THOMAS WOLFE WAS WRONG. You can go home again. That is, I have found, if "home" means returning to an LP library assembled over decades of collecting, and if you use Art Audio's wonderful Vinyl Reference Phono Preamplifier as the chrome-plated vehicle of choice.

I suspect like many others, I'd unwittingly taken up primary residence in Digiland awhile back, enticed by convenience and nifty new technologies that, I confess, led to benign neglect of my friends in Vinylville. At the same time we were upgrading the digital hardware and software side of our system, we traded our long-term preamplifierphono stage for a passive linestage. And while we've been routinely sitting for an hour or more at a clip, contentedly immersed in an acoustic alphabet of BSM, XRCD, DSD, and SACD, analog preamplification was handled by the modest phono stage of an old Quad 34, long since relegated to supporting our video system. But then Art Audio sent their new $3995, hybrid phono preamp for review.

My "transportation" for this journey home is named the Vinyl Reference, and is a solidly built, 21- pound unit, fed through a detachable power cord and sporting four Svetlana 6N1P dual triodes under its proverbial hood. Although valves are at the heart of this Art Audio, it's actually a hybrid design utilizing hard-to-get Japanese J-FETs at the input stage and MOS-FETs at the output stage. The 6N1P has a huge cathode and is known for its very high linearity. It shares the pin configuration of other tubes including the 6DJ8, 6922, 7308, and ECC88; in some applications, it is interchangeable with them. However, because Art Audio delivers 600 milliamps of current to the 6N1P's heater, none of these others (which are designed for 365 mA) are options in the Vinyl Reference (unless you're looking to create an expensive fireworks display and void Art Audio's warranty). While compulsive tube rollers may bemoan the resulting dearth of options (viable alternatives are by and large limited to premium 6N1Ps such as the -EV, -EB, and -MPS versions), few audiophiles will find much to complain about with the 6N1P's low distortion and characteristically superb musicality and tonal balance.

Stock units provide inputs for both MM and MC cartridges, offering 43-dB and 63-dB gain, respectively, and other gain configurations can be had by special order. The rear panel has a selection of impedance loading alternatives, 47 kilohms or 47 kilohms in parallel with 220 pF for MM cartridges, while MC cartridges are provided 100-, 300-, 1000-, or 47,000-ohm options. The MC input is Lundahl transformer-coupled, as is the Vinyl Reference's output stage, which feeds RCA and XLR connectors. No global negative feedback is used, and RIAA equalization is achieved passively between stages.

The Vinyl Reference Phono Preamp is the result of Art Audio's collaboration with Kevin Carter, who now operates K&K Audio in North Carolina. Carter formerly worked at VAC, where he was responsible for the Renaissance series line stage. He has a long history as a equipment designer and builder, having as many as a half dozen high-end phono preamps to his credit before taking on the Vinyl Reference with Art Audio's Joe Fratus and David Gill. Kevin indicated that although his earlier designs were increasingly successful sonically, even his latest personal phono preamp occasionally suffered from inadequate power supply regulation and the consequent interference when heavy loads like air-conditioning compressors began tapping power. As a result, the Vinyl Reference was designed with a massive, shielded internal choke-regulated power supply as well as choke-regulated power supplies for each stage. Kevin reports that half of each 6N1P vacuum tube is a dedicated shunt regulator, with the other half carrying the audio signal. All of which regulation is intended to yield a sonic signature quite unlike the dry sound often associated with solid-state regulated supplies. (Indeed, other than faithfully reproducing Paul Desmond's famous "dry martini" alto sax sound, there was never a drop of "dry" served up by the Vinyl Reference.)

