Opinion 1

I must confess, that although I have high esteem for Polish manufacturers engaged in creation of products related to our hobby, the tested brand really makes me proud, as they really have a very meticulous approach to that manufacturing. They start with calculating everything precisely during the design process, then test everything using best possible measuring equipment and finally verify everything by listening. The reason is obvious, and it all boils down to the fact that the process of creating a product is standardized to the level of the biggest, world brands, and is not a result of years of tinkering, sometimes very well done, but still tinkering. I am not claiming that you cannot achieve something outstanding by putting some things together at home, or in a garage, but let us not kid ourselves, when you go through the idea and design process and then its implementation using a thorough measurement equipment, especially in a segment which is very sensitive to any shortcomings like the turntable one, then you have to have a significant trust package included from the very beginning. For me this is very important, because in the end, this usually translates into very good sound of the device in question. So how did our today’s hero, which did come to life using the described process, supplied to us by the Sopot based distributor Premium Sound, the BennyAudio Odyssey turntable and tonearm, fare in this aspect? As usual, I invite you to read on if you are interested.

The construction of the Odyssey is very well thought trough. And I am not talking about the simple looks, as it is based on a square with cut-off edges, what makes it very compact, but also interesting to look at, but about the materials, used cunningly to achieve the desired construction results. The plinth is an interesting combination of three layers. It is different from many others due to the fact that those layers are not just glued together as a stiff sandwich, what would make it vibrate around the same frequency, but the two layers of aluminum are separated by Derlin – a kind of POM (PolyOxyMethylene) in such a way, that they are pushed away by it, what changes the resonance characteristics of the whole. This results in a kind of monolith with an effect of progressive elimination of harmful vibrations. And this is not all that was done to combat any mechanical distortion, as the electronically controlled DC motor, offering 33 and 45RPM and driving the platter using a belt, was separated from the plinth in an interesting way, instead of just being mounted stiff. And it is not a separate entity, which would destroy the visual harmony of the project, but is integrated into the overall shape of the turntable, fitting in a specially designed indentation together with the control module. You must admit, that this is well thought out not only from a technical standpoint, but also from a visual one. But moving along the front of the battle to reduce the amount of vibration degrading the quality of the work of the cartridge, we need to look at the way the platter is mounted and driven. This was also resolved in a proprietary way. On a reversed, hydrodynamic bearing three separate layers were placed. First two intermediate ones with different weight and height, made from INOX – the first one is a sub-platter working directly with the bearing saddle, the second one forms the base of the platter. Finally there is a thick platter made from Delrin, which is the resting place for the vinyl discs. But what is the reason for this complicated construction? The design called for a certain height and weight of the platter, but the amount of POM needed to fulfill that resulted in the sound being too calm, what was caught during the listening test during prototyping, so the manufacturer decided to opt for a multi-layer version. Finishing the description of the most important information about the turntable, we should mention something, that might be a very useful for some people, namely that the Odyssey allows for mounting of three different tonearms, and the 14” one, a developmental version of the brilliant Immersion II, is included in the set. In the initial set you will also get a puck made from the same INOX as parts of the turntable, which has quite some influence on the final sound. All this makes the total weight of the BennyAudio novelty reach 50kg. And as you can see, the tested turntable brings a lot of novel technologies to the table.

