Audiophilepure

The characteristic of the central Voxativ field-coil driver in its exquisite response to the integrated amplifier alone spoke volumes. Even when playing famously “dry” sounding digital recordings, the delicacy of the driver as driven by the SW1X unveiled textures of the strings and woodwinds to such degrees as to be unprecedented. One could almost surmise from experiencing the AMP V Titan Special that those dry recordings are purer sounding. Here, perhaps even a mere four 300B or 2A3 watts would’ve sufficed, and the quality of every watt coming out of the SW1X AMP V Titan Special cannot be overstated

For all this quality and excitement, I have yet to cite Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring; Scherzo à là Russe for Two Pianos LP, featuring Michael Tilson Thomas and Ralph Grierson (Angel S-36024). I played it on the Helius set-up with Koetsu Gold MC cartridge. “Part I: The Adoration of the Earth” was absolutely thrilling with diverse tonalities, crystalline trillings, complex chordings, rapid arpeggios, bombastic and lyrical passages, and startling clusters of high-pitched notes of tremendous energy and stunning effect. There was the anticipation of suspense and dread intermingled through much of the movement, which was an aural feast in full frequencies and dynamic range, characterized by the speed and precision of each pianist. There were a plethora of pleasing dissonances and swift changes of eccentric tempi, and it seemed as though every note from each measure of the orchestral score was anticipated in this earlier score for pianos. Deep bass drum strikes, screeches from an overblown piccolo, the sautillé of double basses, timpani strikes, horn and trumpet parts were all rendered on the keyboards for the four hands of two pianos

https://www.hifinews.com/content/canor-asterion-v2

This turned out to be fortuitous, as the result was excellent as it stood, and PM’s Lab Report [opposite] indicated the single-ended/lower gain route would be the better choice with this cartridge anyway. And when a replacement Pro-Ject Connect it Phono DS cable was eventually delivered, I still preferred the single-ended connection for its more fluid sound and natural high-frequency detail.

Anyway, the tunes on …Cosmic Sofa were originally created for the milestone anime series Cowboy Bebop – not the derivative Netflix version – but Kanno re-recorded them last year for this vinyl release. ‘The Real Folk Blues’ made for especially satisfying listening, the Asterion V2 giving the carefully plucked guitar plenty of presence just as A-Sha Mai Yamane’s crooning was both gritty and packed with emotion. Yet what really stood out – and pardon the audiophile cliché – was the black background, testament to the vanishingly low noise of the Asterion V2 and to the Pick it MC9’s tracking prowess.