Opinion 1
Strangely, each and every time when we try to find a device that merges above-average sound quality with an equally attractive price point, in the end we turn up with a tube device in the signal path. This was the case with the jewelry-bliss and trinket-like finished latest incarnation of Leben 300F , as was also the case with the domestic, designer grade, purist, G•LAB Design Fidelity BLOCK. Truth be told, even the cheapest of the block, the Cayin CS-55A “made it”, as may be colloquially stated. Following these leads, now comes the time for the next representative of the domestic technical intellectual property league, this time in a somewhat legendary, dreamed-up, and audiophile aura incarnation, being a classical SET, based on 300B tubes. Hey, but wait a minute! Did I not just mention that it shall be affordable, whereas the term „affordable 300B based SET” is somewhat like an oxymoron, just to the point as terms like „good change”, or „living dead”? Theoretically yes, but the Vistula-Land’s reality rules itself by its own rules and there was more of such similar, unheard of and unwitnessed peculiarities that we have experienced over the years. But this time, instead of a revelation appearing “Out-Of-Nowhere”, we are dealing with a stalking of sorts, going on strong for nearly two years, carried out both by the manufacturer himself, as well as by ourselves, each probing the soil, from time to time, testing the moods, which led to the final meeting on the summit.
Who are we talking about? About Fezz Audio, a brand with which not only our very first contact, but also some consecutive ones, happened only during exhibitions and in associated conditions. To make it more interesting, it all started in the spring of 2016 in Munich, where during our preparations of a comprehensive High-End report, we came across their exposition stand, co-shared with the company Pylon Audio.
As per usual custom, after exchanging some polite phrases, we went into specifics, but when it turned out that none of their portfolio, at that time, came close to our stiff lower limit of 10 000 PLN and therefore, we temporarily skipped the subject. The more so, that the listening conditions (a gypsum-cardboard exhibition booth) and the dense crowd of people within did not allow to draw any meaningful conclusions. The next consecutive opportunity came about during the last year’s Audio Video Show, during which, with great pleasure, we have spent several long moments whilst fishing out some very intriguing sounds. It was hence natural and logical to return to our previous discussions and to take „a little something” up on the workshop. But this time we decided to kill two birds with one stone and when making our selection of a suitable candidate for the tests, at the back of our heads we constantly had those inquiries that were pouring in since years, inquiries about constructs which would be possibly affordable while at the same time – providing access to the exclusive 300B club. Therefore, it is not surprising that once the opportunity came up, we made our choice of device which was based on such a tube type. This way, we invite you to read about our impressions gained whilst using and testing the integrated Fezz Audio Mira Ceti amplifier.
Mirka (transl.: a Polish female first name), and let me use this affectionate short name to address this tube amplifier, propitiates potential buyers already at first glance, first of all due to the fact that it is small, and secondly – it is not too heavy, which, as it just so happens, should ring a warning bell in the case of tube based constructs, although considering that instead of classic transformers it utilizes toroidals, there is no need to panic. But most importantly – due to the implementation of an auto-bias system, it should be virtually maintenance-free. To top that off, it is inexpensive, but we pointed that out at the very outset. Holders of small children, as well as of various sorts of more or less domesticated animals need not strike it off their list of devices to listen to, as this equipment is equipped with an extremely robust metal cage which protects the tubes, as well as a gizmo remote control which allows you to adjust the volume, and hence the device could optionally be placed at a location that is not is easily accessible for small hands / feet / paws.
The front of the amplifier is decorated with a centrally positioned finely milled aluminum plate bearing the company logo. On the left of which there is a volume control knob, and on the right – the source selector. The version as supplied for the test has been enriched by an optional “Input-Direct”, which is located on the left side of the device chassis, with a dedicated throw-bar switch. Just behind the vacuum tubes proudly stand two small, high gloss polished, stainless steel hoods, which hide the transformers. The rear wall, considering its limited, not too vast surface, is designed quite reasonably. The customer receives three pairs of available RCA inputs, single post speaker terminals, with dedicated taps for 4 and 8 Ω, and an IEC mains connector integrated with the main power switch. Astute observers shall not miss out on the solid legs, which support the entire structure. As for the aesthetes, I wish to reassure you that in addition to the white color chassis version, there is also a choice of other available options, such as black, red and … let’s call it arbitrarily brown-plum. Therefore, there is aplenty to choose from.
