Unbelievably enough, it's the end of the year 2018…already! I know that I say this every year, but every year it's worse and worse; time whizzes by faster and faster, and the final quarter always arrives long before I'm ready for it. The Earth rotates, and faithfully follows its annual orbit around yon Sun, so no surprise. But experientially, years now are like months used to be when I was younger. Maybe you've noticed this too…
Anyway, it's time for me to announce my Brutus Awards for 2018. The Brutus Awards are given at the end of each year, in recognition of the best high-end audio gear that Dave Clark and I as Editors of Positive Feedback have had in our own listening rooms for evaluation during that calendar year. These are entirely our own subjective choices, based on our own tastes in what's righteous…and what's not.
For those new to Positive Feedback and our Brutus Awards, I'll quote myself quoting myself on this history and intent of them…there's no reason to reinvent the wheel here.
"As longtime readers know, I instituted the Positive Feedback Brutus Awards way back in the mists of time…yonder in 2003. And every year, for the new readers who have joined us, I review the parameters of the Brutus Awards, so that everyone knows what they mean, and what guidelines direct Dave Clark and my choices.
As I said in 2016: ‘At the end of each year, my unindicted co-conspirator Dave Clark and I give our Positive Feedback awards. These are our annual ‘best stuff we heard this year' plaudits. No padding, crap, junk food, or meaningless drivel here: Just the righteous word!
As I said in Positive Feedback all the way back in Issue 10, December of 2003, when I announced the birth of the Brutus Award:
"‘We at Positive Feedback are going to have two main categories of annual awards. The first will be our Brutus Award. This will be recognition given to "the best and the brightest" products that we have experienced in various categories in a given year. In hardware, these will range from "best bang for the buck" to "the best period, and hang the expense!" designs. In recordings, we'll be paying tribute to the best that we've found in various formats. In addition, we'll have a "Lifetime Achievement Award" that will recognize individuals whose contributions to fine audio in various respects has been both superior and sustained.
All products that are so recognized by PF will be work that has been reviewed by us personally; no design will be recognized that we do not have experience with in our listening rooms. This means that you, our readers, may disagree with our selections, wondering why this or that component, recording or individual was not mentioned. Quite apart from differences in taste/opinion, the answer is simple: we won't be mentioning any design that we haven't spent time with in our own listening rooms. If a product does not win a Brutus Award in a given category, this does not signify lack of merit—we just may not have gotten to work with it. You're certainly welcome to write to us and bring worthy components to our attention.'"
So…there it is. That's the idea behind Dave Clark's and my Brutus Awards over the past fifteen years now. The products that we recommend in our Brutus Award awards…together with our creative community's Writers' Choice Awards, published separately…represent our take on "the best we've heard in our own listening rooms this year." I do separate audio show recognitions, which are my Audio Oasis! Awards, published in the aftermath of each show that I attend. These recognize the best of what I hear while attending high-end audio shows. These are published throughout the year, in reasonable proximity to the shows themselves.
A clarification for our readers: note that Positive Feedback Brutus Awards do not have to have a prior review published before their award is announced. In some cases, products that arrive late in the year may be of very obvious merit, but there simply isn't enough time to complete and publish a review before the end of the year and the announcement of the Brutus Awards themselves. In those cases, a product will receive its Brutus Award before the review appears, rather than have to wait another year for its recognition.
In other cases, a Brutus Award may be given, with the full review done in follow-up early in the following year. The workload of evaluation, note-taking, and writing a review in the midst of so many projects is such that this may happen. In fact, it has happened from time to time over the year. Readers will just have to be patient, patience being a virtue, eh?
Finally, in some other cases, the publication of a Brutus Award may have enough content in the Brutus Award commentary to constitute the complete evaluation of the product by the editors. In that case, there will be no larger follow-up review. The editors reserve the sole right to determine how they handle such cases of Brutus Awards, with or without prior or further reviews.
Regardless, a Brutus Award represents the highest approval of an audio product that the editors give each year. Readers should draw their own conclusions from that very important fact.
And so, let's get on with it.
