REVIEW WELCOME EDITOR Stuart Smith In this edition of Hifi Pig you’ll find a whole host of reviews carried our over the last couple of months. The magazine took a small break HIFI REVIEWS Dan Worth in the late spring and early summer to allow us to get some new systems in place, both online and with the e-magazine, but going Janine Elliot forward readers can expect a much more responsive and speedy website due to us moving the whole site to new and better servers and Ian Ringstead some other cosmetic changes that will improve the viewing experience. You’ll still be able to enjoy all the great content you have Dominic Marsh always had with Hifi Pig but expect more of everything including more news, more reviews, a better and more comprehensive music Linette Smith section plus we’ve launched Hifi Pig Television on our You Tube channel, so expect to se more video coverage of shows and video MUSIC REVIEWS John Scott reviews too. James Fleming We’re constantly looking for ways to improve Hifi Pig and always happy to get feedback from readers to please don’t hesitate to get in Stuart Smith touch with us. Lauren Coombes ADVERTISING SALES Linette Smith WEBSITE www.hifipig.com E.MAIL [email protected] TELEPHONE +33(0) 297237078 www.gadgetynews.com E mail: [email protected] Hifi Pig is part of Big Pig Media LLP Partnership No OC397825 CLICK & GO CONTENTS HIFI NEWS & REVIEWS Atmo Sfera Platterless Turntable Elipson Omega 100 RIAA BT Turntable Stemfoort SF-200 Passive Line Amplifier Onix DNA-50 Amplifier Lab 12 Pe 1 Valve Preamplifier Rupert Neve RNHP Headphone Amp Trafomatic Audio Head 2 Headphone Amp ExaSound e32 DAC Wyred 4 Sound DAC 2V2 Ruark R7 Radiogram Fiio X1ii DAP Periodic Audio IEMs Aequo Audio Ensis Loudspeakers Rdacoustic Evolution Loudspeakers Rdacoustic Euphoria Loudspeakers Russel K Red 50 Loudspeakers Townshend Audio Engineering Maximus Supertweeters TAGA TAV-616F SE Loudspeakers Audio Vector QR1 Loudspeakers Tannoy Revolution XT6 Loudspeakers Ziro Audio Disclosure Power Cord Ghostwire “Silver Heart” Loudspeaker Cable Townshend Audio Engineering Seismic Speaker Bars Iso Acoustics GAIA III Isolation Footers Goldnote Vasari Gold and Red Cartridges The Atmo Sfera Platterless turnta- ble certainly raised a few eye- brows on social media when we announced we would be reviewing it, it’s just like nothing else out there! Ian Ringstead checks out this Italian oddity costing £3500 including arm and cartridge. The haunting lyrics and voice of Hannah Reid first heard about this unique design when I then, £2,000 represented a lot of money to really shone Isaw the press release for it on Hifi Pigs spend on a turntable; my first house was news pages (dated 31st March 2016). The only worth £15,000 in 1982. date is significant because as the following and when the day was the first of April, I immediately thought it was an April fool’s day wind up. This is not a criticism of the design but my Atmo sfera literally means steam and bass kicked in reaction to such a radically different looking sphere. The idea behind the name is turntable and approach to achieve high end therefore an analogy of the design where the sound. On first seeing the turntable I thought cup and clamp form the sphere and the I had a big what on earth was the designer Paolo steam is the air supporting the record. Caviglia thinking of when he came up with Modern design and materials allow the the concept? To look at, it reminded me of a designer to think out of the box far more than smile on my tower crane (which represents the arm and they ever imagined they could a couple of cartridge) next to a domed building such as decades or so ago. To revolutionize the the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The model I classic turntable design with all its face received for review was in a fetching gold drawbacks, such as heavy weight, size, and black finish with an Ortofon Quintet playing mechanism and vulnerability to Bronze moving coil cartridge. vibration and to achieve the highest sound The Atmo Sfera has been funded by a quality, Audio Deva, the company behind the Kickstarter project (95 backers pledged Atmo Sfera concentrated on only the key €61,509 to help bring this project to life). components, using high-quality materials. The result is an engineering masterpiece producing playback audio quality, that Audio Having attended The Munich High End Show Deva feels surpasses even the most sought last year I was amazed by the plethora of after turntables. In the Atmo Sfera turntable extraordinary turntable designs on show and there are no gimmicky