While describing this construct let me just mention that the initial exchange of correspondence with Mr. Maciej Lachowski of Fezz Audio was far from pleasantries and sugar topping, with none of the take-it-from-my-lips interactions as it would often seem to be the case, at least for a casual external observer. This, because the very first issue that I allowed myself to raise, was a misnomer, which, although already corrected on the website, was still present in the instructions and promotional materials (yet again, the proof of undeniable superiority of digital media over paper). The error, or if using the more politically correct nomenclature, the inaccuracy, partly resulted from the not very thorough investigation of the market and concerned the title of the architecture, the topology of the amplifier. The point being, apparently I was the first, so well informed and so efficient a grouch, a pain in the ass that not only knew about, but also still remembered times long past, times of the availability of specialties such as say, the “CR Developments Woodham”, and to trigger a change in the wording in a sentence that started off with saying that Mira is “the world’s only single-ended tube amplifier manufactured based on toroidal speaker transformers”, to a new wording stating „one of the world’s few Single Ended tube amplifiers manufactured based on toroidal speaker transformers”. A little thing, but I enjoy it.
OK, so now, that we already know that the bowels of Mirka are equipped with toroidal transformers, delivered, coincidentally, by Toroidy.pl, it is worthy taking a look at the vacuum tubes, as visible on the front. As you can see on the photos, the output stage works based on the popular and relatively inexpensive Russian Electro-Harmonix 300 B Gold, whereas the Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB works as a driver tube.
Seemingly, and purely in theory, 8W is not too much, and common sense would indicate that when deciding upon amplification which is so limited in power, one should shop around, as soon as possible, for some highly effective speakers. But at the same time, ones which are also characterized by a mild and forgiving impedance curve. But that is only just a purely academic analysis, as the already earlier mentioned G•LAB Design Fidelity BLOCK, offering a „stunning” 5,5W, has indeed demonstrated that tube Watts should be treated with due respect and that sometimes, as it just so happens, some difficult speakers as intended to be the proverbial “nails in the coffin” are capable of bringing an amplifier up to its proper RPM’s.
How the tests faired with Jack’s far easier to drive and control ISIS loudspeakers, that you can read here down below, but as for me, where the post of on duty difficult loudspeakers is stubbornly being played out by my Gaudery Arcona, loudspeakers which cause anxiety with a significant share of the producers (4Ω and „sufficient” efficiency, at least according to dr. Roland Gauder), tests were not promising to turn out too optimistic. Finally, we have decided, that indeed if Mirka will simply not cope and shall be clearly stressed out, then her stay at my humble premises will be limited merely to a photo session, whereas as for all the listening impressions, these I intended to collect in OPOS. But fortunately, in the so-called “meanwhile”, I received for review, from an external party, a set of perfectly color matched (also white) Taga Harmony Coral F-120 loudspeakers, which not only could boast a more forgiving, easier impedance of 6Ω, but additionally, their efficiency presented itself quite sensibly, and dependent upon the chosen source, ranging from 90 dB, up to as much as 93 dB.
In short, there was not only a plan “B” available, but even a plan “C”. But so what? Considering, that Mirka, when hooked up to the Gaudery, just started to play as if nothing had happened, no fret, playing at a fully satisfactory level of volume, achieved whilst only slightly exceeding the “nine o’clock” or “ten- o’clock” position, which would be the digits 3, or maybe 3.5 on the Fezz attenuator scale. Miracle?