How did I perceive the sound of the tested turntable? Well, it will be very important to quickly recall some of the conclusions from testing of its predecessor. Both reviews happened quite quickly one after another, what allowed me to easily get any potential differences, or the quality progress of the Odyssey versus the Immersion II. So how would I describe what the newest project offered? In my opinion this is an evident quality improvement. Already the Immersion offered very good sound. But in absolute terms, based on many years of experience with music, and reviewing equipment, I noticed that the midrange was quite light. Not in a way that would make it an issue, because any listener has his or her own sound master, but in that case it gave a kind of etheric presentation. Probably many music lovers would love that sound, but the midrange has a very important influence on the perception of the whole presentation of music, and when it is too light – in the Immersion this could be easily fixed by choosing appropriate elements of the rest of the system, but I am mentioning that to showcase the differences between the two constructions – it will not give appropriate energy to the instruments placed in that subrange. I am talking about a situation where an orchestra should play tutti, or a strong individual accord, and the sound will not have the required strength of the whole orchestra. And when the whole orchestra should play, it should be the whole orchestra, and not just the bass instruments. So for me, reaching ideal sound proportions and equilibrium by the Odyssey was the most important, and compared to the predecessor, desired change. But I would like to note again that this is not meant to be a depreciation of the cheaper position from the BennyAudio portfolio, but to show, that the manufacturer climbing the quality level of its products, reached the required level of refinement of all elements of the sound for its top of the line product. And this is only one of the improvements of the sound audible from the first moment you start listening. Another one is the quality of the lowest registers. Previously there was some washing out of the edges and nice, but somewhat controversial, softness, both of which were converted here into appropriate energy and readability, perfectly drawing the virtual sources. As this is happening, it should come as no surprise that in effect the music gained desired vigor and the ability to show the differentiation between the different phases of sound speed in the domain of sound attack and decay. This was phenomenal enough, that when I listened to the predecessor, I was enjoying its ethereality, but now with the Odyssey this ethereality become just an add-on to the music, which was composed of equally important components, which made it more unpredictable and thus more intriguing. The effect of this change was such, that previously I was in a kind of lethargic state when listening, a very nice one, as related to soothing my soul, but still lethargic, and now I was waiting with burning cheeks to what kind of changes will be introduced by the musicians, what tempos, if there will be aggression or nostalgia. In my opinion this change is a brilliant move, as on one hand the new turntable, during listening to intimate jazz and vocals from the likes of Anna Maria Jopek “Minione” or Adam Bałdych “Sacrum Profanum” was able to enchant, and on the other, it was easily able to reproduce even the most wild emotions served by live recordings of groups like AC/DC on “If You Want Blood You’ve Got It”. In the first case it was not only reproducing the emotionality hidden in calm music with appropriate pietism, but also took care of the smallest details, showing, for example, the multiplicity of information included in the, seemingly, ordinary base drum hit in the opening piece of the A. Bałdych disc – the attack, the energy and the never ending vibration of the membrane. You might survive without its multicolor, as the music will still come out strong with its emotional contents, but I am confident, that once you hear it in such version, you will start looking for similar artefacts in other instruments present during recording. Confrontation with classy rock did not go differently. But this time it was more about the energy of the shouting vocals, once screaming and other time sentimental guitars and thumping drums. Etherealness would not have a chance of kicking the bass drum with enough energy, or reproduce the brilliant and aggressive guitar riffs with their saturation, because while it might have seemed a nice sounding strategy, it would be too much on the light side. And without those there is no true AC/DC, but fortunately the currently tested turntable reproduced everything in the expected 100%. It was ruthless and soft, but only when expected by the source material. And this because the offered sound was characterized by a balance between all the subranges, from the strong and fully controlled bass, through the essential midrange, repeating the handling of the bass and providing a wealth of information, up to the treble, having absolutely no restraints in visualizing even the quietest touches of the strings or cymbals. In short, put against the Immersion II, the Odyssey is a significant step forward. But of course this was the idea of the constructor. But it is known that sometimes even the most ambitious wishes of the manufacturer do not always translate into reality. But fortunately, as I mentioned in the beginning, the tested BennyAudio Odyssey came to life based on meticulous measurements and their interpretation, what translated into a magnificent combination of an analog deck and tonearm. Of course, getting your measurements and implementing them is only the beginning, which must be verified by listening in the next steps. But I assure you that they give the manufacturer, who knows what he is doing, more space to show his strengths. And I had the privilege to get acquainted with it. Am I getting too sweet? Absolutely not, as this kind of approach on our audio market – I mean the very time consuming usage of the R&D during the development phase of any product – is hard to find. Often those are products made by trial and error, initially verified by years of experience. And I am not telling you that this approach is wrong. But I am aware that there is a group of people who are as music twisted as I am, for whom the approach of BennyAudio is one of the more important aspects when doing purchase decisions. Because for me it absolutely is.