My 2018 Brutus Award List includes the following products that I've heard this year:
Audionet STERN Preamp and HEISENBERG Amplifiers
The Audionet STERN Reference Preamp
Well, this was one of those proverbial absolute no brainers. I wrote about these ultimate reference designs earlier in the year in Issue 99 (see HERE), and spoke of them with the highest praise. I have several manufacturers that are in my top o' the heap, front-rank category for preamps and amps…darTZeel, PASS Labs, and GamuT all come to mind immediately…but I haven't heard a finer preamp and monoblock than the STERN and HEISENBERG.
The Audionet HEISENBERG Reference Monoblock Amplifiers on their Critical Mass Systems Rack
I mourned when the review samples returned, believe me.
A Brutus Award winner here at the end of 2018, without a doubt.
Playback Designs MPS-8 SACD/CD Player/Quad DSD DAC/Streaming Audio
Andreas Koch of Playback Designs has been a leading master of DSD, DACs, and optical playback for many years now. I've been listening to his work from his days with EMM Labs, and then when he went onwards to help found Playback Designs. I loved the MPS-5 SACD/CD/DSD file player when it arrived, and for years thereafter. It was my reference standard for optical playback for quite a while.
Here's one of my early Brutus Awards for Andreas Koch's work at EMM Labs; this is from CES/THE Show, January of 2005. Dave and Carol Clark made the presentation of the certificate to Ed Meitner (second from left) and Andreas (third from left). Yes, I've been following and recognizing Andreas' designs for years now....
Now the owner and CEO, as well as the lead designer, Andreas went on to produce the Sonoma line of DACs, ADCs, music servers, and optical playback (via an OpBox-modified OPPO BDP-103), which I reviewed back in Issue 87 in 2016 (see HERE), and gave Brutus Awards to the entire stack at the end of that year in Issue 88 (HERE).
Now there's something newer: the Playback Designs Dream System.
First introduced at AXPONA 2017, the Dream System, consisting of the MPT-8 Reference Transport with StreamX/Roon-Ready/Syrah Music Server (choose any two of the three) as internal upgrade options; the MPD-8 Quad DSD/PCM DAC (these two can be paired as drive plus DAC); and the MPS-8 SACD/CD transport with StreamX option. This last is a stand-alone configuration, and replaces the MPS-5 of years past.
I reviewed the MPS-8 earlier in the year in Issue 98, and was knocked out by its performance…it's definitely better than the MPS-5, and is my new reference for SACD/CD playback.
I'll be following up this evaluation with a new one in 2019, covering the Playback Designs Dream System MPT-8 Transport and MPD-8 DAC. I'm expecting these to arrive in the next several weeks…
Meanwhile, the MPS-8 takes away one of my 2018 Brutus Awards! If you're looking for an all-in-one reference-level solution for SACD/CD playback, and the price is affordable, then look no further.
Accustic Arts Tube Preamp II Mk2 Preamplifier and Mono II Monoblock Amplifier
The Accustic Arts Tube Preamp II Mk2 Preamplifier
2018 was a fine year for reference preamps and amps here at Ye Olde Editor's listening rooms. In this case, here's another lovely, great-sounding combo from Germany: a hybrid preamplifier and pair of solid-state monoblock monoblocks. (Yes, it's true; I really do have quite a taste for Germany audio gear…I'll freely admit it. But that's only because it sounds so good!)
The Accustic Arts Mono II Monoblock Amplifier
I did the review last July, back in Issue 97, which you can see HERE. The Accustic Arts designs not only sound great, but they are gorgeous audiophile eye candy. They definitely stroked Ye Olde Editor's spot of audio sweetness, and could not be gainsaid for one of my Brutus Awards this year.
Done!
Merrill Audio Element 118 Monoblock Amplifiers
A pair of Merrill Audio Element 118 Monoblocks in their places on a Critical Mass Systems Rack
Speaking of the extraordinary in the world of amplification, I have also been spending several months listening to a new design from Merrill Audio: the Element 118 Reference Monoblock Amplifiers. These are quite different from the other great designs that I've heard this year, in that they're the latest statement from Merrill and company, using Class D in the most demanding implementation that I've ever heard.