Not necessarily, but not wanting to stress out the maiden amplifier under test at the very beginning, I started off with some light and casual pop, being „Faith” by George Michael. The first track … the second track … Gee! It is oh so „Cool” to listen to this sound. It has the “drive”, an amazingly colorful tonal saturation, as well as the proper homogeneity as typical for a 300B. There is nothing that “hurts”. Nothing to upset your ears. Even the little plastic-like bass now gets a little bolder and a more teddy-bear-like characteristic, but such a transformation works clearly for the benefit and there is nothing to frown upon, because more often than not, such similar “making” of sound is an audiophiles dream within a significant portion of the audiophile population. A change in the repertoire to something a bit more minor, low-key, namely to the sorely missed and lamented King of Romantic Blues – Leonard Cohen and his last album – “You Want it Darker”, has shown the other face of Mirka. The singer’s voice has been underlined with extraordinary deference, accented and pushed to the front scene slightly more than the usual. There was something very magical in this type of presentation, something intimate and phenomenal. I’m not saying that the musicians that were accompanying this sorely missed bard have been sidelined into the shade and only but tentatively playing their thing in the background, but this time it was very clear as to whose is this whole show.
Some warm words need also be granted with regards to the “space”. The space had neither the tendency of shallowing, nor of focusing solely on the center of the frame. None of these things. Everything was in its right place and if I were to be picky, it would probably be due to the slight bolding out of the contours of the virtual sound sources, as well as pertaining to the faithfulness of representation of the correct reverberation aura, as typical for some acoustic and jazz recordings ( „Vägen” Tingvall Trio).
I assume, however, that you could get quite a lot more out of this Fezz amplifier, by changing the tubes. For starters, the driver tubes, let’s say some nice 6SN7 Full Music Gold, for example. And if the sound would then evolve in the expected direction, we could calmly deal with the 300B. I do not intend to immediately pounce upon the Sophia Electric Princess Royal, but there is a lot of interesting 300B tubes out there on the market and from which one could choose from.
Some further swapping of records has only confirmed the versatility of the design under test, and instead of wondering whether this amplifier will cope, I simply reached out for anything and everything, which just happened to suit my mood, up until the turntable made contact with the „Ray Of Light” by Madonna. A moment of consternation, hesitation, just before lowering the tonearm – am I not “overdoing” it, exaggerating now ? Whatever. A flick of a switch, a short pause, a change of the loudspeakers to the Taga model, and … it turns out quite well, in two thirds it is OK, but this time there is definitely too much bass. Simply speaking, the quantity has obscured the quality. But also the top parts of the audio band got beaten up, where their spine finishes with its noble name. The conventional, not all-too-very sophisticated tweeter domes were far from the resolution and finesse as implemented in the Gauder AMT. Well then, perhaps indeed, the truly subsonic synthesized murmurs have overwhelmed the Fezz and turned out to be much more than it could bear.
However, after playing out the first side of the album, I decided to return back to my regular loudspeakers. And that was the right decision, because everything came back to normal and whatever was previously blurred up together into a shapeless mass has now gained quite realistic contours and equally recognizable texture.
Are we hence facing a situation that when the going gets tough (in theory) then the tough get going (practically speaking) ? To verify the above stated thesis, as test material, I decided to use „Hardwired … To Self-Destruct” by Metallica. You may come not to believe me on this, but actually, Mirka, once again, has coped gracefully. Obviously, alas, using reasonable, far from concert-reality volumes. But it actually did cope. If only I restrained myself from the temptation of overdriving hard on the volume, on making too much noise, then neither compression, nor distortion constituted any problem whatsoever, but the richness and the energy of the communication – something impossible not to like. After this experiment, I stopped fooling around and started to treat the Fezz as a simple and most ordinary amplifier, whose job it is to amplify the signals as provided and correctly drive the loudspeakers which are connected to it. To top this off, it need be noted that during the time when Mira was visiting my system, not for a single moment did I grant her leniency, which means more or less that she worked day in, day out, and not just by few, but rather by dozens of hours daily.
Contrary to earlier fears, Fezz Audio Mira Ceti not only has the potential and is a great starting point for further development, but it somewhat represents, straight out of the box, a complete and finished product that could provide a lot of fun and musical experience. Using the standard tubes, as provided by the manufacturer, it is a safe bet, a proposal that is somehow able to satisfy the likes of both music lovers and audiophiles, but while the former are unlikely to fiddle around, focusing rather on purely hedonistic aspects of listening, the latter, the golden-ears, as infected by audiophilia nervosis, will certainly not deny themselves the pleasure of proverbial tube swapping. Mirka introduces a whole new level of quality. And as for Fezz itself, I am extremely pleased that with an utterly clear conscience I can enlist the Mira Ceti on the list of products under the „Poles can DO IT” theme.