Does this description mean, that the tested turntable is indisputably brilliant and a good match for each and every potential buyer of a record scratcher? Honestly? It is known that there is no chance for this, what can be supported by for example the fact that you can fall in love with the sound proposed by the Odyssey’s predecessor, the Immersion II, and I mentioned why previously. But I will put it like this. Our tested hero is a very interesting construction, so if I would not yet be appointed with something similar from another brand, this turntable would be a very strong pretender to final tuning of my audio setup. And I have already some outstanding sound sources in it, starting with the Studer A80 reel-to-reel tape deck as the analog source, and the dCS Vivaldi DAC with the CEC TL0 3.0 drive, supported by external clocks on the digital side. And I think it means something. Is this a guarantee of success in confronting any potential buyer? Unfortunately this is a result of many different elements. The first one being knowledge, how a well played vinyl disc sounds. The second one is the ability of extracting the mentioned elements of the sound by the audio setup. And third, and often most important, are the expectations of the listener, oftentimes exaggerated. But abstracting from all of this, the tested turntable is fully entitled to care the name Odyssey, for all it can do with the disc put on its platter. It does not overinterpret the sentimentality included in the music, it ably steers away from being garish, but depending on the played material, takes us for a tale, sometimes romantic, otherwise rebellious, but always keeping the character of them both.

Jacek Pazio

Opinion 2

Until recently, usually during some behind-the-screens talks, we were making jokes, that looking at the local, Polish market, we can say that it is made out of cables. It just means that the wealth of wires, bearing the “Made in Poland” tag, made us worry, that when we open the fridge we will be assaulted by another manufacturer, convinced he is unique and has monopoly on some mysterious knowledge. But fortunately the marked did verify, in a very efficient and quick way, the reasons of being of such ephemeral brands. But nature does not tolerate any void, so new companies started to emerge, maybe not brands at first, but commercially oriented projects, which operated on a much higher level of technologic and construction advancement. Those projects started in an environment that allowed them to quickly start looking for potential buyers and get the funding they needed. But what I am talking about? About manufacturers of analog devices, profiting from the unprecedented revival of the black disc; turntable manufacturers. Now you might be thinking I am exaggerating. But … not really, as I can mention quite a few brands out of the top of my head – (in alphabetical order) Ad Fontes, Dubiel Acoustics, Fonica, JR Audio, Kartogen Audio Design, Muarah, J. Sikora, Pre-Audio, Tentogra, Unitra, Zontek or the BennyAudio, the hero of our today’s test and visiting us for the second time. As you can see for yourself there is a lot to choose from, and in such case, it would be a deadly sin not to pick on the opportunity and not to test the bigger/older brother of the quite recently tested Immersion II, the top model, for now, Odyssey from the Gliwice manufacturer, which arrived in our listening room thanks to the distributor of the brand – the Sopot based Premium Sound.