As with most gear sent to me for review, there were occasions when I was not as pleased with the sound via the Vinyl Reference as I was in other situations. However, in the end, this turned out to actually be the unit’s extraordinary resolving power that I’d tuned into. So, while these other pieces required multiple trial-and-error changes in orientation, cabling, proximity to other pieces, and so forth to perform their best, I soon learned that a quick twist of what I came to think of as the Vinyl Reference's "smile switch" nearly always resolved the issue. What miracle was this switch performing? Reversal of signal polarity. Yes, something that simple sometimes made an enormous difference in the final sonic performance. To be sure, there were many times that a change in signal polarity yielded no discernible difference, but when I heard something amiss, a simple twist of this switch almost always put the issue to rest. Strings a mite congested? Twist. Smile. Insufficient depth? Twist. Smile. A little bloat in the bass? Twist. Smile. (I wish such results could be offered through a stand-alone device; I'd install one on my computer, car, putter, and newspaper delivery boy. Something's not pleasing me? Twist. Smile.) While some gear does enable you to control signal polarity, it's a capability infrequently available on phono preamps due to technical constraints with many approaches to low-level signal amplification. I consider it a very significant feature in the Vinyl Reference and am confident you will too.

This same three-position rotary “smile” switch includes a “Mute” function as its middle position, a thoughtful addition that can be a real speaker saver by precluding stylus cueing "pops" and other inadvertent signal spikes. The only other front panel control is a rotary “On- Off” switch. You can get knobs that match the Vinyl Reference's chrome face or wooden ones that, in addition to being quite attractive, aren't susceptible to static arcing when touched. Last of the front panel features is a blue indicator light that illuminates whenever power is applied to the unit, not just when the delayed closure of the audio circuits is complete. Upon my return home to Vinylville, I was greeted by Ethel Ennis, the Chambers Brothers, Osamu Kitajima, the Kronos Quartet, and many others with whom I have an exclusively analog relationship. I left the Vinyl Reference heating for a couple of days and avoided serious listening to the two dozen or so LPs played during this period. On the third evening, I installed my reviewer's mindset and settled in with Zoot Sims' Hawthorne Nights (Pablo 2310-783). I have long liked the clarity and midrange presence of the recordings done on the Pablo label during 1970s, and I consider this disc among the best of their musical offerings. Through the Vinyl Reference, Zoot's tenor was warm and natural, Monty Budwig's bass bold and beautiful, and the brass exquisitely edgy. Arranger Bill Holman's wide-ranging dynamics on such selections as "Dark Cloud" were handled effortlessly, while Zoot's vocal (!) was deeply resonant and the lyrics conveyed with great feeling. Shifting gears, Chiaroscuro (Windham Hill WH-1043) was presented with all the power and delicacy, impact and nuance, that an electric-acoustic ensemble affords, and with hauntingly vivid harmonics ringing from Any Narell's steel drums. The Vinyl Reference was equally adept and satisfying in its handling such intimate music as Jimmy Guiffre's solo clarinet on "So Low" (The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet, Atlantic Jazzlore 22) and the megascale pieces on Paul Winter's Missa Gaia/Earth Mass (Living Music LMR- 2). The latter used the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the Grand Canyon as recording venues; while I'm not going to tell you it seemed as if the Grand Canyon was in my tunes room, the Vinyl Reference did do a grand job of conveying the appropriate scale and perspective of each recording while the soundstage height was among the best I've heard. "Hot" and "cool" musical genres were each handled with an extraordinary sense of ease. Typifying the former is Santana's self-titled first release (Columbia CS 9781), with excellent reproduction of Carlos' multi-percussionist band and his wonderfully expressive guitar work (which was vastly underrated in those days). A similar set of pleasures was found on the The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East (Capricorn SD2-802). Hear especially Santana's "Jingo" and Gregg Allman's "Whipping Post," and the way in which the Vinyl Reference enables full release of every rock 'em, sock 'em note, wail, and crash captured in the grooves. At the other end of the musical thermometer, you also get every detail and the audiophile voice Both “hot” and “cool” musical types are well handled by this preamp. inflection on the Getz/Gilberto release (Verve V6-8545), a marvelous recording which, in addition to Stan and Jaoa, features Antonio Carlos Jobim and, perhaps most famously, Jaoa's wife Astrud on her first recording date ("Tall and tan and young and lovely ..."). This is gentle music with much subtlety, and the Vinyl Reference handles it deftly and, well, Art-fully. Such deftness is equally apparent on Michael Hedges' Aerial Boundaries (Windham Hill WH1032), on which the transients are lightning fast and the dynamic changes often dramatic. Courtesy of Art Audio, I took much new pleasure from Keith Johnson's 1950's recording of a live performance by the Red Norvo Quartet (The Forward Look, Reference Recordings RR-80) that now indeed sounded at times live. Among many of my test or reference records, all these caused me to wonder if it was merely coincidence that the Vinyl Reference and "virtual reality" technologies share the same acronym.
I find reviewing to be hard work and very time consuming. It's more natural for me to simply get lost in the music, almost regardless of the quality of reproduction, so I take copious notes and make repeated A-B comparisons, primarily to keep my head involved and to inform these reviews. My wife, on the other hand, has the uncanny ability to listen for a few moments — often while reading a magazine — and reach the same judgment it can take me hours to formulate. In the midst of my typical reviewing cogitation with the Art Audio Vinyl Reference, she joined me on our listening love seat and soon proclaimed, "That's the best sound we've had from our system in quite some time. It's warm, pleasant, and, best yet, possible at modest volumes." I, as always, replied, "Yes, dear." (Editor’s Note: Look out with such revelations, Dan, I may have to hire her to replace you. Gene Pitts)And this time I really meant it.

