radiohead from the album Kid A [Capitol Records], the decay on lower notes felt longer, with a richer texture and more tonal colour. Like the title track ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ by Lana Del Rey [Polydor], there is a greater sense of acoustic space on an already wonderfully spatial track. 

The soundstage is different. It doesn’t seem to impress by not impressing. There’s a sense of proportion which feels even more creative. I wonder if that was the high-frequency intermodulation distortion?

Something occurred to me during my listening sessions – they were all brilliant! Whether real or perceived, there are some days and hours when the system sounds much better. For me, it is Saturday afternoons or Sunday mornings. Who knows why? Is it geography, the architecture of the local power supplies, how they are connected, plus a hundred other things? I’d say yes to all. The point of the T500VA is to eliminate electrical noise in and around the hi-fi. The fact that every day is now an excellent listening day suggests the Quiescent is doing a fantastic job dealing with external electrical noise that is usually out of our control.

Value for money? 

On the face of it, the T500VA is a significant investment. Add five Peak power cables, and you’re looking at around £22,000. However, if you consider upgrading to the most high-end power cables, that would only get you one, not the five I need. Factoring that your system could, as in my case, sound its best much more of the time, the T500VA and Peak power cables now look like an excellent value for money. Suppose you are considering upgrading to high-end power cables because you appreciate the significant difference they can make. You must also factor in a home demo of the T500VA balanced mains power supply. The ultimate recommendation is to ask myself if I could live happily ever after with a T500VA in my system? You bet. 

Technical specifications

  • Type: Balanced mains supply
  • Input: C16 socket, 230-240V AC, 50-60Hz
  • Max Power Load: 2,200W
  • Power output: Balanced -115-0-115V AC up to -120-0-120V AC, 50-60Hz Neutrik PowerCON (total max load 750W) utilising common mode noise rejection (sockets 1-4), Direct 230-240V AC, 50-60Hz Neutrik PowerCON with total max. load 1,500W (sockets 5,6).
  • Output sockets: Quiescent proprietary mechanical and EMI/RFI absorption and grounding. Inline mechanical and EMI/RFI isolation module. Independent Balanced and Direct isolated rear panel sub-plates for maximum mechanical separation of sensitive source components from high-power electronics.
  • Isolation technology: Custom-wound fully balanced toroid transformer directly coupled to patented QPower™ module. In and out high-speed shunt filter and inline EMI/RFI absorption.
  • Finish:  Bead blasted natural or black anodised high-grade aluminium and non-metallic top.
  • Dimensions (HxWxD): 14x44x43cm
  • Weight: 28kg
  • Price: £16,300

Manufacturer

Quiescent

www.quiescent.co.uk

More from Quiescent

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Master Fidelity NADAC, D NADAC C

It’s not every day that a DAC is launched built around an actual one-bit application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Design lead at Master Fidelity’s Vancouver facility, Weishen Xu, believes his team’s proprietary DAC chip is actually the first since the TDA 1547 by Philips in 1988. To own one of Master Fidelity’s chips, we need to buy Master Fidelity’s newly-launched DAC, the NADAC D. Together with its accompanying master clock, the NADAC C, they come in at a cool £50,000.

A long-time Canadian citizen, Xu was a recording engineer before diving deep into the world of DAC and clock design. He says that the Philips chip was ‘an incredible accomplishment’. Still, he suggests that one of the reasons it has remained a one-off for so long is that the theoretical benefits of single-bit conversion – its linearity, low noise floor, wide dynamic range, and comparative absence of artefacts – proved impossible to realise due to the then limitations of surrounding technology. Designers were put off the scent, and they went in different directions to provide us with resistor ladders, the now ubiquitous multi-bit DAC chip, and, more recently, DACs implemented on field-programmable gate arrays and complex programmable logic devices.

Extreme timing

Xu’s verdict on using generic programmable devices to run one-bit D-to-A code? Close, but no cigar. He says true one-bit DACs require extreme timing precision to deliver on their sonic promise. His application-specific integrated circuit DAC allows ultra-precise circuit matching, enabling those strict timing demands to be met more easily. Optimised for audio use, a one-bit ASIC also allows a more idealised conversion to analogue than do generic programmable devices.

It might be easier to dismiss these points as mere marketing spin if it were not the case that being the first in more than three decades to develop a fully custom one-bit ASIC has cost Master Fidelity a simply eye-watering sum. Xu reveals that designing a chip from initial development to receiving test samples takes at least 10 months, and Master Fidelity went through several iterations over four years before settling on a final design.

Then there’s the production barrier. Wafer fabrication facilities don’t accept small orders, so Master Fidelity had to partner with established chip companies to reduce the unit cost to something semi-reasonable. Even so, the price per chip – he declines to put a number on it – is ‘very substantial’, so much that due to the low sales volumes that typify the high-end, Master Fidelity may offer the chip as an OEM component to other audio manufacturers to speed up its return on investment. Xu says Master Fidelity won’t quite be selling off the crown jewels since the performance of the one-bit chip is heavily reliant on the quality of thought and execution that goes into the circuitry surrounding it.

How low can you go?

As Xu notes, true one-bit DSD technology needs precise clocking. In particular, digital wander below 10Hz can affect high-frequency jitter. The NADAC D’s internal clock for USB has a claimed jitter of less than 800 femtoseconds over the 10 Hz to 100 kHz bandwidth. In contrast, the intrinsic clock recovery jitter (for S/PDIF over coax input) is claimed to be less than one picosecond over the same bandwidth. Students of jitter mitigation will recognise those as strong figures, but connecting the DAC to the 10 MHz clock signal from partnering NADAC C clock reduces jitter even further to 66 femtoseconds, with phase noise of -140 dBc at 10 Hz and -160 dBc at 100 kHz. While that’s not quite industry-leading, it’s not far off.

The name NADAC was first applied to a high-end consumer DAC and clock combination sold by the professional studio brand Merging Technologies of Puidoux, Switzerland, starting in 2015. It had been co-developed for Merging Technologies by the Merging Fidelity team at its Vancouver facility. Acquired by the Sennheiser Group in 2022, Merging Technologies was refocused by its new owner solely on the professional market. However, by then, Merging Fidelity’s development team had already made significant progress on a next-generation NADAC. Rather than writing off the investment, Merging Fidelity rebranded its Canadian operation as Master Fidelity, assigning it the task of completing the project and bringing the result to the consumer market.

Similar visuals

The new NADAC D and C have a similar visual aesthetic to the old Merging Technologies’ NADAC product line. They remain full-width, matt, natural aluminium components, but now feature 11x6cm full-colour touch screens. Aside from the different displays, it’s on the inside that things get really interesting. Lift the lid of the NADAC D and it’s evident the lengths to which Master Fidelity’s design team have gone to provide the one-bit chips with that optimum supportive environment.

Apart from the customised Amanero USB interface software and USB hardware specially optimised by Master Fidelity, the DAC is entirely proprietary. It features five independent power supplies: one linear and three switching supplies, plus an oven-controlled power supply dedicated to the one-bit ASICs. The clock recovery stage processes incoming S/PDIF signals
before being passed to an up-sampling module running Master Fidelity’s proprietary code. This module converts PCM signals up to 96kHz into DSD 128, and PCM from 176.4kHz to 384kHz into DSD 256. DoP signals remain unprocessed.

After the DSD is converted to analogue by the one-bit chips (one per channel), a Master Fidelity fully balanced, digitally controlled, lossless analogue attenuator provides 3dB step adjustments or can be bypassed for use with an external controller. The 4V balanced (2V single-ended) analogue output stage is implemented with discrete components.

We will rock you

The review sample NADAC D was connected via USB to an i3 NUC running Roon, then fed PCM and DSD files of mixed resolution from Qobuz and local storage. A Jay’s Audio CDT3MK3 CD transport was used as a second source, connected to the DAC via S/PDIF. The NADAC D and CD transport were both fed 10 MHz clock signals from the NADAC C via 50 Ohm coax. A Life-Changer Audio icOn 5 Balanced line controller fed the analogue signal to Quiescent T100MPA monoblocks driving PMC MB2se speakers.

If we consider the DAC and clock as one product – they are, after all, intended to be bought together – then the NADAC turned out to be the third new product in the last 12 months that has truly rocked my world. What made the experience all the more special was that all were in residence at the same time. 

The icOn 5 Balanced line controller and Quiescent’s T100MPA monoblocks are the most transparent and tonally and dynamically faithful attenuation and gain combination that I have heard to date, and that’s why the bought-and-paid-for review samples are now the core of the household audio system.

New reference

Through them, the NADAC combination set a new reference for transparency and musical engagement, certainly at its price, and quite possibly beyond.

I cannot remember which writer for Stereophile coined the observation in the early 2000s that …’ there’s more ‘there’ there.’ It might be a slight torturing of the English language (three ‘there’ in one sentence!) and it wasn’t in this context, of course, but it just as well fits the NADAC and the way it allows us to discern more thereness than I’ve heard from any DAC to date. 

The NADAC’s performance is so detailed, so dense, yet at the same time so vital and so natural, that on many occasions it caused household listeners to fall into stunned silence, not just at the degree of technical competence in evidence, but at the ease with which the performance pressed emotional buttons as well.