It cannot be denied, that our today’s hero differs quite significantly from its predecessor. Instead of a slightly classic, or even rustical, when looking at the wooden finish, Immersion II, the older brother has a more compact and futuristic shape, bringing some associations with TechDAS Air Force III and V. This time, instead of putting all construction elements within the confines of the plinth, up to three tonearms can be placed on dedicated extension pods, which are capable to house 10 to 15” models. The plinth itself is made from a sandwich made from two layers of aluminum with a filling made from POM (Delrin or polyoxymethylene) and has a front panel. The motor, driving the very imposing, three-layered platter (made from 200mm stainless steel 4kg, 300mm non-magnetic stainless steel 8kg and 300mm POM 5kg) placed on an inverted hydrodynamic bearing, has its own steel carcass and is placed within the plinth, so looking from outside you might have an impression that it is a direct driven turntable, while in reality it uses a traditional belt drive (look at unboxing session). Of course the best possible working conditions were ensured, so it is damped using three different materials – a silicone mat, felt and sorbothane. The tonearm is a proprietary construction, a damped oil-carbon 14” unipivot, cabled with silver cables supplied by the Bydgoszcz based company Albedo, with no resonances in the 20-20000Hz range claimed by the manufacturer.
The external power supply comes from another Polish specialist, in this case in the area of PSU manufacturing, the company Tomanek, and it is a 12V unit built around the KD 502 chip. In terms of functionality, the front panel controls allow to adjust the speed in +/- 8 steps and change the color and intensity of the lighting, while the tonearm allows for VTA adjustments “on the fly”.

And now for the most important part, the sound. To limit the variables to a minimum we decided to test the turntable with the same cartridge we used for testing of the Immersion II, the Hana Umami RED, and I also secured the same discs for listening. And here things became interesting, as with an almost double price and adequate increase in quality to the predecessor, we should not be satisfied when trying to listen to the first notes of “Hardwired… to Self-Destruct” and “72 Seasons” from Metallica, as according to the rule, that the more expensive/higher class device you use, the less music you can listen to, and Metallica should not have a chance. But I was surprised, when together with the increase of resolution and precision of focusing of the virtual sources, the whole sound got a bloody texture, while it would seem that native offensiveness, written into the DNA of harder genres, did evolve into the direction of spontaneous, and at the same time, contagious expression. The sound, compared to the lower model, did not as much condense, but became more coherent, wiry, but without any thinning in its lower registers and without any glassiness in the treble. And still – the garage roughness of the riffs was evident, but instead of become irritating, it only underlined the realism, so in the long run it became an indisputable element of the coherent whole and thus an understandable aspect of artistic expression. But if you fear, that the BennyAudio just smoothened and civilized the joyful growls of tattooed guitar players, then you cannot be more wrong, as it things got completely opposite of that. Due to the incredible motoric and energy, which the Odyssey can extract from the vinyl groove, the dynamics in both the micro and macro scale can not only shatter glass and China in the cabinet next to your system, if the source material carries appropriate amounts of Jules, but also kick the listeners out of their shoes and shake around like a ragdoll. And here we are for a curiosity, as the bass offered by our tested turntable was on one had characterized by above average timing and contour, while at the same time it could not be accused of being too “crusty”, or the impression that it is too light and thin. So we do have appropriate attack, kick and mass and energy associated with them, something that should be obvious, but in most cases absolutely is not, and the ability to absolutely control the moment the sound generated is going to end. For lovers of the lower end being a bit loose such a stringent approach might seem to be a step away from “analog euphonia” and some kind of audiophile “sloppiness”, but the denser and more complex the material placed on platter of Polish turntable gets, the more this immediacy in beginning and ending of the sounds will be better suited and closer to the truth.
Of course the above characteristic does not exclude the Odyssey from being able to create a very moody, or even intimate climate, as with a little bit of help from AMJ from “Minione” or Diana Krall from “Turn up the Quiet” or Gregory Porter from “Take Me to the Alley” it just gets created on its own. Well, maybe not completely on its own, because such little things, like complete inaudibility of the turntable working, velvety black background and addictive holography, combine into it. This is actually kind of a result of the precision and resolution mentioned earlier, but it is all about the fact that operating with an almost mathematic precision does not exclude showing a full range of emotions. In addition, with such a moody recordings the Polish turntable has absolutely no issues with upping the sweetness of the vocals a little, and place them a tad closer to the listener, when the situation calls for it. But it does remember about the accompaniment, so it does not treat the musicians supporting the soloists as second tier, but allows them to spread their wings and do what they should do. On the other hand, we should not be surprised too much with that, because a masterful gradation of planes is presented, and there are absolutely no issues with following any of the musicians on stage.

