Audiophilepure

https://www.hifinews.com/content/bat-vk-90-tube-preamp

It was the Antonio Forcione Quartet’s In Concert live set [Naim Label, 44.1kHz/24-bit] that really sold me on BAT’s preamp. This album encourages a close listen, as the guitarist – accompanied by cello, percussion, bass and flute – explores various textures and rhythms within the acoustic of Tunbridge Wells’ Trinity Theatre. The VK-90 appeared to sweep nothing under the carpet in terms of detail, shining a light on Forcione’s slick guitar playing in the languid ‘Heart Beat’, and conveying the force of Adriano Adewale’s snare drum hits in the jazzier ‘Attempo’.

These pieces sounded effortlessly musical, aided by a spacious soundstage. Yet when Rebecca Pidgeon’s ‘Underwater Boys’, from Sudden Exposure To Light [Toy Canteen Records], required the opposite, being music with a tightly focused image, BAT’s VK-90 followed suit. Here was a precise, punchy presentation, with Pidgeon’s vocals, complete with odd ‘underwater’ effect, pushed forward of insouciant-sounding piano and keyboards.

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