Essential quality

The NADAC demonstrated that there’s more to benchmark digital reproduction than just impressively strong detail recovery. We only need to listen to it for a minute or so to hear and latch on to the quality that Xu’s team evidently clearly understands very well: the essence of thereness. Thereness certainly requires that we are being told about even the tiniest of musical details, but, as the NADAC shows, it is not only about how detail is recovered from the recording but at what time it is forwarded; in other words, to what degree jitter is allowed to corrupt the spacing between the pieces of detail.

We might expect exceptionally low jitter to result in, among other qualities, strong imaging, and so it does; the NADAC revealed spatial information in recordings that I had previously thought were seriously impoverished.

Separation

Marked front-to-back separation between instrumentalists became apparent. Also, the precision, in terms of the position and apparent size of each musical event, was to a standard I’ve frankly not heard before from any DAC. Combined with the NADAC’s ability to transcribe rich tonal density and texture, that notable spatial acuity stood up sonic images with simply arresting presence.

The cherry on top was hearing from NADAC that the most natural, most life-like transcription of recorded dynamic energy that any DAC of my acquaintance has delivered. Master Fidelity’s DAC is simply a beast when it comes to producing dynamic expression, able to reveal previously hidden contrasts even in the most horribly compressed audio files. On material mastered at a more sympathetic -16 or so LUFS (loudness units relative to the full scale), the NADAC allows musical energy to bloom in the greater headroom fully. The highly textured gut-punches and keyed bass rumbles that the NADAC transcribed made the ‘Pirates’ sequence from Hans Zimmer’s Live In Prague album highly addictive. So too the track ‘A Little Rice and Beans’ on Trypnotyx by Wooten, Chambers and Franceschini, where nuanced finger-on-bass string texture and power were bookended by subterranean sonic explosions from Chambers’ floor toms.

Fluidity

Out of curiosity, I played the same track in three ways: remotely streamed, locally stored on an SSD, and on a silver disc from Jay’s CD transport. Removing and then replacing the clock connection to the DAC and the CD transport (hot swapping is allowed) brought about a change in delivery that, at the point of disconnection, seemed inconsequential, but after a minute or so, revealed just what the NADAC clock makes a profound contribution to sonic quality. The previously noted, deeply dimensional spatial perspective had flattened; dynamic expression and low-end definition were dialled back, tonal density diminished, and playback no longer sounded as fluid and natural.

The NADAC combination does an impressive job of portraying the layers in complex material, whether in the case of a symphony orchestra at full throttle or a big band hitting its stride, with thoroughly convincing weight. In complete musical contrast, Roon earlier this year turned me on to the Canadian finger-style guitarist Antoine Dufour’s 2020 album Reflect. One player, one guitar, no overdubs; on the face of it, things could hardly be simpler, yet the NADAC revealed that actually there’s an awful lot more going on sonically than we might assume.

Household reference

Through the household’s reference DAC, a Mola Mola Tambaqui, the album is a fine demonstration of Dufour’s extreme technical chops wrapped around some quite beautiful compositions. Through the NADAC, it felt like the first listen all over again. Dufour taps and slaps on the guitar body, blends strumming, picking, tapping and harmonics, sometimes all at once. Master Fidelity’s DAC took the 16/44.1 album file and gave a reading so sonically dense, expressively powerful and tonally vivid that it felt only a nat’s wing away from a live recital.

I have but two gripes to make about the pre-production review samples I was loaned. The twenty 3dB steps provided by the lossless volume control are barely adequate; however, I imagine most potential buyers will use multiple sources, so they need a device to handle switching duties anyway. In the review system, setting the NADAC D to its full 4V output and running it through the iCon 5 allowed for properly granular attenuation, plus impedance matching, for even greater energy transfer at low volumes—second gripe: the NADAC display screens are dimmable but cannot be turned off. Master Fidelity must surely rectify both issues on the full production runs.

Thousand-dollar question

There’s a question that nags at the open-minded audiophile brain almost as insistently as a dripping tap: when will digital finally deliver on its theoretical promise of superiority over vinyl? Most studios operate in the digital domain, so if we listen to vinyl, we are opting to insert an unnecessary stage between ourselves and the original recorded event. Simpler – as in recording digitally and listening digitally – should be superior.

After more than six weeks of digital via the NADAC D and C, I realised that not once had I touched the household record collection. Digital was delivering on its long-promised technical superiority. Quietly, and just like that, it had become the preferred medium. 

Technical specifications

NADAC D

  • Type: Digital to Analogue converter
  • Inputs: USB Type C, AES3 (XLR), S/PDIF RCAx1, TosLink optical x1 (RAVENNA RJ45 to follow), Clock BNCx1
  • Outputs: Analogue balanced line 2x XLR, single-ended, 2x RCA, 4.4mm balanced mini headphone jack, 6.35mm single-ended headphone jack
  • Formats supported 44.1-384kHz, 16bit-true 32-bit. Native DSD64-DSD512 true 1bit (USB) 44.1-192kHz, 16-96bit, DoP64 (AES and S/PDIF), 44.1-384kHz, 16-32-bit. Native DSD64-DSD256, true 1bit (RAVENNA to follow). 
  • Analogue volume control: 3dB/step attenuation,
    total 20 steps
  • Dimensions (WxHxD): 43.5×9.5x39cm
  • Weight: 9.2kg
  • Price: £25,000, $27,500, €25,000

NADAC C

  • Type: Master Clock
  • Crystal type: Selected high-stability pre-aged, SC-cut crystal
  • Clock output options: 10MHz, 625Hz, Word Clock
  • Word Clock output frequencies (in kHz): 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192, 352.8, 384, 705.6, 768,1141.2, 1536.
  • Frequency accuracy: <10ppb
  • Nominal Impedance: 50Ω (10MHz clock, 75Ω supported), 75Ω (Word Clock, 625Hz)
  • Dimensions (WxHxD): 43.5×9.5x39cm
  • Weight: 9.2kg
  • Price: £25,000, $27,500, €25,000

Manufacturer

Master Fidelity

www.master-fidelity.com

+1 604 266-5067

UK distributor

Swiss Sound

[email protected]

Back to Reviews

 

AIM NA9

Sometimes, we get cables from brands with a ‘limited’ heritage in manufacturing and design. That’s not the case with Japanese comms expert AIM. AIM has been manufacturing enterprise-grade digital cable systems since 1983 and has developed domestic digital cables for audio and video in Japan since 2006. It knows its way around an Ethernet cable because AIM has built network infrastructures for Universal Studios Japan, Osaka’s Kansai Airport and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. The NA9 is AIM’s flagship domestic Ethernet cable.

Aside from the colour of the cable, AIM distinguishes its NA9 from its NA6 and entry-level NA2 cables by using what it calls ‘Hoplon’ construction. Its conductors are eight solid cores of AWG 22 oxygen-free copper, arranged in four twisted pairs. Hoplon features an inner layer of shielding that uses Aahi Kasei’s Pulshut®MU electromagnetic insulation sheets around a twisted pair. The Pulshut®MU layer is then screened by an aluminium shield, a copper shield, and an even higher-density copper braided shield. There is insulation between each layer using AIM’s proprietary sheathing material. These shielding layers contribute to a different part of the overall performance. The cable is terminated using the latest Telegartner connectors.

Extremely well made

This sounds impressive, but only when you get the cable in your hands do you realise what this means. It’s a highly well-made cable. NA9 is the kind of cable that will still work decades from now. This is also a cable unfazed by anything we audio enthusiasts can throw at it. It’s the Ethernet equivalent of bringing a gun to a knife fight. 

In less violent terms, it’s the sense of infinite reserve you might feel from the back seat of a Rolls-Royce or a Maybach cruising at about 40mph. You could play anything from a stripped-down Audible AAX or MP3 file to the final bars of Mahler’s Eighth on the fattest files possible, and the AIM NA9 takes it all in its stride. If ‘it does precisely what it should’ sounds like faint praise, when you hear how many of its rivals fail to achieve this all-round goal, you begin to appreciate AIM’s ‘belt and braces’ approach. 

Different demands

We’ve found that Ethernet’s packetised data places different demands on musical content than more traditional S/PDIF and AES digital cables. If anything, the cable’s imprint on music has more in common with USB. It seems to be about keeping noise in check. That noise is cross-conductor electromagnetic noise caused by upstream routers and switches, as well as RF interference that undermines specific parts of the frequency band. The former compresses image space and soundstage, while the latter affects both low and high frequencies. You become more aware of the sound quality limitations of Ethernet cables when you use a cable like AIM’s NA9. This is because it keeps those limitations to an absolute minimum. Staging is as good as the original file, while bass and treble extension are kept as wide as possible, pushing the sound’s limits onto the amp and speakers.

If there is a ‘blameless’ audio product, AIM’s NA9 Ethernet cable is closer than most. This is one of the cleanest-sounding Ethernet cables I’ve tried, not just in terms of improving the sound, but also in absolute fidelity to the original music. It’s not going back! 

Price and contact details

  • NA9 available in 0.5m, 1m, 1.5m, 2m, 3m lengths (3m tested)
  • Price: £1,650, $1,650, €1,650

Manufacturer

AIM

www.aim-ele.com

UK distributor

Decent Audio

www.decentaudio.co.uk

+44(0)1642 263765

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Davone launches the Reference three loudspeaker

11 September 2025: Capturing the essence of the acclaimed Reference series into a simpler, elegant form, the Reference Three combines clarity and openness with a room-filling sense of atmosphere. Music is revealed with refinement and ease, making every performance both engaging and inviting.