Marcin Olszewski
The system used during the test:
– CD / DAC: Accuphase DP-410; Ayon CD-35
– File players: laptop Lenovo Z70-80 i7 / 16GB RAM / 240GB SSD + JRiver Media Center 22 + TIDAL HiFi + JPLAY
– Digital sources selector: Audio Authority 1177
– Turntable: Kuzma Stabi S + Kuzma Stogi + Shelter 201
– Phonostage: Abyssound ASV-1000; Tellurium Q Iridium MM / MC Phono Pre Amp
– Integrated Amplifier: Electrocompaniet ECI5
– Preamplifier: Accuphase C-3850
– Power amplifier: Accuphase P-7300
– Loudspeakers: Gauder Akustik Arcona 80 + spike extenders
– IC RCA: Antipodes Audio Katipo
– IC XLR: LessLoss Anchorwave; Organic Audio; Amare Musica
– IC Digital: Fadel art DigiLitz; Harmonic Technology Cyberlink Copper; Apogee Wyde Eye; Monster Cable Interlink LightSpeed 200
– USB cables: Wireworld Starlight; Goldenote Firenze Silver
– Speaker cables: Organic Audio; Signal Projects Hydra
– Power cables: Furutech FP-3TS762 / FI-28R / FI-E38R; Organic Audio Power; Acoustic Zen Gargantua II; Acoustic Zen Twister
– Power distribution board:: Furutech e-TP60ER + Furutech FP-3TS762 / Fi NCF-50 (R) / FI-50M NCF (R)
– Wall power socket: Furutech FT-SWS (R)
– Anti-vibration platform: Franc Audio Accessories Wood Block Slim Platform
– Ethernet cables: Neyton CAT7+
– Table: Rogoz Audio 4SM3
– Accessories: Sevenrods Dust-caps; Furutech CF-080 Damping Ring; Albat Revolution Loudspeaker Chips
Opinion 2
Starting today’s meeting, I would like to state with great pleasure, that despite the closing in of our „soundrebels” ship to a round number of four years of intensive work, as related to maintaining the portal about audio devices, I can still state without a problem that this activity, although exhaustive at times in terms of logistics, brings to me a lot of pleasure. And it is not true that such a state I achieve only whilst reviewing some very expensive, international „celebrity” products, because in spite of all appearances, which may dominate our portfolio, we are just as keenly interested in domestic products, this fact well documented by a group of dozen or so of Polish producers which we have elevated to the review domain. Yes, indeed, before we look into a particular product, the hero contender must augur well, and if indeed it so does, the issue of the subject review is sometimes just a matter of talking out details and agreeing to a specific schedule as to when a given laurel-seeker is actually delivered to the address of our editors office. And to support this notion, ideal proof and defense of such a thesis regarding our exploration of domestic offerings, now materializes in the form of our todays presentation of a tube amplifier manufacturer. But alas, as mentioned, it suffice not for a product to simply originate from the Vistula river vicinity to meet up with our expectations. At this point, in support of our second pre-test assumptions (being a positive look-out as verified by consumer market perceptions), I need bluntly confess that despite our very nice meeting during last year’s exhibition in Munich, it is only now that the top-notch offering of the manufacturer as presented today, his vacuum tube amplifier in the royal variation of the 300B SE with more than eight months of successful market presence, has graced my humble premises.
Thus, after a brief introduction to our domestic backyard, I invite everyone for a few paragraphs worth of a meeting with an amplifier of the Fezz Audio brand, in the form of the Mira Ceti, a model aspiring for the title of vacuum tube nobility. For formalities sake, I need supplement this information that the device under test has been provided to us by the manufacturer himself.