Class D has a number of natural advantages, including Green-level power efficiency and very low thermal generation, but have a reputation in high-end audio for being less than pleasing to the ear in many cases. I've heard some Class D designs that were better than others, but none that really made me sit up and take notice the way that the Element 118 has. In fact, when Merrill kindly shipped a pair to me, I hadn't done background research yet, and didn't realize upon arrival that they were Class D.
The Element 118 Monoblocks with the Evolution Acoustics MM2 Loudspeakers with EXACT External Crossovers
After starting the listening sessions, I still didn't realize that they were Class D…at first. I really liked the initial impression that the Element 118 created in me: very fast transient response, clean, transparent, detailed, and lacking no dynamics with key recordings that I always use.
Then I walked over to the amps to assess the heat being generated, and was startled by the fact that the 118's were cool to the touch! "Damnation!" says I, "The bloody things must be Class D!"
They are, but with state-of-the-art design and execution that puts Class D into my top-o'-the-heap class of true reference amplifiers. Details will follow in my review, which I hope to have done in January or so of 2019. Stay tuned for that one…the Element 118 is serious stuff!
And a 2018 Brutus Award is hereby given.
darTZeel NHB-18NS Mk Two Reference Preamplifier and NHB-108 Model Two Reference Stereo Amplifier
The darTZeel NHB-18NS Model Two Reference Preamplifier
darTZeel. Longtime readers of my writing will remember that I've been in love with Hervé Delatraz's darTZeel designs ever since I first heard the NHB-108 Stereo Amplifier in its first revision all the way back in 2004(!) I was so impressed that I gave it a Brutus Award at the end of that year. Since then, I've heard and highly praised the original and intermediate revised versions of the preamp and stereo amplifier (see my 2009 Brutus Awards back in Issue 46 HERE), and have darTZeel in the very front rank of world-class, reference-grade audio designs.
Hervé Delatraz of darTZeel (second from left) accepting my 2004 Brutus Award for the original iteration of the NHB-108 Reference Stereo Amplifier. His USA distributor, Jonathan Tinn of Blue Light Audio, is third from the left. Dave Clark (left) of Positive Feedback made the presentation.
But now Hervé and darTZeel have come up with even newer revisions to the 18NS and 108, now designated their "Model Two" versions. Jonathan Tinn of Blue Light Audio was able to get these to me in time for Brutus Award consideration in 2018. Better yet, the NHB-18NS was also loaded with its MC and MM phono sections, so that I could evaluate the analog source side of things, as well as its performance with SACD/DSD. Right now, the VPI Titan with Air Tight coda MC cartridge are the analog source, while the Playback Designs MPS-8 handles the SACD/DSD/PCM recordings.
Given the lateness of the arrival of these darTZeel components, I've not yet done my formal review…that will have to wait for the first quarter of 2019. Nevertheless, these were well broken-in review samples, and I've been playing them quite hard since their arrival.
The darTZeel NHB-108 Model Two Reference Stereo Amplifier
In sum, the battery-powered (with AC supply) 18NS is noticeably more transparent, more detailed, and has an incredible clean musicality that makes all sources sound bloody effortless. And the 108 Stereo Amplifier feeding the Evolution Acoustics MM2's with EXACT external crossovers is much stiffer than any version before, and now has over 200 watts per channel. The sense of power…without any sacrifice of finesse or any audio virtue…is truly outstanding.
I'll talk more about these darTZeel components next year, but my intense listening to them already convince me that there's absolutely no doubt that they are worthy of Brutus Awards in 2018.
So let it be ordered; so let it be done!
exaSound DM Network Audio Player/Quad DSD DAC/Roon-Ready/Streaming
The exaSound DM Network Audio Player (right) with its accompanying Pardo Power Supply
exaSound has been a regular in my evaluations and reviews since they first arrived here, years ago. George Klissarov, the leading light there, has come up with generation after generation of exceptional DAC, with a powerful emphasis on getting DSD right. And time after time, he has won Brutus Awards from me for the wonderful quality of the music that his designs produce.
Transparent and detailed, but silky and glowing. Previous generations of exaSound have gotten the sound right, at reasonable prices…at least, in audiophile terms.