There's great stuff at work here, and we found the Vinyl Reference to bring out the best in ordinary and extraordinary recordings. Among many examples, I never before realized how much vigor remained in the grooves of such yard sale acquisitions as The Marshall Tucker Band (Capricorn CP 0112) and the Boston Pops' Gershwin program (Concerto in F, Cuban Overture, I Got Rhythm Variations, RCA LSC-2586). Naturally, the Vinyl Reference will pass along with unfortunate accuracy whatever poor recordings have to offer, but there are no demerits due Art Audio for the shortcomings of source material.

CDs have generally supplemented rather than duplicated or (heaven forbid!) replaced selections in our LP record collection, but I happen to have both the original Pablo LP (2310 703) and JVC XRCD (0022-2) versions of Duke's Big 4. I really dig Ellington's infrequently heard small group work, and I picked up the digital version because it conveyed more detail and life than the LP. Or, to be accurate, more than the LP did through previous phono stages/preamps in my system. Using the Vinyl Reference to amplify signals from my Grado TLZ moving-iron cartridge, Louis Bellson's cymbal work, whether stick or brush powered, provided little to differentiate digital and analog media; but there the similarity ended. The XRCD was cool and razor sharp, with the players keenly pinpointed across the soundstage. Musical and extra-musical details were impressive, as if illuminated by laser light, and I could almost see not just the musicians, but also the absorbent acoustical panels dividing them in the studio. On the other hand, the Vinyl Reference-amplified Pablo now delivered a similar level of detail, but with a slightly warm, incandescent aspect that’s typical of 6N1Ps. Instruments were presented with more “bloom” surrounding the notes, and the XRCD's studio "players" morphed into the LP’s jazz club "performers." Each presentation may have its place but, with no attempt here at digi-bashing, as much as I enjoy and admire what the XRCD can do, I'll take the Art Audio-aided Pablo for sheer musicality and longterm listening pleasure.

In order to put the Vinyl Reference's performance in a more current context than the phono stages we'd been using, the evergracious Joe Fratus also sent its Art Audio stable mate, the Vinyl One ($1995 to $2495, depending on options). While these may not be horses of different colors (a chrome faceplate is an option for the Vinyl One) or breed (both are well-constructed tube-based designs), they do differ in pedigree and feature set (MC amplification is optional on the Vinyl One, as is a potentiometer that can be switched from the input to output circuit, depending on your preamp and sonic preferences). Moreover, the Vinyl One uses the 12AX7 or one of its many relatives, so only your pocketbook limits the choice of alternate tubes to tweak sonic characteristics, while Vinyl Reference owners will have to select from among gradations of the 6N1P's great big, warm, musical sound.

I found the Vinyl One to be a terrific phono preamp. It consistently delivered clear, detailed, airy performances, especially when configured without the output/volume control. The bottom end was taut and ear-catching, and I particularly enjoyed the way the percussion on Santana's "Savor" establishes a great sense of anticipation by dissolving into the drums which open the next track, "Jingo." On repeated occasions over a few days I came to think "Man, this is great; the Vinyl One approaches the Vinyl Reference's performance, and it's only half the price!" But when I'd switch back to the Vinyl Reference, this notion would be instantly shattered. The Vinyl One frequently brought to the fore previously subtle details such as the zip of Michael Hedges' round wound strings, at first leading me to surmise it bested the Vinyl Reference in this regard. Returning the latter to service, however, I found that although a similar level of detail was being presented, it was much harder to focus on literal and figurative zips which were now integrated with, instead of standing out from, the music.