Main features:

• 1” Beryllium tweeter, flush mount, narrow surround, magnetic flux near theoretical limit, very natural sound

• 7” coated cellulose glass fiber cone unites warm, natural tone, while glass fibers add stiffness and control. T

• Internal Helmholtz absorber, minimal internal damping materials

• Oversized linear bass reflex port with port entry near woofer for maximum efficiency

• Curved baffle for minimal diffraction from 25mm thick form pressed wood

• A very high tonal quality of sound.

• Minimalistic Scandinavian design, available with selected quarter cut walnut and oak

• 38-30.000Hz -3dB

• 86 dB/2,83V/m

• 20 kg

• Height, width, depth: 90 / 31 / 24 cm

• Retail price € 7200,- / $ 8400,- / GBP 6400,-

Tord Gustavsen Trio: Seeing

Tord Gustavsen is often regarded as the king of Scandinavian minimalism, a reaction to the calm and quiet nature of his piano playing both in and out of the trio that has been his most prolific vehicle since the release of Changing Places in 2003. That album was ECM’s most successful debut in a decade and a good omen for the subsequent albums Gustavsen released with the trio and larger groups. His music charms with a serenity that says ‘the deeper you listen, the more there is to hear.’

This is the case with Seeing, the first trio release since 2022’s Opening. While it is ostensibly very similar to that album and many of those that came before, there’s an added degree of beauty that reminds me of Gustavsen’s debut. The selection of 10 tracks contains original compositions, cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach and Norwegian and English religious pieces, signalled by their titles. Mind you, one of the originals is called ‘The Old Church’, which suggests Gustavsen is leaning further into the spiritual side of things than usual.

The rhythm section on Seeing is as per Opening, with long-time ally Jarle Vespestad on drums and relative newcomer Steinar Raknes on double bass and electronics. This music might sound infinitely subtle and restrained, but it takes more than acoustic instruments to achieve that effect. The electronics are, for the most part, very much in the background.

Seeing opens with ‘Jesus, gjør meg stille’ or ‘Jesus, make me quiet’. Perhaps Gustavsen is not as calm inside as his music would suggest. This piece features bowed bass, tentative keys, and dancing cymbals, although the combined level starts low, so it builds with stealth up to a muted peak. The trio manage to use tone and touch so beautifully that the listener is soon entranced; many have imitated this sound, but few, if any, can get close to it. ‘The Old Church’ is genuinely serene, as is much of this album; the gentle piano has a shine that radiates 360 degrees on a good system while the bass adds body to the sound. 

As with other Gustavsen recordings, the sound is superb, but I have rarely heard imaging of this quality anywhere else. The piano is three-dimensional in the room; all you need is a decent system to reveal it. Gérard de Haro recorded the album at Studios La Buissonne near Avignon in France, a long way from the fjords, yet it retains the super silent backgrounds and richness of timbre found in earlier works.

The title track is a solo piece that’s quiet and reflective; Gustavsen is not a groovemaker. He’s a spiritual explorer, a Hildegard von Bingen for our time. Bach provides the basis for the very fine ‘Christ lag in Todesbanden’; the composer has long been an inspiration for jazz pianists, but few have achieved the tension and release, the ebb and flow of this piece. The band use dynamics and timing to create a restrained drama of considerable potency. The second piece by Bach, ‘Auf meinen lieben Gott’ is a standout whose scale and bass line rhythm mark a distinct contrast with the preceding tunes. It’s a bigger boned piece that vibrates with energy from the trio, releasing the quieter numbers’ unspoken tension.

‘Extended Circle’ sees the electronics make a more prominent entry that adds depth to the soundstage which is elaborated with brushed snare, cymbals and a precise tempo around the piano’s clear, unhurried voice. ‘Piano Interlude – Meditation’ is exactly as described, albeit much of Gustavsen’s playing is meditative; removing the drums and bass enhances the purity. ‘Nearer My God, to Thee’ is as spiritual as the title would suggest; gentle cymbals widen the soundstage, and the level slowly builds to a head with a giant gong, but it never loses composure.

The album ends with ‘Seattle Song’. It seems to be the result of jamming during a soundcheck. The drummer and bassist picked up a simple idea and developed it into as close to a blues tune as you will find on a Gustavsen release.

All this pianist’s albums radiate beauty and truth, but Seeing is up there with the very best of them. It is a balm for the most restless souls and a path to transcendence for all.

More from Tord Gustavsen Trio

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Solid Tech Feet of Balance

Solid Tech’s Feet of Balance are the loyal opposition in the kingdom of spikes! Back in the day, if you didn’t put spikes under your speakers, you were considered a lightweight or worse. But spikes do not isolate. They provide a rigid conduit for vibrations to travel through. Spikes also transmit specific frequencies more effectively than others. Hence, they have a tuning effect, which is what people hear. Still, the existence of a two-way connection between floor and speaker has ultimately been revealed to harm fidelity if not musical enjoyment. 

The first real challenge to the hegemony of spikes saw the use of damped springs to stop energy from travelling between the floor and the speaker. Almost everyone who hears what they do realises this benefits overall sound quality. However, sprung platforms and outriggers are bulky. They are also hard to execute with the degree of precision demanded by high-end audio enthusiasts. 

The Solid Tech Feet of Balance are among the most impressive examples because they allow different springs to suit different weights of speakers, or equipment racks, for that matter. This flexibility means that the chosen springs have enough range of movement. This delivers maximum isolation. A rubber foot, for instance, compresses a millimetre or two at the very most, and this doesn’t stop low frequencies from travelling through it. However, if you can use a spring that compresses by 10mm, you have a barrier to frequencies below 10 Hz. You also have a means of stopping the speaker from vibrating the floor and everything else sitting on it.

Energy travels

A Townshend demonstration struck me at the Munich High End show a few years back. One PMC speaker was spiked to the concrete floor, and the other was on a Seismic podium. Each had a tablet on top with a seismic measurement app displaying energy levels at various frequencies. When a subwoofer across the hall kicked off, the app on the spiked speaker danced around frantically. In contrast, the Seismically isolated speaker/tablet remained calm. Energy travels through floors regardless of their construction.

The Solid Tech Feet of Balance are constructed with a pivoting thread that you screw into the speaker, and this has a hidden spike at the bottom. This sits in a brass disc that is damped by seven magnets. Beneath this is a chamber where seven springs can be inserted to accommodate a broad range of loads. These range from 15kg to 180kg across four feet. Solid Tech supplies three sets of springs to suit different loads. The appropriate arrangements are shown in the accompanying literature.

Build quality is very high throughout, with the main cover being in anodized aluminum. The base has a rubber cap over its Delrin shell. Opening and changing the springs is a straightforward affair but is easier if you can screw the thread into an inverted stand or speaker. The nature of the design means that they add in the region of 30 – 40mm to the height of the supported speaker compared with regular spikes. The foot and the threaded stud is 53mm high, and the anodized and knurled lock disc adds 5mm on top of that.

Taking the load

I didn’t have a suitable floorstanding speaker to try them on. So I used the Feet of Balance in a pair of Custom Design speaker stands supporting PMC twenty.22 loudspeakers with a Blu-tack interface. The combined weight of the speaker and stand came in at just over 17kg. Therefore, I opened up the Feet of Balance to check which springs had been installed. Seeing that the correct number of springs was in the right place, I made a comparison. Only later did I notice in the literature that the springs installed were intended for a heavier load! That might teach me to ‘RTFM’, but I suspect not.

After I had gone through all eight feet and replaced the four high-density springs with four medium-density examples, I could sit down and repeat the exercise. This time, I also noticed the instruction that the logos should face in the same direction as the drive units for best results. Using four springs oriented this way means that two springs are at the back and two at the front.

Not subtle… in a good way

The effect of replacing spikes with the Feet of Balance is not subtle. It is almost akin to upgrading the loudspeakers and certainly better than a cable upgrade at this price. The Feet of Balance put the sound quality in a different class, one where clarity is more significant and, thus, image definition more decisive. It introduces an ease to the sound that is very hard to achieve by other means. This brings about a perceived reduction in distortion. 

The latter is noticeable because the volume level seems lower. You might not think that a drop in perceived volume is a good sign, but it often is. It means that the sharp edges, the distortions resulting from a loudspeaker being vibrated by its partner and from both speakers vibrating the electronics, have been reduced. Lower mechanical vibration means that more of the actual signal can be heard. This happens as it is not being masked by colorations.

Stick wielding

What this meant for my music was a greater sense of projection into the room, more openness, and a better definition of low-level sounds. With Kraftwerk’s live rendition of ‘Radioactivity’ [Minimum, Maximum, Kling Klang], there was a marked reduction in hardness. Still, there was no apparent loss of bass extension, and image depth was significantly improved. As a result, it sounded massive. By the time ‘Babylon Sisters’ [Gaucho, MCA] came along, it was evident that the transparency and resolving power of the system had increased by a large margin. This Steely Dan classic had more class, polish, and accurate timing. This improvement was so great that the air drums had to come out.

I have always enjoyed the benefits of effective isolation, but finding a product that does this job so well in such a neat package is rare. The Solid Tech Feet of Balance are expensive in some respects. However, the rewards in a system in the £10k plus region will make the cost seem like a genuine bargain. 

