Further exploration… By Chris Harr and Jeff Dorgay

One of the most over used cliches in the world of audio writing is that a cable delivers a “component level” upgrade. However, after Chris spending a ton of time with these evaluating and comparing – and me just stepping in at the last minute for a victory lap, I must say the Voodoo Labs Carbon Age Standard interconnects at $8,200 for a .8m pair are definitely at the top of what I’d pay for a set of cables, but to be very fair to Jan Geschke, the owner and designer of Voodoo Labs, worth the investment if you have a system that warrants it.

The grouchy ones in the crowd are going to freak out at this, however in perspective there are far more expensive cables than this offering far less improvement in system performance. A good comparison would be the jump in performance you hear from a mid-level Clearaudio MC cartridge to the Goldfinger.

Chris has a fantastic system, anchored by a pair of Focal Scala Utopia EVO speakers (with a REL Carbon Special sub), powered by the latest Mola Mola Perca power amplifier, and Audio Research LS-28SE linestage. Analog duties are handled by the Mola Mola Lupe phono stage, driven by the AVID Acutus table with a Kuzma 4-point tonearm and the Hana Umami Blue cartridge. Digital duties are handled by the dCS Vivaldi One.

Define better

What we look for in any component, especially a cable, is something that reveals more music in every way without merely being a tone control. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but in this instance especially – the increased ease and ability of the system from changing two sets of interconnects was not one of those moments where we sat straining to hear a maybe difference. This was a dramatic difference – all for the better.

Just as we were skeptical of VL’s unusual Gauss Magnesium Alloy cable lifters, (as we are with all of these types of system tweaks) we came away positively surprised and our independent observations were consistent. While we are focusing primarily on the two pairs of interconnects, the Voodoo Labs wine crate (made of made from NIMP 15 certified pine wood from sustainable forestation, by the Bordeaux casemaker working for Chateau Petrus.) also included a 2m pair of their VL Witchcraft speaker cable.

It always helps tremendously when one person can switch cables while the other can listen, and here, Chris gets the credit for doing all the legwork. This time we started in the opposite direction; I had spent about an hour listening to various favorite tracks I’m familiar with and then the cables were switched back.

Major clarity

As Chris listens to more Techno/Electronica than I do, he noticed the immediate increase in energy in the lower bass region, especially after downsizing slightly from a pair of REL Carbon Specials to one. I was working late and getting a lot of late night texts on his listening impressions. And after hearing them myself, I concur with all of his conclusions.

When tracking through some choice Thomas Dolby cuts, the snappiness and weight of his synth-bass lines are heaver, faster, and more well defined tonally. Chris notices the same thing with Massive Attack’s Heligoland, finding the lower octaves much more tactile, instead of feeling like one note bass.

Yet the increase in resolution is everywhere. We both notice the way the MA vocalists’ voices are present and three-dimensional, providing a realistic recreation in between the Focals. That sounstage size is everywhere, with synthesizer effects in “Flat of the Blade” sometimes appearing straight up and nine and three o’clock, while others feeling in front and behind the listening position. My fall back position of Aimee Mann’s Lost in Space offers a similar level of dimensionality, in ways I haven’t heard to that extent.

We both concur that this is an intoxicating experience, both with audiophile pressings and music we love that is not necessarily one-step material. Tracks like “Your Mine” from Portishead, and “Mary, Mary” both from RUN-DMC and The Monkees are less sibilant and more tolerant, without being muted or rolled off. Chris winds the listening sessions up by saying, “these cables provide a pleasing tonal balance, tonal density without bloat, air without blur or brightness and resolution without sounding dry.” What could I possibly add to that?

We’ll talk about the speaker cables in another review, but suffice to say they offer tremendous improvement as well – however not quite as dramatically as the interconnects.

The secret

The secret to these cables is their use of carbon nanotubes to pass the signal. There is no metal in the signal path, save the connectors. Mr. Geschke has obtained a German patent for his technology, so this isn’t a random attempt to merely extract money from our audience.

You can read more about his process here.

Cables at this price will not make sense for everyone’s system, just as a pair of the latest carbon fiber wheels and Michelin Cup Sport 2R tires make sense for everyone’s car. But if you have a highly resolving system, or a Porsche GT3RS, these are essentials to extracting the maximum performance.

The Carbon Age cables do just that, they extract maximum performance from your components without any penalty. And they don’t wear out in a couple thousand miles like a $3,000 set of Cup Sport 2R tires! Highly recommended.

https://voodoolabs.myshopify.com/

There’s nothing this one can’t do.

You might think that hyperbole, but MoFi’s Master Phono is aptly named. It features two voltage gain inputs (what every other phono stage has) and a current gain input. These have recently become the rage, and also some of the most expensive phono stages going, from companies like CH Precision and a few others.

The crack design team at MoFi Electronics, headed by Peter Madnick (a man behind many of audio’s best designs) delivers a $5,995 phono stage that goes head to head with others costing 2-4 times as much. Sonically, this solid-state design is dead quiet, super dynamic, and very musical; painting an enormous sonic landscape in all three dimensions.

