I have been thinking of upgrading a few things in my system for a while, what I am looking to upgrade are phonostage, pre-amp and speakers.
I had a few phonostages in mind to try out, the ones I had in mind are the Esoteric E-03, Rega Aura and the Zandon Model 120 to replace my Rega Ios.
One of the things I require from a phonostage is that it must have the controls / loading on an easy to adjust dial on the front panel, no dip switches.
When I upgrade as a rule of thumb, I need to be spending at least 3 x what I am replacing else it’s no point, you must consider inflation the price of everything has gone up else I am only making a sideways move to something different and not a true upgrade.
Checking out these phonostages they have all now gone up in price, which make most of them a little less attractive. The Esoteric has gone up about £3K and they have just stop making them since the E-02 is out, the Zandon has gone up about £3K and the Rega has gone up about £400. They become less palatable since they are not improved versions, they are still the same things but just cost more.
Anyway at the moment, I have the Rega Aura on a home loan so I can try it in my system. I never buy anything anymore unless I can have it at home and use it in my system in my room, that is the only way you truly know. You only really know what the kit is doing, when you have lived with it for a while. I find an hour or 2 in the dealers dem room to be a false evaluation, you may be wowed in an hour or 2 but when you live with it for a while you really know.
Out of the box, the Aura is an improvement in all areas over my Ios. After a few notes you can just tell, I did do a few switch back and forth then I stopped to just live with and enjoy the Aura.
I would not say I heard anything I did not hear before, but first thing that I noticed was how much quieter the phonostage is. I could hear everything better than before, the sound stage was deeper and wider, clarity was on a different level.
I have been playing my records, throwing many different tracks at it to see how it handles them. It has done a very credible job with most tracks.
People say this phonostage is revealing and yet forgiving at the same time. I would agree with the revealing part but the forgiving part, I disagree with it is brutal on not so good recordings.
A couple of tracks that it was brutal on is 12” mix of Grace Jones – Me! I disconnect from you and the other I have found so far is E-Z Rollers – Droppin Science, when the bass drops it’s painful to listen to.
I may be able to fix this issue buy doing a better setup, but we shall see.
I am still playing around with the capacitance to see if I can hear which setting sounds best.
Build quality the phonostage is built like a tank.
A friend of mine was here listening to the phonostages with me, we both came to the same conclusion an improvement in every area over the Ios.
So looks like I will be buying a new phonostage.
Ios on right and Aura on left.
I had a few phonostages in mind to try out, the ones I had in mind are the Esoteric E-03, Rega Aura and the Zandon Model 120 to replace my Rega Ios.
One of the things I require from a phonostage is that it must have the controls / loading on an easy to adjust dial on the front panel, no dip switches.
When I upgrade as a rule of thumb, I need to be spending at least 3 x what I am replacing else it’s no point, you must consider inflation the price of everything has gone up else I am only making a sideways move to something different and not a true upgrade.
Checking out these phonostages they have all now gone up in price, which make most of them a little less attractive. The Esoteric has gone up about £3K and they have just stop making them since the E-02 is out, the Zandon has gone up about £3K and the Rega has gone up about £400. They become less palatable since they are not improved versions, they are still the same things but just cost more.
Anyway at the moment, I have the Rega Aura on a home loan so I can try it in my system. I never buy anything anymore unless I can have it at home and use it in my system in my room, that is the only way you truly know. You only really know what the kit is doing, when you have lived with it for a while. I find an hour or 2 in the dealers dem room to be a false evaluation, you may be wowed in an hour or 2 but when you live with it for a while you really know.
Out of the box, the Aura is an improvement in all areas over my Ios. After a few notes you can just tell, I did do a few switch back and forth then I stopped to just live with and enjoy the Aura.
I would not say I heard anything I did not hear before, but first thing that I noticed was how much quieter the phonostage is. I could hear everything better than before, the sound stage was deeper and wider, clarity was on a different level.
I have been playing my records, throwing many different tracks at it to see how it handles them. It has done a very credible job with most tracks.
People say this phonostage is revealing and yet forgiving at the same time. I would agree with the revealing part but the forgiving part, I disagree with it is brutal on not so good recordings.
A couple of tracks that it was brutal on is 12” mix of Grace Jones – Me! I disconnect from you and the other I have found so far is E-Z Rollers – Droppin Science, when the bass drops it’s painful to listen to.
I may be able to fix this issue buy doing a better setup, but we shall see.
I am still playing around with the capacitance to see if I can hear which setting sounds best.
Build quality the phonostage is built like a tank.
A friend of mine was here listening to the phonostages with me, we both came to the same conclusion an improvement in every area over the Ios.
So looks like I will be buying a new phonostage.
Ios on right and Aura on left.