The subject integrated amplifier is a typical representative of the art of designing constructs which are based on glass tubes. Without seeking out artificial descriptions of beauty, I must say that it is a shape quite simple in its form, which is important as it is the carrier of the vacuum tubes – both from the mechanical side, as well as from the visual side, with the chassis dressed up in glittering silver transformer covers, and all this laid out on a supportive platform. However, it would be wrong to assume that this is a well-known, worn-out design, touching on the fringes of outright boredom because despite its standardization, this simplicity, as embellished with the amber glow of tubes, is this amplifiers strongest point. Am I raving? Not at all. Time and again, similar constructs have visited my home, and I have never felt any boredom, this despite that they all were very similar looking devices. I would not be surprised if you used this opportunity to call me an old rambler, but I think that the main reason of such continuous positive perceptions is the timelessness of the solid, which is laid out according to the limitations and constraints of the subassemblies being used.
But let us depart from the musings pertaining to the beauty of the housing, full of glass tubes and cuboidal, rectangular covers, and let’s focus on the practicalities of manual interconnections. Due to the restrictions related to using the top pane of the Mira Ceti chassis to lay out the tubes and the transformers, I will start off with a description of the front panel. This is occupied, without any cramming, with only two notched knobs on its extremities (left – volume level, right – input selection). The center is occupied by a glittering emblem with the brand name logo.
Moving toward the back of the amplifier, we notice that on the left side of the unit there is a set pf mysterious RCA terminals, together with a crow-bar switch, used to activated them. This is a direct input into the power amplifier section, which seems to be extravagant for such a simple type of device. I do not know how many customers will use it, but it is always better to have, rather than not have, such additional functions available. To wrap up this paragraph with a description of the back plane, it need be stated that the designer is offering three line-in RCA terminals, a set of speaker terminals with 4 and 8 ohms taps, and a combined mains power inlet and mains switch. And, if I top this off stating that there is a remote control included with this set, one which presents itself with an interesting design and which feels good in your hand, it then turns out that despite the initial severity, the whole of the so called Mira Ceti project – visually turns out to be very interesting product.
Now that we come down to the substantive, merits part of this text, for any and all that are interested in purchasing this amplifier, let me paraphrase the bosses of Cezary from the Polish cult film “Dogs”. I have two news items: good news and good news.
The first good news is that Mira is able to cope even with loudspeakers which are, from the outset, mismatched with her in terms of efficiency (please remember that this amplifier generates only 8 watts of output power, which initially forces us to carefully approach the matter of proper selection of suitable loudspeaker units). The other good news is that if the marriage with loudspeakers which are currently available does not fully meet your expectations, sonic effects may be brushed up, tweaked up a little bit, by means of cable swapping. As you have probably noticed, I took the word „little” in quotation marks. Why? Well, although I heard or read about it several times already, about those mind blowing metamorphoses that audiophiles experience after swapping some cabling, I tended to perceive such changes as mere cosmetics, more or less, and not a means of elevating a setup to several classes upwards. End of story. So, in such case, where is the other good news? Well, that is exactly it: the fact of clear differentiation of the sound after introducing changes to any and all kinds of cabling, which I shall not fail to dwell upon in a further part of this lecture.
The subject „Mirka”, as almost customary for any and all of my clashes with tested products, had two different exposures. However, this time, due to the limited power of the device, and due to loudspeaker efficiencies as available within the KAIM audiophile club, as compared to the efficiencies of my own speakers, first I needed to check whether there is any sense at all in taking her for external auditioning performances. These things used to vary, over the years, but indeed, the vast majority of my experiences whilst hooking up such limited power devices were positive, so it was not much of a stress to hook her up into my signal path. The result ? Quite surprising. Why? This is very intriguing, but my concerns, if I had any, were rather related to a lack of control from the amplifiers side, while driving my big bass transducers, almost 40-centimeters in diameter, within my loudspeakers originating from Austria. But, as it turned out, the generated bass was surprisingly hard-driven, with good control. What’s more, I was prejudiced and anticipating, expecting the frequent side effects of using 300B tubes which would materialize as a too abundant in honey flow presentation of the music. And frankly speaking, I honestly would not even see anything wrong with that, if not for the other related effect, which basically would kill the vitality of the sound. But to my surprise, following the path as to how it presents the border limits of the audio band, at its extremities – at least in my setup – this SET music, as generated, amplified by this Polish device, was utterly fresh in perception. This gently cooled down the presentation a bit, but appeared as if intriguingly questioning: Is this the “my type of sound” experience. It was not the playback at the level of the Danish Gryphon, although, I must admit, that seems to also attract me to some extent too, but from the very first moment I realized that the hero of today’s audition paves new paths, other than those which are hard coded in my memory of sound texture templates.