It offers incredible flexibility, with a wide range of gain and loading options, balanced and RCA inputs (and outputs) and looks awesome. The aesthetic is a perfect blend of current and classic audio design. The power switch has a 70s Yamaha feel, while the switches and knobs feel almost like vintage Levinson, and those incredibly cool meters look they were raided from the parts bin at Revox, wrapping it up with wood side panels. GORGEOUS and tasteful. This is a piece of gear you’ll want to show off.

And best of all, you can connect three turntables. Again, something you usually can’t have until you spend a lot more money. The Master Phono is truly a top phono preamplifier for the analog lover wanting more than one turntable in their system. There’s nothing we’ve seen yet that comes close to offering the combination of value, build quality, sonic performance and total versatility at anywhere near this price.

Please click here for full specifications.

This one is way overdue… I’ve had the Lina from dCS for a long time. Long enough that I bought the review sample, yet it’s been a lot of exploration and comparisons.

If you are into premium headphone amplifiers, you’ve no doubt heard of the Lina by now. It’s a three piece, modular setup to be used as a headphone amplifier, with it’s own DAC and word clock. You can purchase the stack for $31,150 or the individual components. The Amp is $9,750, the DAC $13,650 and the Master Clock $7,750.

As strictly a headphone amplifier, with its own dedicated DAC, this is probably a bit on the spendy side, but when you consider what a Warwick Aperio system costs ($40,000) and good as it is, you can only use it with their headphones, the dCS doesn’t stack up so badly after all. And this is nowhere near close to what the big Sennheiser system is – nearly $100k these days.

The sound is pure dCS, neutral, dynamic and resolving.

The headphone amplifier will drive anything you’ve got to plug in, and is on par if not more revealing than a handful of other premium headphone amplifiers we’ve tried. The DAC and clock remind me a lot sonically of what was going on with my past Bartok, though the clock takes things to another level.

It also is capable of playing every streaming source possible (including MQA), with a plethora of digital inputs as well as an Ethernet input so it can be a streamer as well.

The big choices are would you like yours modular or all at once, or do you prefer black or silver?

When the Lina first arrived, it was only available with fixed outputs, but now that has changed to allow the Lina stack to have a variable output, so it can drive a power amplifier directly. And thanks to a single analog input, you can plug a phono stage in. This is the true value proposition here. We’ve used the Lina now with a number of great power amplifiers, tube and solid-state with excellent result.

So while nearly thirty two thousand dollars is a lot for a three box headphone player, it is not insane money for a premium DAC/Streamer, headphone amplifier and linestage. Especially if you purchase the headphone amp and DAC first, adding the clock later. But once you hear the Lina clock, you are going to want it, because the level of coherence it adds to the presentation can’t be ignored.

Please click here to go to the dCS site for all the fine tech bits. We’ll have a full review explaining everything in depth very soon.

If you’re absolutely sure you don’t need a turntable (and I wont call you a bad Smurf if you don’t) the D1100 from McIntosh is a great way to roll.

With a built in headphone amplifier, and nine digital inputs consisting of three optical, one USB, three coaxial (1-BNC, 2-RCA) an AES/EBU balanced, and a proprietary MCT input. It features balanced and RCA outputs that are variable (to use the D1100 as a preamplifier) and fixed, in case you want a DAC with tons of digital sources.

Around front is the headphone socket and those gorgeous blue meters we all love.

The sound is pure MAC, though this is a solid-state component. It uses McIntosh’s top DAC at the time with an advanced chipset (8 channel 32-bit, but no mfr is listed) so it will decode everything you have in your music library – except MQA, which is now pretty much off everyone’s radar.

The true draw to all McIntosh components is their flexibility and a highly evolved style that you either embrace or don’t. But whether you’re a “mc person” wanting to add a great DAC to your pile of boxes with blue meters, or seriously considering not wanting to bother with vinyl – this is an excellent choice.

Fortunately, McIntosh has stopped making those remotes with the textured feel that get really sticky and gooky after some use. Just like the radios in a 987 series Porsche 911 or Boxster. Some salesman made a fortune selling whatever that coating is to a ton of people! This remote is smooth and shiny. Awesome.

All kidding aside, at a few pennies under $3,920, this is a great value. That’s the best reason to purchase current classics at The Music Room. It’s fully checked out, ready to go, and they’ve included the manual and remote. Just as good as buying new.

Here’s a purchase link to save you a little time. JUST CLICK HERE

Hello and welcome to Distilled.

We are not abandoning our standard reviews, but for those of you that would like a little more than the canned press releases everyone else is posting, but not sure if you want to make the time investment in a full review, we present the distilled column.

A quick overview of components that will be 200-300 words. No space for blather, pontification, or a lot of “I, Me, Mine” stuff.

We’ll do our best to present a couple of good pics, a link to the full review (if it’s done and you’re so intrigued) and a link to the manufacturer. On occasion, we will even post a purchase link if it makes sense. Please NOTE: we are doing this for your convenience, and these are not sponsored or affiliate links.

Thank you for reading!