While the Vinyl One gets all the ingredients right, and I could live happily with its results, the Vinyl Reference assembles the musical elements in a far more involving way. Most notably, the Vinyl Reference delivers an extraordinary sense of dimensionality that I couldn't coax from the Vinyl One (fitted with Mazda 12AX7s in the phono stage) or that I'd experienced with any other phono stage/preamp. I'm not referring to soundstage size here, though that's certainly ample with both units, but, rather, the Vinyl Reference's ability to reproduce music with a three-dimensional wholeness that's strikingly like what I hear in person (aided, no doubt, with the effectiveness with which the fourth dimension — time and pace — is handled). I believe both units to be excellent values at their price points.

In order to not put my Dutch- Uncle credentials at risk, allow me to note a few quibbles. First, contrary to the industrial design mantra form follows function, the blue power indicator is needlessly bright in daylight and an outright irritant during darkened room listening. Second, regardless of the Decor Score you'd assign the chrome faceplate, it can make reading the control switch labels difficult, especially against the reflection of a dark shirt or blouse you happen to be wearing. (Although chrome is an option to standard black on the Vinyl One, it's “take it or leave it” on the Vinyl Reference.) Last, while I love the ability to reverse signal polarity, I hate having to interrupt my listening and trek across the room to do so. This terrific — some might say essential — feature needs to be remotely controlled to be fully useful.

Returning to aural issues, the Vinyl Reference delivered the musical goods, most especially throughout the midrange, on everything from old mono classical instrumentals to modern audiophile pop vocal releases. But while the Tokyo Philharmonic's direct-to-disc Orchestrations Astromantic (RCA RDCE-6) displayed the Art Audio's extension at the frequency extremes, it (among a few other recordings) also revealed a tendency to deliver a tad less air on top than I know to be present. However, this is also a sonic signature of the Grado TLZ cartridge, so I may have simply been hearing the un-allayed performance of the TLZ. I wish I had a handful of alternate cartridges, including a low-output moving-coil or two, to test this empirically but, as it stands, you're left to giving the Vinyl Reference a careful audition before purchase. However, as an astute TAV reader, you wouldn't consider proceeding otherwise, would you? As always, trust thine own, not just mine, ears, for the final judgment.

Although Art Audio's Vinyl Reference didn't often provide that “new details in familiar recordings” experience, it did sometimes enable us to more fully appreciate the music and the artist's message. I'd experienced this once before (in replacing our Dunlavy SC III speakers with their SC IIIA successors), so I wasn't completely surprised by the effect, but that did not make it any the less thrilling. Of multiple examples, the most dramatic was Richard Morris' telling of Brahms' "Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee" on Crystal Clear's Sonic Fireworks (CCS 7010). While I'm not generally fond of organ music, and typically don't find "fireworks" emotionally engaging, I've kept this direct-to-disc LP on hand primarily as test and demo item. But the Vinyl Reference changed all that in the drop of a stylus. Although I'd listened to this piece many times before, it turned out here that I'd never really heard it. Art Audio's Vinyl Reference reveals the piece to be a truly beautiful composition and performance, as pleasing and comforting as chamomile tea on a cold evening or, perhaps, a favorite pipe and old slippers. Or, like coming home to old friends.

While the Vinyl Reference ably dissects recordings into their constituent elements and lays them out for your appreciation, it always preserves the musical gestalt, delivering a sound that is cohesive and engaging. After going through much of our record collection, often during listening sessions that satisfyingly crept from late night into early morning, I found the Art Audio's presentation to be much more natural, at ease, and life-like than that of other phono sections or preamps I've heard. You might find a phono preamplifier more capable in some sonic aspect(s), but it's hard to imagine finding one with a more seamless, satisfying, musical presentation, let alone one more likely to be a long-term aural ally. Give yourself and your "old vinyl friends" a treat, and give Art Audio's Vinyl Reference a good trial.