Indeed, after swapping the interconnects to Hijiri all across the setup, the subject of sound texture took on a little color and blushing. But the thing is, when hooking this amplifier up in a Japanese puzzle, I was rather expecting that the sound will lose weight a bit, rather than coloring up in whole. To sum this up, after harnessing the final configuration with respect to the way that the world is painted by this Polish product, things became interesting enough that I shall present the effects as achieved with some example discs.
My overview of silver discs I shall begin with Diana Krall and her „All For You” production. Here my perceptions, feelings are not really well defined. From the one side, unfortunately, the voice of the artist has lost some of its intricate intimacy, but on the other hand, I have received additional reinforcement of many a detail pertaining to her facial expression whilst issuing guttural sounds. I am not sure how you shall perceive this, but each listener and his audio setup tend to like something else, so I believe that the dividing line between proponents and opponents of such a take on the presentation will run through the vicinity of, on average, zero. Therefore, the decision as to “good” or “bad” – is up to you. The obvious effect of such sharp, acute strokes in the creation of a musical performance was a good definition of virtual sources, but the earlier mentioned transfer of weight of sound up by a notch has clearly caused a shallowing of the virtual music scene. Fortunately, not in the area of losing access to the background, but merely of crowding up a bit of each individual formation. In a similar line of perception fell the reproduction of old, early music. Unfortunately, due to the loss of weight at a very important center of sound, often being the voice of a single singer, I missed out on some of the energy in his voice. Following this theme, the mainstream of musical instruments, which are typical for this genre, just like the singer artist, boasted a saturation that seemed to be colder than what I would come to expect from a tube device.
But every cloud has its silver lining. With all of my finger poking as to the playing manners of the device, one needs to remember about who is the target audience for this amplifier. Here it collided with the „Finger of God”, as this very target audience actually suffers from deficiencies in the resolution of the presentation.
Yes. A breath of fresh air, as brought about by the Mira is rather more a highlighting of the sound, rather than a dose of pure information, but the consequences of applying such a treatment a to a too-dark-a-setup will result in that the music lover will receive a level of some kind of greater freedom on the sound stage, and this may be a milestone towards a positive perception of what was his gripe thus far.
At the end of my encounter with Polish technical know-how, I wish to call upon Mira’s pure endurance in terms of maintaining control over the loudspeakers whist subjected to a loud listening sparring session with a group called Percival Schuttenbach. Obviously, folk-metal does not bode idyll. Nonetheless, a durability test of the power supply just had to be held. Effect? Frankly, in my perception – positively surprising. The amplifier fought a brave fight, up to a sizeable deflection of the volume knob, but it is obvious that when hitting the “11:00 AM” position, it started to report a slight shortness of breath. In the least shall I condemn this however, because even though it did not perform in an optimal equipment configuration, it was capable of going up really high in volume, considering its mere 8W, to levels which I do not achieve every day in terms of volume, and it presented the material very clearly, showing the actions of the artists, including a full understanding of the text, as shouted out by the front man.
The only nuance, that followed such a trail of playback manners and hence allows me to complain a bit while listening to this album is due to the loss of mass and a withdrawal of the guitar riffs. Yes, these were present on the scene, but have made a decisive step backwards. Surprisingly, the earlier mentioned control and stiffness of the bass provided me here, to my surprise, a lot of joy.