Technical specifications

  • Type: Loudspeaker isolation feet.
  • Material: Steel, brass and aluminium.
  • Isolates from: 10Hz
  • Speaker weight range: 15kg to 180kg.
  • Thread options: M6, M8, M10, M12, ¼”, ½”, 3/8”, 5/16”.
  • Dimensions (HxW): 53 x 65mm
  • Weight: 147g per foot
  • Price (per set of four): £550, €521 (excl. VAT)

Manufacturer

Solid Tech

www.solid-tech.net

+46 (0)40 491352

UK distributor

Harmony HiFi Distribution Ltd

harmonyhifi.co.uk

44(0)1707 629345

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Opera Consonance Wax Engine and Charisma Audio ECO

 

The Opera Consonance Wax Engine and Charisma Audio ECO turntable system is a package, just not a one-make one. The Wax Engine is a turntable and arm bundle from one manufacturer. It’s mated here to the ECO moving coil cartridge from another. It’s been put together by the UK distributor, who handles both product ranges. So it differs from the type of single-brand turntable/ arm/ cartridge combinations that can readily be found in dealers the length of the country. However, it still makes that tricky matching decision for the purchaser.

In taking some of the mystique and mythology out of the equation, it probably opens up the market to those who want to upgrade from My First Turntable, or even My Second Turntable, but who don’t want to immerse themselves in turntable lore in doing so.

Potential purchasers

For around £2,000, any potential purchasers will clearly be taking vinyl replay seriously and want more than the budget offerings will give. So the big question is: play safe and go with an established brand, or see what else is out there? 

The Wax Engine represents the entry point to the Consonance turntable range. The company that manufactures Consonance is the company which Well Tempered uses to build its own range of products. Therefore, Well Tempered has allowed Consonance to use some of its patented technologies under license. But if tonearm bearings comprised of a golf ball floating in goop are a bit too radical for you just now, the Wax Engine might offer insights into The Well Tempered Way Of Doing Things™ without having to embrace all the, um, lateral thinking. It’s a skeletal design, a simple cruciform chassis fabricated from rectangular section, solid aluminium bar. One crosspiece houses the bearing, a second, slightly offset crosspiece for the 12V DC motor. The whole thing sits on three, height adjustable, elastomer feet for levelling and a measure of environmental isolation.

Zero Clearance

The turntable bearing sits on the longer crosspiece and uses the Well Tempered ‘zero clearance’ bearing design of an equilateral triangular section hole, into which the stainless steel platter spindle drops, with the pointy end of the spindle sitting on a Teflon thrust bearing. The triangular section therefore only makes contact with the spindle at three points, reducing friction and potential noise, while still providing sufficient lateral support to locate the platter stably. One apex of the triangle points directly towards the motor, so belt tension will also help stabilise the spindle. 

And that belt will also be familiar to Well Tempered aficionados. It’s a loop of monofilament fishing line, with a clever knot that traverses the motor pulley and platter cleanly. However, the tiny cross-section transfers barely any motor noise to the playing surface. The platter, which is integral with the spindle, is in nicely finished, frosted acrylic, and supplied with a cork playing mat. 

The 9” Allegro tonearm is a relatively conventional but carefully executed gimbal design with a precision bearing arrangement into tapered shafts, no golf balls in goop here. An aluminium armtube damped with cotton fibre finishes in a vestigial head piece, a simple, stubby, angled crossbar, drilled for the usual cartridge mounting bolts. Connections are via two phono sockets on the rear of the chassis close to the armtube, with a hard-wired flying lead for the earth. There’s no separate earth attachment point so I left the earth strap on my Nordost Heimdall 2 tonearm cable floating free. There was a small amount of residual hum which, in the absence of alternative earthing options, I never managed to clear, but this was inaudible in use and only apparent when no music was playing.

A bit Special

The supplied cartridge is also a little bit special for a package at this price. The Charisma Audio ECO, a low output moving coil with an aluminium body, and a nude, super elliptical stylus mounted onto a light but stiff ceramic cantilever that is also used in Charisma Audio’s top end Signature Two cartridge. It retails on its own for £795, and on the basis of how it performs in this setup, it’s well worth investigating in its own right if you’re in the market for a high-performing, sub-£1000 low output MC.

So, quite a lot of thought and clever engineering has gone into this package. But does it reward the purchaser brave enough to eschew the usual suspects? I don’t want to spoil the surprise but yes, I’d say so. It’s quickly apparent that the Wax Engine/ECO combo delivers a sound which is energetic and fun; performances have layers, form and structure, parts are distinct and easy to follow, tonality, textures and inflection all present and correct.

Andy Sheppard ‘Romantic Conversations’ from Introductions in the Dark (Antilles) starts with a traditional song from Sierra Leone on flute and percussion and it’s full of colour and vitality, then the piece develops, with Sheppard’s sax, piano and the rest of the ensemble taking their own places in the soundstage. Colours are vibrant and generous, a well fleshed-out piano and marimba set against the sax and percussion, there is a dialogue between the parts happening here. It’s very evident that deck and cartridge work well together. The building blocks for an engaging performer are in place. 

A Qualifier

There is one small qualifier to all this: The 12V DC motor runs off a ‘wall wart’ switch mode power supply. This works well enough in driving the turntable, but in my system it sounded a little safe and bland. It had a definite detrimental effect on overall system performance: other sources such as CD were also affected, sounding less vibrant and dynamic. Replacing this 12V supply with a low noise switch mode supply gave significant benefits to all sources, including the turntable. I tried two iFi units, firstly the iPower 2, which brought about notable improvements. However, this review has been done using an iFi iPower X to do the turntable proper justice; tonal colours are richer, there’s a better sense of flow, and of how instruments are being played. For the relatively small additional outlay, I’d firmly recommend investigating upgrading the power supply in this manner. 

Lower noise

So, using the lower noise power supply, instruments on the Opera Consonance Wax Engine and Charisma Audio ECO have more colour and form and the underlying structural elements to the music are better-resolved. Tambourines on ‘Pule’ from Abdulla Ibrahim’s album Mindif (Enja) have texture and inflection, not just rhythm. That’s not just a ‘nice to have’, that textural and dynamic information lets you hear how the instrument is being played and because this low level detail is available for the asking, music makes more sense and is more engaging. ‘Pule’ is perky, the bass line is tuneful and propulsive, instruments presented with a strong sense of what they are.

‘Anitra’s Dance’ from the Peer Gynt Suite (Marriner, St Martin in the Fields, EMI) trips lightly along, the call and response between the string parts is effective – violins, violas and cellos are tonally and spatially well realised; the dance-like nature of this piece entirely obvious. Fairground Attraction ‘Perfect’ (RCA) has all the toe-tapping jauntiness I want, the vocal is characterful and tuneful, joyful even. Proper feelgood music. 

The options

Looking at the many turntable, arm and cartridge options available at around £2,000, purchasers can be forgiven for leaning towards the ‘one make’ packages that often predominate. But this is a level somewhat above the ‘plug and play’ entry point to vinyl replay. It’s not always the case that manufacturers which excel at budget packages can replicate that value at a higher price point. The Opera Consonance Wax Engine and Charisma Audio ECO combination takes this market sector on squarely and offers the same ‘unbox and play’ simplicity. This package delivers a truly engaging musical performance that brings out the appeal of well-executed vinyl replay. This might be a revelation to somebody weaning themselves off an inexpensive turntable. There’s a lot to like here, and if you’re open to something a little bit different, you’ll be amply rewarded. 

Technical specifications

Opera Consonance Wax Engine

  • Type: belt drive, skeletal chassis turntable with DC motor and 9” Allegro tonearm
  • Rotational Speeds: 33 1/3 RPM; 45 RPM, accuracy within 0.01% adjustable via potentiometer, supplied strobe disc
  • Platter type: acrylic, with integral sub-platter and stainless steel bearing spindle with hardened point
  • Bearing type: Well Tempered ‘Zero Clearance’ triangular well, Teflon thrust pad
  • Suspension: solid, with adjustable elastomer feet for isolation and levelling
  • Tonearm: 9” straight, gimballed tonearm with 2-axis tapered bearing shafts
  • Tonearm Length: 214mm
  • Overhang: 16mm
  • Offset angle: 23 degrees
  • Cartridge weight: 4-22g
  • Turntable Dimensions: (HxWxD) 145 x 385 x 345mm
  • Weight: 6Kg
  • Price: £1,295, $1,260, €1,295

 

Charisma Audio ECO 

  • Type: Aluminium bodied, low output moving coil cartridge
  • Stylus/cantilever: super elliptical nude diamond, white ceramic cantilever
  • Tracking force: 1.9g +/- 0.1g
  • Output (@ 3.45 cm/s): 0.38mV
  • Compliance: 12 um/mN
  • Recommended loading: 100Ω-1kΩ
  • Frequency response: 20-20kHz +/- 1dB
  • Weight: 11g
  • Price: £795, $795, €709
  • Package price (UK only): £1,995

Manufacturer

Opera Consonance

www.opera-consonance.com

+86-10-64378963

Manufacturer

Charisma Audio

www.charismaaudio.com

+1 (905) 470-0825

UK distributor

Sound Design Distribution Ltd

www.sounddesigndistribution.co.uk

0800 009 6213  (UK callers only)

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PSB Imagine T54

Before I begin this review of the PSB Imagine T54 floorstanding loudspeakers, let me say that I am a happy PSB customer. I have owned a pair of their noise-cancelling headphones for more than a decade. However, that will in no way influence what I say. PSB is a Canadian loudspeaker and headphone manufacturer that has been in business for over 50 years. It is widely sold across North America.