The BennyAudio Odyssey does not tempt with classic design, it does not impose with its size, or technicalities, like exposing a multitude of motors and a spiders’ web of belts put around the heavenly shining platter. But it does not do it because it does not want to, or is not able to, but because it knows it does not need to, because it was created for a completely different purpose – to play music. And it does do it on such a level of perfection, that if you would like to surpass it, you would need to explore catalogs of such extreme performers like TechDAS and similar. And I will leave you with this thought, counting on you to take your own conclusions from it.

Marcin Olszewski

System used in this test:
Source:
– transport: CEC TL 0 3.0
– streamer: Lumin U2 Mini + switch Silent Angel Bonn N8
– DAC: dCS Vivaldi DAC 2.0
– Master clock: Mutec REF 10 SE-120
– reclocker: Mutec MC-3+USB
– Shunyata Research Omega Clock
– Shunyata Sigma V2 NR
– Preamplifier: Gryphon Audio Pandora
– Power amplifier: Gryphon Audio Apex Stereo
– Loudspeakers: Gauder Akustik Berlina RC-11 Black Edition
– Speaker cables: Synergistic Research Galileo SX SC
IC RCA: Hijiri Million „Kiwami”, Vermouth Audio Reference
IC XLR: Tellurium Q Silver Diamond, Hijiri Milion „Kiwami”, Siltech Classic Legend 880i
Digital IC: Hijiri HDG-X Milion
Ethernet cable: NxLT LAN FLAME
Power cables: Hijiri Takumi Maestro, Furutech Project-V1, Furutech NanoFlux NCF, Furutech DPS-4.1 + FI-E50 NCF(R)/ FI-50(R), Hijiri Nagomi, Vermouth Audio Reference Power Cord, Acrolink 8N-PC8100 Performante, Synergistic Research Galileo SX AC
– Table: BASE AUDIO 2
– Accessories: Harmonix TU 505EX MK II, Stillpoints ULTRA SS, Stillpoints ULTRA MINI, antivibration platform by SOLID TECH, Harmonix AC Enacom Improved for 100-240V, Harmonix Room Tuning Mini Disk RFA-80i
– Power distribution board: POWER BASE HIGH END
– Acoustic treatments by Artnovion
Analog stage:
– Drive: Clearaudio Concept
– Cartridge: Essence MC
– Phonostage: Sensor 2 mk II
– Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer: DS Audio ES-001
– Tape recorder Studer A80

Distributor: Premium Sound
Manufacturer: BennyAudio
Prices
BennyAudio Odyssey: 25 000 €
Hana Umami RED: 16 990 PLN

Specifications
BennyAudio Odyssey:
Tonearm: 14″ carbon, unipivot, wired by monocrystal Albedo, oil damping, VTA on tle fly
Drive: One DC motor in a separate housing, separated from the plinth
RPM: 33.3 / 45
Platter: 3-piece plate: INOX 200mm 4kg, INOX 300mm 8kg, Delrin 300mm 5kg
Bearing: Inverted, hydrodynamic
Plinth: 3-layer, made of aluminum and delrin.
Power supply: 12V DC ultra linear
Dimensions (H x D x W): 200 x 440 x 440 mm (without arm)
Weight: 50 kg
Available finish: Matte black structural powder coating, INOX

Hana Umami RED
Body: Duralumin (A7075), gloss Urushi lacquer
Stylus: Boron cantilever, Microline nude diamond
Coil Impedance: 6 Ω
Output: 0,4 mV
Load impedance: > 60 Ω
Frequency response: 15-50 000 Hz
Output Balance: 0,5 dB / 1 kHz
Channel Separation: 30dB / 1KHz
Tracking weight: 2 g
Trackability: 70μm / 2g
Dynamic Compliance: 10 x 10(-6) cm/dyne (100Hz) Estimated: 16 x 10(-6) cm/dyne (10Hz)
Cartridge weight: 10,5 g