FEBRUARY 2023

Running late as always, but not as badly as before, I would hope. We are well into March, but as I religiously/adamantly intend to have a news page most, if not every single calendar month, this has to be called February.

Early part of every new year is overpopulated with "price adjustments" rather than new products. Gone are the days when high-end audio industry had the privilege, combined with joyful days in sunny and dry Las Vegas, to be regaled with a plethora of new products shown in the Specialty Audio segment of the CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Manufacturers and their respective international distributors now have a choice how and when to increase their prices. Manufacturers do their 'standard' annual fine-tuning and, if need be (more often than not), distributors chip in with their "contribution" blaming the exchange rate between the originating and local currencies. The practical outcome is that products cost more and then...more again. Such is life...or is it? For us here in the UK, one wonders when are we going to decide Brexit, Covid and some other, similarly cataclysmic stopovers in modern history of time, have all gone past their sell-by date. As it stands, not that soon.

In the meantime, some of our manufacturers have not been idling and several remarkable new products emerged over the past couple of quarters (with more to follow as 2023 unfolds). Not as many as we would have liked (or were used to for years), but I would like to think they are all equally crucial in their respective domains of use and intent.

It has been a few years since Bill Conrad and Lew Johnson left their business in capable hands of their longest standing technical master, Jeff Fischel. It is inevitable for someone in my position (associated with the brand for almost 40 years) to have spent time thinking how and into what would such change evolve. Even more so, when would the "change no longer be the change" and Jeff Fischel would start leaving a "total" mark on everything going into the world through the CJD factory doors. I am truly pleased to say, such thoughts have not been crossing my mind for some time now. The transition has been seamless, and regular new products across the range happened every few months. After we have witnessed the arrival of two very different in concept, but equal flagships of the power amplifier range (ART300 and ART108A), the circle has been closed with the eagerly awaited new leader among the preamplifiers. Enter ART88. Launched in November 2022, it has already proven to be a glorious successor to the GAT Series 2 which has reigned for a long time. Those interested in minutiae should resort to Alan Sircom's well written review in issue 215 of the hi-fi+ magazine and all will be clear. What I would like to point out here are, what I deem to be, two (2) major quantum leaps compared to all recent ART88's predecessors. Firstly, this is, by far, the best and most perfectly build conrad-johnson product - I dare say - ever! Precision and panel fit of the sheet metal used to make a beautiful multi-layered structure is excellent and, combined with brilliantly executed circuit boards (all decoupled and suspended from each other), arguably second to none. Further, Jeff Fischel has brought back a valve as the cathode follower behind the front input double-triode, no longer a transistor (FET) in that role. We have a pure valve audio circuit throughout once again! Last, but by no means least, the new ART88 preamplifier replaced the GAT Series 2 at the almost identical cost. UK list price is £31,995 incl. VAT.

This piece of product news cannot commence without me making a simple confession: for a very long time, I had no true appreciation for almost anything headphone related while, at the same time, being called "high-end audio". Call it prejudice, obstinacy, self-imposed ignorance or whatever you wish, but I simply could not accept this way of playing back recorded music as anything even remotely serious. Just as I will never accept or agree there can be a true high-fidelity sound inside the cabin of a motor vehicle (car), not even in an electric (ergo, much quieter) one.

Well, while I gladly maintain my stance on the subject of high-end sound in cars, only a few months ago I was left with no other choice, but to radically amend my approach to what one can hear from best contemporary headphones and highest quality associated electronics. And, as with every upgrade applied to any other type of an audio component within a system, there is nothing else that can make any commercial headphone sound better or worse than a headphone cable!

George Cardas' Clear and Clear Beyond interconnect, loudspeakers, digital, power and network cables need no introduction or further acclaim. Especially the Clear Beyond side of the Clear family - it has quietly, consistently and (as always with Cardas products) subliminally, dominated the very top of this world's best cables for years. And, have and still are doing the same with one significant advantage over its peers. The privilege of enjoying one of the most natural and musical cable sounds of present times costs considerably less than what most others command.

The latest addition, Clear Beyond HPC is no exception to this, well established, rule. It took Cardas Audio longer than usual to bring this product onto the market as they wanted absolutely everything to be 'right'. The world of headphones and headphone ancillaries is a jungle where survival matters more than almost anything else. If reviews and consumer acceptance are anything to go by, the Clear Beyond HPC is another global success for the company and a blessing for many serious headphone users. As always, Cardas Audio provides support for virtually any headphone brand, while providing interfacing with every imaginable requirement on headphone amplifiers, smartphones or other devices(in most cases) at no additional cost.

Perhaps it comes as no surprise that, only a few months after the launch, Clear Beyond HPC received a worthy accolade from the hi-fi+ magazine in the UK as their Best Headphone Cable of The Year 2022.

A 3m set of the Cardas Clear Beyond HPC (headphone type and interface of choice) costs in the UK £2249 incl. VAT.

Many moons ago, the alpha and omega of finite elemente, Luis Fernandes, conceived an entry level collection of equipment supports and called it Signature. While retaining all the important aspects of his best Master Reference designs, Signature racks cost considerably less and arrived to their users "flat packed" for easy and simple assembly at home. If I remember correctly, Audiofreaks sold many Signature variants for as long as the product existed, not to forget that a significant percentage of Signature owners upgraded to Master Reference as and when funds permitted.

Sadly, as production costs increased, it was more and more difficult to keep the cost of the Signature products low enough to justify their presence. The first generation of Signature supports faded into oblivion from (almost) natural causes. When Luis Fernandes redesigned the Master Reference 2nd generation only a few years ago, he adamantly claimed he could not bring back another Signature assortment and keep the costs low enough to make them sufficiently cheaper. At the High End Show 2022 in Munich, I was shown the very first rendering of a pagode Signature mkII design (in a shape of their most popular 4-tier variant called E14). It looked beautiful and it was crystal clear that all the vital design virtues of the pagode Master Reference mkII and Edition mkII were present within the new Signature! Nice standard veneer finish and anodised pillars, but also six (6) other finishes available at no additional cost! As far as pricing is concerned, nothing is even remotely as cheap as it used to be when the first version of Signature equipment support ceased to exist. But, I am pleased to be able to say that the ratio of cost between the Master Reference mkII and Signature mkII products has not changed much. Signature mkII models still cost 40-45% less than the equivalent product (number of levels, width, height) in the Master Reference mkII range. As an illustration, the most popular model, E14 (four levels, 850mm high) in standard Canadinan Maple or any other finish costs £5490 incl. VAT. As I write this, first shipments of the new pagode Signature mkII are shipping into the world and I do hope initial inventory of most interesting configurations will be in the UK before too long.