However, it has vied for space in retail establishments with a raft of competent home-grown and European brands in the UK. With this latest Imagine Series, there will be a strong push to change everything.

The review pair of PSB Imagine T54s were finished in a satin white with matching grilles. There is also a satin black option with black grilles. Of course, the T54s can also be played with the acoustically transparent grilles removed if preferred. Physically, the T54s were by no means overbearing in our 15’ x 13’ lounge. They stand 171 x 830 x 302mm and weigh in at 14kg when unboxed. The shipping weight is 18kg.

The technology deployed is, from the top, a 102mm (4”) woven carbon fibre cone mid-range unit, a 25mm (1”) titanium dome tweeter featuring ferrofluid and a neodymium magnet, and two 133mm (5.25”) woven carbon fibre cone woofers. There are two letterbox-shaped bass ports on the rear, one at the bottom and the other halfway down. Crossover points are set at 2.5kHz and 500Hz. Providing two decent-quality binding posts means the T54s can be bi-wired if required. 

Position, Position, Position

As always with loudspeakers, positioning proved critical with the T54s. After much faffing, I settled on having them very slightly toed in towards my chair. The rear corners nearest the wall were 65cm away from that surface.

There were two phases to the review period. The first was with the PSB Imagine T54s driven by a NAD Master M23 power amplifier, with a NAD Master M66 BluOS Streaming DAC-Preamplifier. The second was using my own PrimaLuna EVO300 Hybrid integrated amplifier. Sources were my Linn Sondek LP12 with either my Gold Note PH10/PSU phono stage or the one built into the M66. In my system, the Yamaha CD-S3000 acted as both DAC and SACD/CD player. My AURALiC ARIES Mini streamer was used via coaxial cable, and the television was used via optical cable. Interconnects were Tellurium Q Ultra Silver IIs, and the loudspeaker cables were also there.

After giving the T54s a couple of days to settle in and warm up, it was time to listen properly. I cued up one of my favourite albums of recent times, Dave Alvin’s Eleven Eleven, on Qobuz and pressed play. With the volume of 60 on the M66, Alvin’s voice and guitar came through the T54s with power and authority. The soundstage these loudspeakers were creating was immediately striking. It extended well beyond the speakers in height, width and depth. This was a big sound, yet not an overblown or unrealistic one. It simply transcended the physical boundaries of the loudspeakers which created it. I was hooked from the first few songs.

Spine-tingling YaYas

The Rolling Stones’ 1969 live album Get Yer YaYas Out has long been a favourite here. Streamed from Qobuz into the NAD amplification, it was spine-tinglingly realistic. When I pushed the volume up to 65, it was like being at Madison Square Garden all those years ago. It felt as if the teenage me was actually there. Midnight Rambler was epic.

While paired with the NAD Master components (more on that in a later issue), the PSB Imagine T54s never felt outclassed or overpowered. Towards the end of their time here, I returned my components to the system. I continued my review listening. Having established the rock credentials of the modestly sized floorstanders, I decided to test their mettle with some well-recorded choral music.

Although it is only November at the time of writing this, I loaded up Disc 2 of the SACD version of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, performed by the Dunedin Consort and Players directed by John Butt. This Linn Records release is one of my favourite versions (I own a few!). I cued up track 16 and went back to my listening chair. The ‘Halleluja Chorus’ filled the room, and the combined voices were spine-tinglingly magnificent. It is a long-standing tradition that the audience stands for this piece, and I did so without thinking. I felt so much that I was attending a live performance. A commanding performance by the T54s.

Astonishing fingers

After a break, I returned to the CD player and loaded in my SACD-SHM Japanese copy of Dire Straits’ 1984 release of their 1983 concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. This album catches a band at the very peak of its powers. It is illustrated perfectly on the fifth track, ‘Sultans Of Swing’. Mark Knopfler’s finger-style guitar playing here is quite astonishing. The powerful drumming of Terry Williams also comes across well. So does the growling yet very musical bass playing of John Illsley and the other musicians. Hal Lindes on rhythm guitar and Alan Clark and Tommy Mandel on keyboards also stand out. The music ebbed, flowed, and soared to its mighty climax through the PSB Imagine T54s. Breathtaking stuff.

When asked to handle more mundane tasks, such as the audio from the television news, the T54s again did an excellent job. Reproducing the spoken word properly is no easy task. Just ask any of the surviving former BBC engineers who sweated over the design of studio monitors like the LS3/5A. These Canadian visitors did a fine job. Individual voices came through with great clarity and realism. 

In the same vein, soundtracks were produced with subtlety and explosive force as required. The bass power of the T54s  came into its own during action sequences. Even when I cranked up the volume on the Prima Luna to levels high enough to rattle the windows, the PSB Imagine T54s didn’t break into a sweat. Their composure never wavered. Furthermore, it was for my protection, not theirs, that I lowered the level to what others might term as sensible. Nor did they ever sacrifice detail. Subtle pieces of percussion in a mix were given space and air within that magnificent soundstage.

Final Thoughts 

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when the T54s arrived. Although rather elegant, they are slim and unassuming. I would not have been surprised if their sound had been smaller and more polite than it turned out to be.

It was a real surprise when right from the first listening session, I found them creating a soundstage on such a scale as they did. They seemed even-handed across their whole frequency range. The T54s did an excellent job with all the music I threw at them and from whatever source. These are not a ‘Rock’ speaker or a ’Jazz’ speaker or any other sort of genre loudspeaker. In fact, these are fully formed yet diminutive, genre-agnostic music makers of the highest order. When, after the review, I checked the recommended retail price I was taken aback. I have heard loudspeakers that command three times the price or more.

These Canadian upstarts would give them a good run for their money. No doubt some component choices had to be governed by budgetary constraints. However, they were not discernible, at least to these ears. When I checked, the company’s website said that the PSB Imagine T54 is sold out. I am not in the least surprised. They are a genuine audio bargain and worthy of pairing with amplifiers and sources that cost far more. Run, don’t walk, to your nearest PSB dealer and demand an audition. 

Technical specifications

  • Type: Three-way, bass reflex floorstanding loudspeaker
  • Drivers: 1x 25mm titanium dome tweeter, 102mm woven carbon fibre cone midrange, 2x 133mm woven carbon fibre cone woofers
  • Frequency Response: 35Hz-23kHz (on axis @ 0°, ±3dB)
  • Sensitivity: 87db (anechoic), 89dB (listening room)
  • Impedance: 8Ω (nominal), 4Ω (minimum)
  • Finish: Satin Black, Satin White
  • Dimensions (WxHxD): 171x830x302mm
  • Weight: 14kg per loudspeaker
  • Price: £1,199, $1,499, €1,499

Manufacturer

PSB Speakers

www.psbspeakers.com

UK distributor

Sevenoaks Sound & Vision

www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk

+44(0)1732 740944

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DALI IO-8

Although best known as a loudspeaker maker, the DALI IO-8 is not the brand’s first headphone rodeo. That honour goes to the IO-6, a travel headphone that hit the market when everyone stopped going anywhere due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The excellent IO-12 flagship followed in 2023. However, launching at £999 put the IO-12 beyond the price ceiling of many wireless ANC (active noise cancellation) headphone users. But the DALI IO-8 is third-time lucky. Three is the magic number, and it’s in the Goldilocks spot.

The IO-8 feels more substantial and expensive than the IO-6. It isn’t as large or opulent as the IO-12. Although using genuine leather might deter vegans, it lends the IO-8 a luxury appeal. Moreover, it is undeniably comfortable for long-haul listening. On that subject, it has an impressive 35-hour battery life. It also features a Sony-esque backbone, including a good spread of inputs and codecs. Additionally, it offers excellent ANC. 

However, the drivers are all DALI. The DALI IO-8 use 50mm dynamic diaphragms in a closed-back, circumaural design, with a 25-ohm impedance when run passively. They weigh in at 325g. This makes them heavier than the Bose and Sony wireless ANC designs that dominate European airspace. Yet, they’re lighter than the Apple AirPod Max models popular on U.S. flights. The supplied case has a 3.5mm mini jack and a USB-C charging cable. You can also use the USB cable to connect directly to a laptop.

Ease of use

The DALI IO-8’s haptics stress ease of use. Everything you need to control the headphones – from answering calls to dialling in noise cancellation – happens by touching the right ear cup. There’s a little film overlay to point out functions, but you quickly internalise their operation. Power on/Bluetooth pairing, toggling between ‘Hi-Fi’ and ‘Bass’ modes, and a three-way ANC control are all accessible via hard buttons around the ear cup. Meanwhile, volume is controlled by pressing the top or bottom of the outer ring on the right headphone. Track and call handling are all controlled by one, two or three taps of the centre button. I find these physical buttons more intuitive than touch panels.

What’s missing from this picture is an app to control any further functionality. DALI argues that navigating to an app on your smartphone and another app to access your media is a misstep. While I’d like the improved functionality that an app can bring – greater tone shaping, for example – the DALI IO-8’s simplicity of operation has a siren’s call. That call is loudest in the middle of a long-haul flight. The last thing you need to do when you want to watch Kaos (Netflix… give it a second season, please!) after a few hours in the air is mash a few app buttons for no good reason.