At the end of this adventure with Polish amplification I will call upon some of the events that took place out in the audio club. As hinted at the very beginning, this power pack can work miracles. But not due to its ability of running loudspeakers on a tight leash, regardless of their efficiency, but rather, at times, filing an unexpected problem report whilst hooked up to the easy ones, but on the other hand, coping quite well and collaborating with the theoretically very difficult ones. Do not know why, but with loudspeakers, which by definition are dedicated for tube amplification, having a fair 88dB of efficiency, the unit performed like the proverbial elderly senior, overwhelmed by life, but then, facing boxes which boast a mere 84 decibels of efficiency, it starts playing lively and colorfully enough, so that for the rest of that evening, we spent our time on fine tuning the sound by means of cable swapping, using the stuff that I brought in with me. A collection of cables not excluding the Siltech Triple Crown, which reaches stratospheric price levels. I know that it was a misalliance, but regardless of the price level of the components that we mixed, we received a clear message that in the case of minor problems, we have some tuning margin, so as to tune the amplifier to our preference.
As it so happens with power amplifiers of limited power, the way they blend into a specific environment is by far not so obvious. If anyone thinks otherwise, he should once again need to retrace what I wrote. These were really, physically occurring facts, and not just written up as fabricated confabulations of imaginary events, so as to aid the manufacturer. Thus, considering the results as observed thus far, pertaining to a good blending-in of the Mira Ceti amplifier with an already existing system, the word „surely” – I could only use in one case. Surely, this amplifier is the perfect choice to blow some life back into some too extinguished and weighty puzzles. The overall outcome, pertaining to effects of the total synergy, will largely depend on the efficiency of the loudspeakers. But here is a little surprise. As far as loudspeaker sets boasting efficiencies of 90 decibels or higher do not really give rise to any problems, it is intriguing, when we recall the history of events and the battle that took place at the audio club. I would not strike off the „Mirka” in terms of pairing up with loudspeakers which are a little bit more difficult to drive. Approaching the end of the story, and taking things into perspective, in view of my setup, it need be clearly noted that this integrated amplifier is not an audiophiles Olympus. But looking at its price, it has never aspired to be such. Therefore, I do not have a problem with my internal peace of mind, and I can say that despite that it sounds somewhat differently than the generally prevailing pattern of playback, it is indeed a very interesting offering, considering the price point. And according to me, the decision as to invite, or not to invite this construct to your household is not just a matter of the efficiency or ease of driving your loudspeakers. It is more related to the decision whether tube amplifiers are a thing with which you want to hang around for a little longer.
Jacek Pazio
Manufacturer: Fezz Audio
Price: 8 900 PLN
Technical data:
Output Power: 2 x 8W
System type: Single Ended, Class A
Tubes: 2 x 300B (output stage), 6N8S x 2 (preamplifier & Controls)
Output Impedance: 4Ω / 8Ω
Inputs: 3 x RCA
THD: <0.4%
Frequency response: 20Hz-45kHz (-3dB)
Power consumption: 80W
Fuse: 3.15 T
Weight: 14 kg
Dimensions: 340x360x215mm
bias setting: automatic
Optional accessories: remote control, HT (pre-in) input
The system used in the test:
– Source: Reimyo CDT – 777 + DAP – 999 EX Limited
– Line preamplifier: Robert Koda Takumi K-15
– Power amplifier: Reimyo KAP – 777
Loudspeakers: Trenner & Friedl „ISIS”
Speaker cables: Tellurium Q Silver Diamond, Harmonix SLC, Harmonix Exquisite EXQ
IC RCA: Hijri „Milon”
XLR: Tellurium Q Silver Diamond
IC Digital: Harmonix HS 102
Power cables: Harmonix X-DC 350M2R Improved Version, X-DC SM Milion Maestro, Furutech NanoFlux – NCF, Hijiri Nagomi
Table: SOLID BASE VI
Accessories: Harmonix TU 505EX MK II, Stillpoints „ULTRA SS”, Stillpoints „ULTRA MINI”, antivibration platform by SOLID TECH, AC Harmonix Enacom Improved for 100-240V, Harmonix Room Tuning Disk Mini RFA-80i
– Power distribution board: POWER BASE HIGH END
Analog path:
– Turntable:
Drive: SME 30/2
Tonearm: SME V
Cartridge: Miyajima Madake
Phonostage: RCM THERIAA