But this year, George and company decided to produce a new design, one that would be a cost-no-object reference design. It would fold into one place the latest iteration of their Quad DSD-capable DAC, but also add the newest version of their Network Audio Player and Roon-ready streaming audio capabilities. All done on a true dual-mono, single-chassis implementation, and with a killer Pardo Power Supply (see below) bundled right in. All can be controlled via Roon/Tidal interface on your local iPad, with additional computer-based Web browser interface tool to allow fine tuning from your PC. Nice!
The results are phenomenal.
See my review in Issue 99 (HERE) for the details.
Meanwhile, a very well-deserved Brutus Award for George Klissarov and the superb exaSound DM Network Audio Player!
TeddyPardo Power Supply for the exaSound series
Pardo Power Supply 12/2 (image courtesy of TeddyPardo)
This particular Brutus Award is a bit different. It's related to the exaSound product line, which is where I sourced and applied the Pardo Power Supply line. I'm giving this award, not based on a particular review…there won't be one, other than my comments here…but rather my listening to the collective improvements brought by upgrading my e32 Stereo Quad DSD DAC, my Playpoint Network Audio Player (both Brutus Award winners in 2016, see HERE), and hearing the exaSound DM Network Audio Player, with its automatically bundled Pardo Power Supply.
A view of an internal board of a Pardo Power Supply, showing the hefty components (image courtesy of TeddyPardo)
The gizzards of the Pardo are clearly way over the usual for small power supplies. No more wall warts! And note that the Pardo isn't a Linear Power Supply either.
TeddyPardo has a number of wall-wart-replacement power supplies for a variety of requirements. To learn more about the Pardo Power Supplies, produced in Israel, see the Pardo Web site.
Having heard the difference, I now know why George Klissarov is so enthusiastic about Pardo, and why it is available as an upgrade to their e-series DACs. Absolutely recommended!
And a Brutus Award winner here in 2018!
Xact Audio Kodo The Beat MagDrive™ Turntable with Schröder LT Tonearm
Earlier this year I got a chance to spend several months with a turntable that had been highly recommended to me by a good audiobud in the industry: Xact Audio's Kodo The Beat LT. Produced by the extremely talented turntable designer, Steve Dobbins, The Beat LT is a combination of an innovative direct-drive turntable with a remarkable linear-tracking tonearm, all in a knock-out gorgeous package. (In my case, the glorious red finish that you see above...utterly seductive!)
You can read my review of this brilliant turntable system in Issue 99 HERE. Steve Dobbins was willing to contribute some designer's notes and his personal story to my review comments; you'll find them HERE. Steve's thoughts on the LT tonearm are HERE.
Ryan Tinsel Woodworker LP Rack-It Racks and SACD/CD Storage Drawers
Ryan Tinsel, woodworker, with two of his creations. His Rack-It style LP racks are to the right; one of his custom tables is to the left.
Earlier this year, I read the review of the Ryan Tinsel Rack-It compatible storage racks by Scott Dorsey in Issue 96 (see the review HERE). Storage is always a problem here…tons of LPs, SACDs, CDs, tapes…and I'm always looking for solid storage that's well made and appealing to the eye.
I got a lot more interested when I noticed that Ryan Tinsel, the craftsman-in-wood, lived just down the road from me. Oh yeah. Much more interested.
The Ryan Tinsel Rack-It style LP Racks and SACD/CD Storage Drawers in action here at PF River City...
So, we connected, and I now have a handful of his LP and SACD/CD storage racks here, helping me to organize the load…and they look great, too! These are all in oak finish, and are stackable in the classic Rack-It manner. Arrange, rearrange, and stack it the way you want it at any given time…change it later. And the prices are pretty reasonable for hand-worked, real wood products, made right here in Oregon. Contact Ryan for the latest prices for your preferred configuration.
No need for further commentary; I'll echo Scott's praise, and add my own for these great storage designs. I use them daily, and rely on them all the time.
Yeah, I love these racks, big time…you will too.
For more on Ryan Tinsel's offerings, check HERE. For the LP racks, see his Etsy page.
And a 2018 Brutus Award for Ryan and company for doing audiophiles like me such a big favor!
Stay tuned for Part the Second of my 2018 Brutus Awards...
All photographs and image processing by David W. Robinson, unless otherwise noted. Drawings from Alice in Wonderland by Sir John Tenniel are in the public domain.