accessories, it is the incredible prices of some which were solely focused on music-making gargantuan in size and price (£100,000 components. plus). Now I have seen many designs of The Atmo Sfera Turntable is designed turntables over the last 45 years and some primarily for being a beautiful piece of design have been truly incredible to look at and and is fully designed around a small circle listen to. Ira Gale’s Perspex turntable from (the design originator), with the diameter of the seventies was a sight to behold and then an LP label. This gives to Atmo Sfera a the amazing Oracle Delphi, which I had the shape directly related to its function. Audio pleasure of selling and setting up for a Deva didn’t create a platterless turntable for customer in the eighties with a Fidelity the sake of the platterless design, but the Research FR-64S tone arm and Koetsu creation of the platterless design was a side Black moving coil cartridge. (Nice !!!!) Oracle effect of creating a beautiful turntable. The burst on the scene in 1979 with the Delphi Atmo Sfera shape is not, however, primarily turntable, and to many, set a new benchmark dictated by the designer’s taste, but it is ruled for analogue playback. The Oracle also by the technical and sonic features they had blazed a new trail for turntable aesthetics; its in mind. open suspended chassis and clear acrylic plinth dramatically contrasted with those of “The first design rule of a mechanical or the then-voguish British turntables. The electrical engineer should be: if it is made of audio magazines loved it. After forking out an elastic material, it stores energy… £2,000 and adding a tonearm, many listeners (including yours truly) found …and the second rule is: if it stores energy, it themselves in analogue bliss. However, back releases such energy, sooner or later.” Say the company, continuing “The uncontrolled because it helped him get the results he was energy, stored and released, causes after. The arm is distortion of the sound, in an average turntable. Mass is one way to try and control Audio Deva really tested the rectified silicone the sound in a turntable, but the concept of etc. against a rubber band and the rubber another (huge) mass in a turntable is completely band performed better in their design, from a meaningless, unless you consider also how point of view of wow and flutter ratio. this mass is distributed. Damping is another The arm is another interesting part of the interesting part method, but damping actually means design which is different to any other arm I spreading the stored energy of the physical have seen or used. Audio Deva are very body all around the audio spectrum, with bad serious about this design and are keen to of the design results”. make use of the turntable and arm as simple as possible. This means the arm generally So, how is the Atmo Sfera different: Every comes set up for use by the dealer and is a which is man-made turntable has an elastic plug and play design where all the end user behaviour, so Audio Deva chose to put all has to do is plug it into their system, place a “resonances” (the effects of the energy record on the mini platter, screw the clamp different to any release) in a part of the audio band in which down and place the stylus on the record. The they cannot be very harmful. arm has no obvious means for adjustments First thing first: they chose to make the entire (as this is done by the dealer after the other arm I Atmo Sfera body in Anticorodal aluminium; relevant training) and Audio Deva don’t aluminium is stiff and has a pretty isotropic supply any instructions for the customer to structure; the behaviour of the aluminium is try it themselves. I asked Duncan Saul of have seen or fully predictable. Second, but a very Intimate Audio, the UK importer why this was important, issue: the shape of the turntable the case? He replied that Audio Deva felt base and of the LP disc support are that the customer shouldn’t have to worry used designed to show a series of natural about set up as most customers expect or vibration modes far away from the audio are happy to let their dealer do this for them. band or from the vinyl resonances. As a very experienced turntable installer I Take, for example, the small reverse cup that would have liked to have been able to holds the vinyl record: the cup and the record experiment myself, but I respect Audio screw down clamp form a hemisphere, that Deva’s approach as they want to take all the is a solid with controlled and predictable hard work out of the equation for the vibration modes.