Binge business

As a ‘binge business flyer’ (sometimes no flights for months, then one flight seemingly every few days during audio’s busy months), I invested in a set of Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless ANC headphones. My wife, who doesn’t travel as much but commutes more than I do, owns a pair of Bose QuietComfort Ultras. Among us, we have what are commonly considered to be the best-sounding headphones and the ones with the best noise cancellation. About five minutes into listening to the DALI IO-8, I started to regret pulling the trigger on the Sony headphones. While the Bose noise cancellation still outperforms both DALI and Sony, the difference is negligible in absolute terms. The QC Ultras are still remarkably good at cutting back sounds. However, sometimes the less ‘floaty head’ feeling you get from the IO-8’s ANC is preferable.

The tonality of the DALI IO-8 is excellent. High frequencies are evenly balanced, with the right degree of ‘shimmer’ and ‘extension’ to make them great for well-manicured recordings. They are neither ‘dull’ nor ‘peaky’ if you play something a little thin and compressed. The bass is deep and hefty, yet not slow or stodgy. It’s excellent for giving dance music a bit more ‘whomp’ without blurring or exaggerating the sounds of timpani or double basses in an orchestra. Between these is a supple and articulate midrange, able to present vocals with as much clarity and intelligibility as was in the recording.

Shining through

The company’s loudspeaker heritage shines through in soundstaging terms; it’s got a large and ‘out of the ears’ soundstage that has virtually none of the lateralisation (in-head sounds) that plagued older wireless designs and instead made it sound like you are listening to a pair of headphones.

Here’s a tip. The ‘bass’ setting might be slightly
thick set for audiophiles… unless you wear glasses. Because the arms of your glasses break the seal around your ears, the ‘bass’ setting goes some way to compensate for any low-frequency loss. If I were engrossed in listening and my glasses came off, I would switch back to ‘hi-fi’ but use the ‘bass’ setting when sound and vision were needed. As mentioned earlier, if you need to change, it’s easy. A well-spoken male voice tells you which setting you’ve chosen anyway.

The perils of seat 14C

In absolute terms, compared to similarly priced domestic headphones, the IO-8 falls short in terms of detail resolution, clarity, and tonal accuracy. But equally, those likely open-backed headphones will sound dreadful when played in seat 14C. The lone downside doesn’t apply on this side of the Pond. I suspect the US price puts them in the same category as the larger IO-12, beyond the price ceiling of current wireless ANC headphone buyers. 

The DALI IO-8 wireless ANC headphones are comfortable, easy to use, have long battery life, and excellent noise cancellation. Better still, they deliver a performance that brings your home system to life, just like on that long-haul flight. Good wireless ANC headphones are all about balance. I can’t help but think the IO-8 has perhaps the best balance of price, performance and practicality out there. For the next long-haul flight, or even the next screeching London Underground journey, the Sony XM5s will stay in the box. I’ll wear a pair of DALI IO-8s. 

Price and Contact Details

Price: £499, $899, €599

Manufacturer

DALI A/S

www.dali-speakers.com

+44(0)203 815 8608

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Music Interview: Thompson Twins

Last year, Into The Gap, the fourth album by ‘80s British pop trio Thompson Twins (Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway), celebrated its 40th birthday.

Seen as the band’s crowning achievement, the 1984 record, which was recorded in The Bahamas at Compass Point Studios with producer, Alex Sadkin (Grace Jones, Robert Palmer, Bob Marley and The Wailers), was a multi-platinum seller on both sides of the Atlantic, and included four hit singles: ‘Hold Me Now,’ ‘Doctor Doctor’, ‘You Take Me Up’ and ‘Sister Of Mercy.’

To celebrate the anniversary, Into The Gap has been remastered at Abbey Road by engineer Frank Arkwright and reissued as a three-CD set, a limited edition red vinyl LP, a digital deluxe version and a Dolby Atmos Blu-Ray.

hi-fi+ spoke to Bailey and Currie about the making of the album, what it means to them 40 years on, and why Thompson Twins were about so much more than just writing catchy pop tunes…

SH: It’s 40 years since Into The Gap. How does that make you feel?

AC: It makes me feel very old, but, listening to the tracks again, it’s quite poignant and sad, because it’s lost youth, isn’t it? 

When you think of all the fantastic dreams and ideas that you had then, and now that’s diminishing, rapidly (Laughs).

At least you got to achieve some of them…

AC: Yes – it’s brilliant, but it’s very reminiscent of a time and it’s very of its time – it’s very much in context and of its place. You knew where it came from and what came after… It feels like another lifetime. I think I’ve had quite a few lifetimes in between. 

TB: I’m feeling very good about it – it’s come as a slow surprise, because, 40 years ago, I never expected to be having conversations like this, but now that it’s here, it feels good. 

When I look back at all the records we’ve made, for me it was a high point, and it still is. 

Last year, I was doing some live performances of the album and I thought, ‘Oh, does that mean there are going to be some songs that don’t really deserve to be up there with the rest?’ 

But, actually, it’s a very good and consistent album of high-quality songwriting. And when you listen to it, it was also very well made – it sounds special to me. To put that in context, I don’t feel that way about every record I’ve made… 

Is it nice to have it out there in a new deluxe edition? How do you feel about using modern tech like Dolby Atmos to tinker with an album from 40 years ago?

AC: It’s interesting, because we had such a terrible deal with our record company previously – we got no money from digital at all. 

We hadn’t been involved with any of the previous releases that the record companies who owned our work had done. This is the first time we’ve been involved. 

We haven’t had a lot of input, but we’ve had a bit. I had to hunt through all my photographs – it took me weeks and weeks to find things. I’ve really listened to stuff and heard the remixes. 

For me, sound-wise, the new mixes are interesting, but audio is a very different thing these days… I can remember a lot of how we made those tracks and constructed them, and the nuances, the depth, and the amount of work that we put in… 

In a way, you don’t hear that so much in the new mixes, and, also, I don’t trust my own ears… I’ve got constant tinnitus… I’ve got old ears. 

TB: I didn’t know much about Dolby Atmos, so I went along to the remixing and threw in my comments and criticisms. Whether I was right or wrong in doing that, at least it has had some input from the artist. 

Image by Peter Ashworth

Now we’re back in close contact with BMG and we’ve done this very closely with them, so I’m happy with that.

Since 40 years ago, the way that we consume music has been so split up into all sorts of different platforms and formats. 

That fragmentation of the experience means nothing’s more valid than anything else – I don’t think streaming’s more valid than Dolby Atmos, for example… It’s just different ways of consuming music.

When you made Into The Gap, you were using cutting-edge tech, like synths and drum machines…

AC: We’d all been in a rough and ready band before – I was on the fringes of it, rather than an intrinsic part – but I was very much going to see bands, and into instruments and playing percussion – the tactile and real nature of it – and then we got a drum machine and a synthesizer, which suddenly gave us the freedom to leave that old band, become a three-piece and go and write songs in the front room of our squat and make these amazing records which had very big sounds, but with just three of us in a studio. 

It was trying to marry that tech thing that we’d embraced wholeheartedly with really funky and very real sounds – I used to play fire extinguishers in the studio for God’s sake!

Alex Sadkin was a big part of that – he was a brilliant producer. We were three dirty little squatters in Clapham, but we sent off our tape to him in The Bahamas because we loved the Nightclubbing album that he’d done with Grace Jones. 

You made Into The Gap and the album before it, Quick Step & Side Kick, at Compass Point Studios in Nassau. How was it suddenly going from a squat in Clapham to jetting off to The Bahamas?

AC: It was unreal. I remember arriving there for the first time when we did Quick Step… We were still in our cut-off leather jackets and with our smelly little dreadlocks – we probably chain-smoked on the plane the whole way there. When we got out, Grace Jones was there… it was unbelievable, and it was exciting. 

TB: When we did the first record there, it really was a shock – we were naïve idiots and turned up in the 99% humidity of The Bahamas in punk outfits (laughs). It was completely inappropriate. 

It’s a joke now, but it shows that we didn’t know what we were getting into, whereas the second time we were already familiar with the way of working there.

Any memories of making Into The Gap?

TB: We enjoyed it – it was a good and healthy thing to get away from all the partying and concentrate mostly on cutting the tracks. We brought them back to the UK and finished off the overdubs and mixing at RAK Studios in St John’s Wood [North London]. 

AC: We had a great time doing it – we took a lot of instruments out there in flight cases. I think Sly Dunbar was around… I can remember Sly & Robbie coming in and playing with the drum machine – they were fascinated. 

Into The Gap was a huge album – your most commercially successful record…

AC: It was our peak – I suppose everybody has one peak album, don’t they? Very few seem to have two… That was our big one and everything just synced, from the time we started songwriting to making the record… We had enough experience of making records to know what was good and we had the craft of songwriting down. 

I think we felt more confident on that album to expose ourselves more emotionally – we wouldn’t have written something like ‘Hold Me Now’ before because it was a love song between Tom and me. It was something very personal and to make it public… We were trying to pretend we didn’t even have a relationship publicly… (Laughs). It was quite an emotional album.

TB: We’d come up with a way of working on the previous album, but with very strict constraints – we were headlong into the pure synth sound, and we didn’t allow any guitars, and the songwriting was at an industrial level.

With Into The Gap, we suddenly matured as songwriters and thought, ‘Yeah – we can actually deal with emotional subjects a bit more’, and openly and powerfully.

That coincided with widening the musical palette as well – we had a few more acoustic instruments and guitars and pianos on there. Those two albums are like brother and sister. 

