I've been working hard on writing up listening impressions for the review of Friedrich Schaefer's ASR Basis Exclusive phono equalizer over the weekend, and I thought I'd take a moment to give you a little behind the scenes glimpse about my interim thoughts and how things are going.
In case you haven't been following along, the ASR Basis Exclusive (the version I have with silver WBT connectors is $10,310 USD) is handcrafted to an extraordinary level of quality in Herborn, Germany, and it is Friedrich Schaefer’s statement battery powered solid-state phono equalizer, and is the intended partner to the ASR Emitter II Exclusive Version Blue amplifier that I reviewed in Issue 66 of Positive Feedback Online, which won my top spot as the most musically satisfying amplifier I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to in my Hi-Fi system.
As a comparator this morning I've been listening to the New Valve Order SPA-II ($6500 USD), a fantastic phono equalizer designed by Andreas Hadjiminas in Cyprus, and it is my current reference for exquisite music making via vinyl. The NVO SPA-II also utilizes a large outboard power supply to energize its 22 vacuum tubes.
Andreas, like Friedrich, emphasizes the importance of the power supply to ultimate performance, and the NVO SPA-II power supply is dual mono, is housed in a separate chassis, uses two tube plate regulators per channel, has "ample filtering", and utilizes star grounding. All heaters are regulated DC.
In the photo above are these two phono stage titans, the NVO SPA-II and the ASR Basis Exclusive. Notice the chassis for the ASR's outboard battery power supply in the lower left-hand part of the photo above, it is bigger than most amplifiers, and the NVO SPA-II's power supply positioned just behind it to the right is dwarfed by the ASR Basis Exclusive's huge outboard battery power supply. Here's a view from another angle:
From a flexibility standpoint the ASR Basis Exclusive is the winner, as it has two complete phono sections on one chassis that allows you to run two tonearms or turntables at the same time and switch between them on the fly. With the single set of inputs on the NVO SPA-II you'll have to change interconnects between tonearms or turntables if you have more than one, which I don't, so it was a moot point for me.
When it comes to sound quality and music making ability both the NVO SPA-II and ASR Basis Exclusive are on a relatively level playing field, but with different strengths that will please different users.
The ASR Basis Exclusive has two obvious traits – an impressive & effortless dynamic prowess that led to a surprising discovery when used with low power 300B SET amplifiers (which I'll discuss in full detail in the Positive Feedback Online review), and secondly its neutral & chameleon-like nature when combined with other electronics – it's not as easy to pin down its sound as it is with most components. That's where the NVO SPA-II comes in as a comparator, and it is definitely up to the challenge.
I also have Andreas Hadjiminas' New Valve Order SPA one here (in for review at Positive Feedback Online, it retails for $4250 USD), which I also want to use as a comparator with the ASR Basis Exclusive if time allows. The SPA one is a ‘real world’ version of his SPA II, which remains the best valve phono equalizer I’ve laid ears on, and I'm curious to hear how the SPA one compares with the ASR Basis Exclusive. My first impressions of the SPA one were very positive.
Well I'd better get back to work and write up my listening impressions of the ASR Basis Exclusive's sonic & musical charms. It's rough work but someone has to do it! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
