It's
the top level, the most complete and the best performing
in the Clearaudio family of phono cartridge preamplifiers.
The Reference Phono Stage is a MM/MC phono preamp, in two
boxes, completely dual mono (there are, to all effects,
two mono, symmetrical, completely separated circuits) with
an outboard PSU which is also symmetric. Gain and load are
user selectable, the first one from 30 to 57 dB, the second
one from 0 ohm to 2 Megaohm, allowing, not only in a virtual
way, the most perfectionist of enthusiasts to load with
absolute precision any existing or conceivable cartridge.
It's an ultimate phono preamp, dedicated to perfectionists;
further than its versatility, the manufacturer specifies
performances which are close to absolute perfection: RIAA
error minor than +/- 0.1 dB, 0.0001% distortion, S/N ratio
better than 88 dB, channel separation minor or equal to
100 dB, phase linearity of 0.1°, maximum output of 12V at
1 kHz, a real little monster.
Well built, and with a wonderful circuit, it sports a particularly
powerful PSU. The bold square box providing it, in fact,
outputs +/- 33V DC. Trusting the manufacturer's specifications
and literature this a perfect RIAA and a real no-compromise
preamplifying stage. I can't measure these parameters instrumentally,
but I can tell you about my experience with the Reference
Phono Stage, going on since months, during which I mated
it with a real glut of cartridges and line stages, using
it also as an outboard phono stage for the wonderful Bryston
BP1 "double preamp" (double, as it is, at the same time,
a state of the art stereo preamp and a superlative 5.1 pre/processor).
Positioned next to (well, ideally, in view of the disposition
of the set) a quartet of turntables, composed by a Michell
Gyrodeck equipped with a Sme IV arm, a Transcriptor Reference
Hydraulic with Transcriptor Transcriber or Sme Series II
arm, according to what was needed, a Thorens 124 Mk 1 with
ADC/Pritchard arm and by an Empire 698 LTD with Empire arm,
the Reference had the duty to preamplify the signal coming
from a flock of cartridges: the Clearaudio Victory H under
test on these pages, two Supex, a SD 900 and SDX 1000, a
Fidelity Research FR1/MKII retipped by Jaap Van Den Hul,
a Denon DL-L 1000, a Madrigal Carnegie Two moving coils,
and a Decca Super Gold and a Grado Reference Platinum Wood
moving magnets or similar.
DSo nobody (I think) will be able to complain about the
fact that the versatility of this preamp wasn't tested.
I should add that tests of products of this kind which make
use of a single cartridge are a little bit beyond my understanding.
It's true that a phono stage like this one must constitute
an universal interface (and declares so), but it is also
true that I know of few objects which are able to provide
a constant standard with such a diverse range of pick-ups.
The Clearaudio Reference does it, and its standard is really
high. The Klyne SK-1 was the last phono preamp I heard which
was able to maintain its personality with any cartridge,
and it wasn't as versatile as this one. This doesn't necessarily
mean an absolute respect for any cartridge's inherent personality,
but does anybody know how a particular cartridge should
precisely sound? I mean, which is our reference, other than
our being used to listen to that cartridge, our personal
taste, our - obviously personal - idea of "objectivity"
in reproduction (quotation marks aren't there by chance,
in fact this is the world of subjectivity)? The Reference
plays music with an impressive tonal neutrality and an impressive
transparency, it's not warm and sweet as my reference Audio
Note; it is, instead, tending to a certain, how can I say
- no, not coolness, restrain rather -, musical unflappability.
It performs, I mean, in an absolutely 
precise
way, as the Teutonic device it is, but this doesn't mean
it is unmusical, quite the contrary. It's not euphonic,
far from that, it doesn't embellish nor does it make allowances
for the shortcomings or the response anomalies of the single
cartridges, to wit: it doesn't smooth out the historically
prominent high frequency range of the FR1MKII, nor does
it calm down the idiosyncrasies of the Decca Super Gold
(peculiarities, by the way, which are integral and ineluctable
part of these two historical cartridges' magic). It doesn't
raise the mid-high range of the Grado Platinum, making it
similar to an MC (a thing I have heard some well respected
phono stages do, even recently). To compensate (if euphony
is an absolute must to you) it's got a "beat" of impressive
(sorry for the repeated use of this term, but it's the best
one to describe this product) precision, such a linearity
to transform it in a real measurement instrument, and a
seemingly infinite dynamic envelope. If you are wondering
how much of this performance can be attributed to that huge
PSU, well, it's easy to respond: a lot, and the English
hi-fi school must again be praised for this, as they have
been pestering us with that long overlooked concept for
thirty years.
So,
a haute école phono stage, but not only that: a reference
device for the most fastidious of audiophiles, those who
require (and I think they are right) that their phono preamp
be just a RIAA equaliser and a voltage amplifier, no more
and no less, and neither add nor subtract from the signal
going from the groove to the line preamp. Its versatility
goes without mentioning, it's as ample as any user can require.
The price, related with its performances, its versatility,
its design and build quality, is high, but not unrealistically
so, especially in comparison with similar, but not as adaptable,
Japanese and USA products, which often cost two to five
times its price.