The song ‘The Gap’ has a Middle Eastern feel, and ‘You Take Me Up’ has a bluesy harmonica and a spiritual-gospel influence, but with a big, soaring pop chorus. You were embracing world music, but mixing it with contemporary sounds…

TB: Yeah – for sure, my interest in world music meant that we weren’t just copying the band next door. We were looking for ideas and fascinated by ideas that came from further afield. 

‘The Gap’ kind of lays that down as a manifesto – that whole notion that East and West can’t meet is false, because it’s where they meet that the interesting stuff happens. 

We all have ideas that we bring to the mix of cultures. I’ve always been interested in Indian music specifically, but also Middle Eastern and African. 

Were you anti-rock and roll?

AC: It seemed like a silly old form, and we’d all had experiences of being in a drums and guitar band… A lot of our songwriting came from storytelling and creating atmospheres, so when we didn’t have to do the rock and roll thing, it was suddenly a wide-open space – you could do anything, and that’s what was really exciting. 

We were living on the borders of Clapham and Brixton – we were hanging around Brixton, so there was a lot of reggae and dub…

You also did a lot of club remixes of your music…

TB: That’s right – at that time, nightclubs had become important again. It was where the hip people were hanging out, and so the interesting and new ideas were being traded in that environment.

It was the emergence of DJs as the co-conspirators and curators of ideas. 

That happened to coincide with my interest in Jamaican dub remixing – I thought when you made a record, that wasn’t the end of it, as you could do an instrumental version or a dub version, or an extended dance version… 

All of those things I was fascinated by became part of our output – when we released an album on cassette, we put extra mixes on the B-side and that became something that fans expected of us.

‘Sister of Mercy’ was inspired by a real-life story of domestic abuse, wasn’t it?

AC: Yes – it was interesting… I was a woman in a band and I didn’t want to write, ‘C’mon, let’s get down…’ 

‘Sister of Mercy’ was sort of personal because my mother hated my father and she used to say she wanted to kill him.

It was the idea of crimes of passion and that quiet domestic abuse that goes on. 

It was sort of an achievement to get something so political and strong as a subject for a pop record, but it went over most people’s heads. 

My own sister listened to it and went, ‘Oh, great – it’s a song about me…’ I was like, ‘Hang on a minute…

’We were trying to do something that was different, and we were older than a lot of our peers. 

We had all sorts of subjects that we were interested in, and we wanted to look at – to somehow engage people with them by getting them into a track. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. 

TB: Pop music has the right to be frivolous when it wants to be, but it should also take on something more… 

Back in the day, we thought that being in a band was about making the world a better place – it had a social activism agenda as well, and we took that very seriously. 

In fact, one of the reasons we were in the band together was that we wanted to make waves. It wasn’t just about pretty songs, although the ‘Saturday night in the disco’ thing was important to us, it was also about telling big stories with curious twists and turns to them. 

The 40th anniversary edition of Into The Gap by Thompson Twins is out now on BMG. 

Back to Music

Roksan Caspian 4G

Roksan Audio has been on a journey in recent years. It has been almost a decade since Monitor Audio purchased the company. It has been evolving its product line to support better the range of speakers designed and built alongside their offerings. The key to making Roksan products more accessible (or less unusual, your mileage may vary) was securing a license to use the BluOS platform, developed by Lenbrook Group, as their streaming front end. The result is the Roksan Caspian 4G.

Roksan differs from fellow UK brand Cyrus, which has also adopted the BluOS route, because Roksan has integrated it into its own integrated amplifiers. This effectively turns them into all-in-one systems. This process was first employed in the relatively affordable Attessa amplifier. If this were a proof of concept, it would have been successful because it is the turn of the longstanding Caspian to receive the same treatment. Like the Attessa, you can buy a Caspian integrated amplifier with a selection of analogue and digital inputs for £3,000. However, you can opt for the Streaming Amplifier variant for an extra grand, which effectively requires nothing more than a pair of speakers to function. 

Core fitness

BluOS notwithstanding, the Roksan Caspian 4G’s amplifier core is impressive. It’s a class AB device that utilises the company’s Euphoria amplifier system, which employs individual power supplies for the current and voltage amplifiers to target intermodulation distortion. This system can deliver 105 watts into 8 ohms, which almost, but not quite, doubles to 200 watts into 4 ohms. It is controlled via a fully balanced preamp with a single XLR input and a pair of RCA inputs supported by a moving magnet phono stage. 

The digital section of the Caspian comprises two optical and two coaxial inputs, supported by both an HDMI ARC connection (not fitted to the ‘normal’ Caspian) and Apt-X capable Bluetooth.  This is decoded via the company’s ‘Rapture’ DAC technology, which utilises a differential current-conveyor topology rather than op-amp ICs. Roksan argues that the technology allows for greater detail retrieval. 

BluOS

The principal addition to the streaming amp is the BluOS streaming module. This is precisely as you would find it in other BluOS devices, which means it supports PCM up to 24/192kHz (and has the means to convert DSD to PCM in your library so it can be played), along with nearly every music streaming service, except Apple Music. It will happily join a complete household (of up to 63 other devices) and provides a user experience that is one of the most stable and logical out there. As we went to press, the Caspian joined the Attessa in becoming Roon Ready. 

Another intriguing feature is the MaestroUnite app. This works independently of the BluOS section, allowing you to set up and configure the Caspian with standby settings, internal tone controls, and bass management, all of which are accessible. While I found this a challenge to get up and running, it has remained stable since then. Roksan is sensible enough to supply a conventional remote handset as well. 

Well-finished casework

All of this comes in casework that, even judged at four grand, feels solid and highly well-finished. The Roksan Caspian 4G has several touches that would have me running a mile if they weren’t as well implemented as they are. The combined volume control and input selector could have been an absolute disaster were it not for the fact that it works well. I also like the little animated input display (even if I mistook the ‘disc’ emblem of the coax one for the phono stage, which is denoted by ‘MM’, and did a fair amount of troubleshooting to work out why there was no sound). While this amp is a world away from the original Caspian, it manages to maintain a visual identity that is identifiable as Roksan. Black and silver finishes are available, and a matching power amplifier is expected to be released later this year. 

I used the Roksan with a pair of Focal Kanta No1 speakers as a rough price comparative option that is usefully revealing. What they demonstrated from the outset was interesting. When I tested the Attessa streaming amp a few years ago, I found much to admire in its functionality. However, it needed to sound more confident to resemble a Roksan product; it could have worn many badges and still been wholly acceptable with all of them.

Novel, yet familiar

Even though the Caspian has some entirely new and novel elements to the design, it sounds like a Roksan and, more importantly, like an amplifier from the Caspian line. 

This manifests itself in a sense of consistently unforced music flow that is sufficiently propulsive, so that more exciting and dynamic material doesn’t sound languid or stifled. Listening to the live version of Us on Regina Spektor’s Live in London [Sire], the Caspian is effortlessly able to keep Spektor’s frenzied piano work understandable, and the high-speed changes to her tone and inflexion are easy to follow and utterly convincing. Without ever slowing things down, there is time and space to appreciate a musician giving the piece their all and the space and energy of the venue in which they are performing. 

Changing pace

Change the pace and ask for the remarkable Eyelids on Paris Jackson’s Wilted [Dragonflower], and the Roksan never forces the almost funereal pace of the track. It almost revels in Jackson’s duet with Andy Hull, turning both into tangible figures in an open and expansive presentation. The bass on offer is good, too. The Caspian contests a market segment occupied by the Naim Supernait 3 and Rega Aethos. Both deliver seismic low end, which the Roksan doesn’t quite manage, but it still finds more bass shove from the Focal than is often the case. 

The good news is that none of the digital cleverness gets in the way of the analogue amp section of the Roksan Caspian 4G being decent. Connecting a Rega Planar 10 with an Nd7 moving magnet cartridge up to the phono stage lets the amp maintain the same admirable qualities as the digital section. It handles Poppy Ackroyd’s Resolve [One Little Indian] with the same flow and fluency as the BluOS module.

Realism

Detail retrieval and tonal realism are genuinely good, and plenty of gain is also on offer. Crucially, it would be good enough to preclude you from using a standalone phono stage for a turntable of roughly equivalent value. 

The only blot on the copybook isn’t even Roksan’s fault; the HDMI eARC connection lacks a power on/off function. However, this is a function of BluOS, as it includes commands for volume up and down and mute only, deliberately ignoring the power on/off option. According to BluOS, the power-on/power-off function can be confusing when using multiple sources (not necessarily HDMI-based sources), so the command has been redacted. That said, the jury is still out on whether audiophiles accept HDMI as an audio source. Therefore, turning off a function that few of its core customers will use is no big deal. Everything else on the Caspian is flawlessly implemented; you might feel that Bluetooth has no place on a four-grand amp, but the Roksan Caspian 4G sounds genuinely good via it, and the coax input does a fine job with a Pro-Ject CD Box E acting as a transport. 

Dynamic bass

There’s another rather clever technology behind the scenes, too. Lurking in the app is a dynamic bass setting that augments the low end when the amp is used at low levels. You might feel this is artificial (and if you do, it’s easy to turn it off), but it means the Roksan is excellent for use late at night. Similarly, suppose you use a 2.1 speaker configuration for listening. In that case, the bass management (while still using a power amp if you wish) on the Caspian is considerably ahead of most rivals. 

What results is indisputably very clever, but no less importantly, very likeable. The Roksan Caspian 4G boasts specifications that compare favourably with both integrated amplifiers and all-in-one systems at its price point. No less importantly, it does this while sounding enough like its ancestors to warrant wearing the Caspian badge. This latest generation of Roksan amplifiers strikes a delicate balance between the brand’s past and the needs of the present, resulting in a very likeable amplifier indeed. 

Technical specifications

  • Type: Streaming Amplifier 
  • Analogue Inputs: 2x RCA Stereo 1 x Balanced XLR 
  • Digital Inputs: 2x Coax  2x Optical Bluetooth Audio, BluOS, HDMI eARC
  • Analogue Outputs: 1x Balanced XLR  1x RCA Stereo (1x RCA Stereo 
  • Amplifier Output: 1x Pair of Speaker binding posts 
  • Other Inputs / Outputs: Gigabit Ethernet RJ45, W-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 4, BLE, 12V Trigger, Wired IR
  • Power Amplifier Technology: Dual Mono Euphoria Amplifier
  • Amplifier Class: AB
  • Output Power, 8 0hms (235VAC @ 1% THD, both channels driven) 105W
  • Output Power, 4 0hms (235VAC @ 1% THD, both channels driven) 200W
  • THD+N (1W @ 1kHz Both Channels driven): <0.007%
  • Available Finishes: Silver, Black
  • Dimensions (H x W x D): 93 x 432 x 378mm
  • Weight: 15.5 kg
  • Price: £4,000, $5,000, €4,750

Manufacturer

Roksan

www.roksan.com

+44(0)1268 740580

More from Roksan

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conrad-johnson ART150

It seems like yesterday, but we reviewed the Conrad-Johnson ART300 mono power amplifiers in issue 173 (published online here). We liked them so much that we awarded them a Highly Commended in our 2019 awards. A follow-up review of the conrad-johnson ART150 stereo power amplifier was planned in 2020, but… well, you know. Other products followed from the brand, but the stereo chassis slipped through the net until now.

The ART150 and ART300 are conceptually very similar. Although the first samples of these amplifiers hit the shelves six years ago, they show no signs of age. Maturity of concept and design, yes. But age? Not a chance.

A good break

Placing a few years between the mono and stereo amplifiers is beneficial because the two designs share many similarities. Looking at one after a few years effectively highlights the other. Those who don’t want to trawl through an issue from six years ago… virtually everything about the conrad-johnson ART150 stereo power amplifier applies to the conrad-johnson ART300 mono power amplifiers. We’ll point out any differences along the way.

The ART power amp concept is one of the most straightforward concepts. It’s like Occam’s razor of circuit design. It has just a single 6922 double-triode tube as a voltage gain amplifier, a second 6922 per channel acting as a cathode-coupled phase inverter, and then the comparatively new KT150 power tubes. There are two KT150s per channel in the stereo amplifier. There are four per chassis in the mono amp. Aside from the ‘ART150’ on the front panel and the second RCA input and loudspeaker terminal block on the rear, the only visible differentiation between the two is that the ART150 has three 6922 double-triode tubes on the top plate. Meanwhile, the ART300 has two. They have identical-sized chassis, and the ART150 weighs a little over 3kg more than each of the 33kg ART300 mono amps.

Fit and Finish

Everything else, from the fit, finish, and circuit, is the same. Both have a low (about 12dB) amount of loop negative feedback to reduce distortion and increase the damping factor. The two amplifiers bristle with CJD Teflon dielectric capacitors and laser-trimmed metal foil resistors. The design features c-j’s LED bias system because it thinks auto-bias circuits get in the way of the music. CJD Teflons bypass the larger power supply polypropylene capacitors. Separate low-impedance discrete supply regulators isolate the 6922s in each stage to keep the input and phase-inverter clear of the power demands of the output stage.

The single-ended ART150 delivers 150W per channel and has an ideal 100kΩ input impedance. This means that it can use long cable runs. Of course, the preamp must have a suitably low output impedance and gain. While that naturally points the conrad-johnson ART150 toward its ART88 stablemate, it does afford the power amplifier some flexibility in selecting a preamp.

There has been a recent change in the aesthetics of the ART150 over the intervening years; a shift has occurred from an acrylic top plate and grille to a metal top plate with a slatted grille. The images provided are of the older design.  

The end of the rose

It’s worth reiterating a finding familiar to all recent c-j reviews. This is not the past! Whenever you mention conrad-johnson to audiophiles, they have a rose-tinted view of a rose-tinted sound. “Aaah,” they enthuse “, I remember that lush, soft sound.” And that lush, soft sound is the c-j sound of two or more generations ago. The ART series has a distinctly different sonic signature. It retains just enough of that tube-like warmth to be appealing. However, it is far faster, more upbeat, and even more forward-sounding than before. No, it’s not a screaming amplifier that barks its music at you, but neither is the over-rich, satiny, soft presentation of the Premier power amps. Yes, they sound lovely… but they sound 20th-century lovely. We’ve moved on, and so has c-j.

I mentioned this in the ART300 review, and because it’s not so much a family resemblance as ‘identical twins’, it’s worth restating here. It’s also worth noting that the findings of the mono amps apply equally here in a more manageable form. Twice the power isn’t quite the ‘flex’ it once was because so few loudspeakers now require a 300W power amplifier.

Like its bigger brother, the conrad-johnson ART150 excels at unforced delivery. It has an effortless sound that is unconstrained by dynamic or soundstaging limitations. The amplifier breathes life into any music it touches. It’s a sublimely transparent amplifier, especially in the midrange and when human voices are involved. Joyce DiDonato’s weapon of a mezzo-soprano is wonderfully rendered with clarity and articulation. It’s not so analytical that you can visualise what she had for breakfast. However, it is detailed enough to render every note, breath, and intonation with great ease.

Expansive

The soundstaging is similarly expansive, with a good balance of image width and depth and great solidity and presence. While c-j amplifiers project into the room well, it never feels artificial. You are simply sitting in the same space as the musicians, and it’s a beguiling experience. The combination of the two – soundstage and midrange detail – leads to a ‘you are there’ sense. It makes you feel as if you could reach out and touch the instruments being played. This is all the truer as you move from the electric to the acoustic. 

The ART150’s centre of excellence is its ability to resolve music in a fluid, detailed yet intensely musical manner. Its dynamic range and soundstaging skills all combine to transport you beyond the music and into the minds of the musicians. You even feel connected to the composer. It has all the stability to resolve a single instrument in a three-dimensional space. It has enough in reserve to play huge orchestral pieces in the correct scale. Yes, this is one of the few times you might find the ART300 sounds sweeter, especially when playing a lot of significant orchestral works at ‘gutsy’ levels.

Powerful bass

Bass heads and rhythm nuts have always shied away from c-j tube amps, but that should remain in the past. The conrad-johnson ART150 is no longer that amplifier. Its bass is powerful and profound. It gives an excellent rendition of Trentmøller’s ‘Chameleon’ with great bass force and energy. It also has a great sense of rhythm. Maybe it’s not so fast and frantic to cope with full-on techno or drum ‘n’ bass, but I’m very likely the only person who will ever play such music through a c-j power amp! In fact, the ART150 acquits itself well even with such high-speed bass transients. But, unlike every other performance aspect, a fast, deep, pounding clubby bass line is not c-j’s area of expertise.

The ART150 is not immune to criticism, but much of that criticism is more about its place in the world than its outright performance. Tonally, it’s not a super-fast, low-power design, but if you want that, conrad-johnson has got you covered with the ART27A tested in issue 190. Due to its lack of balanced circuitry and inputs, the conrad-johnson range probably needs to align more with modern audiophile ideas. However, single-ended has no sonic demerits unless you are trying to cover dozens of metres between preamp and power amp. And some will never be satisfied with anything apart from giant mono amps. However, I’m not even convinced these criticisms hold water; conrad-johnson stands out for the same reasons it has always stood out. It’s iconic, iconoclastic, and sounds excellent.

250 not out!

Conrad-johnson will make just 250 ART150 stereo power amplifiers. Unless you have a loudspeaker that requires a 300W power amplifier or cannot tolerate the idea of not having mono power amps, I don’t see a good reason to buy bigger. This stereo chassis is more than capable of showcasing what the ART88 preamplifier tested in issue 215 can do. It is equally adept with other makes of preamp, as long as they offer sufficient performance. 

The sublime grace and charm of the conrad-johnson ART150 stereo power amplifier wins you over. It’s like the ART300 writ smaller. In a world full of silver-fronted amplifiers, maybe it’s time to go for gold! 

Technical specifications

  • Type: Single-ended tube stereo power amplifier
  • Inputs: 1x pair single-ended RCA stereo line-level inputs
  • Outputs: 1x pair multi-way loudspeaker terminals 
  • Tube complement: 3x 6922, 4x KT150
  • Power output: 150W rms per channel from 30Hz to 15kHz at no more than 1.5 % THD into 4Ω (also available connected for 16Ω loads) 
  • Sensitivity: 1.0V rms to rated power
  • Frequency Response (at 10 watts): 20Hz-20 kHz, ±0.25 dB
  • Hum and Noise: 108 dB below rated power
  • Input Impedance: 100kΩ
  • Dimensions (WxHxD): 48.3×41.4×22.2cm
  • Weight: 36.3kg
  • Price: £23,995, $21,000, €22,000 (excl. VAT)

Manufacturer

conrad-johnson design, inc.

www.conradjohnson.com

UK distributor

Audiofreaks

www.audiofreaks.co.uk

+44(0)208 948 4153

More from conrad-johnson

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