I have one of Chad Kassem's Analogue Productions test pressings of The Soulful Moods of Gene Ammons from 1996 (AP J039 A5/B5).
It is superb in every way imaginable: great music, great recording, and of course Chad's magic touch with remastering/reissues.
This was an amazing performance and a superb studio recording by Rudy Van Gelder in 1962, with Gene Ammons playing tenor saxophone, Patti Bown on piano, George Duvivier on bass, and Ed Shaughnessy on drums.
None of those fine musicians are still with us, but through the M8 RIAA/AN-S8L SUT pairing, The Soulful Moods of Gene Ammons sounded so real, so present, so vivid that it made for downright spooky listening.
I'm pretty sure that Gene's, Patti's, George's, and Ed's ghosts were here with me enjoying the album. I could see them, feel their presence. Or at least I could see their vivid flesh and blood images on the soundstage as being so real they certainly felt like they were with me.
Through the M8 RIAA/AN-S8L SUT pairing, The Soulful Moods of Gene Ammons had such superb portrayal of timbral realism, resolution of tone color, melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, and dynamics that it was just off my normal rating scale for such musicality characteristics. Just superb.
The same was true for sound quality and visuospatial parameters like transparency, resolution, soundstage, and imaging. Truly otherworldly. Gene just winked at me.
One of the more striking aspects of the M8 RIAA/AN-S8L pairing was how easily it communicated the full drama of musical performances, even when listening at lower volume levels in the 60 to 70dB range.
Jazz guitarist friend David Gitlen commented on this aspect of the M8 RIAA/AN-S8L pairings' performance specifically while he was visiting one day, about how we could listen at lower volumes, carry on a normal conversation, and still experience a completely involving musical performance like you would normally experience when playing at higher volumes. No musical information or drama was missing at those lower volumes. Those who enjoy listening at lower volume levels should take note.
I could go on and on about album after album, but the listening experience was always the same. I was completely enthralled with the performance of the M8 RIAA/AN-S8L pairing, and its extraordinary level of ultra-fi performance just has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.
The level of sound quality amazed me, the musicality was realism at its best, and the level of emotional engagement from any album of any fidelity was unprecedented in my experience. Mind boggling, actually.
The combination of the utterly natural voicing, the remarkable amount of musical information coming through courtesy of the all-silver signal path, the ability to listen at lower volumes and still get the full emotional impact of musical performances, the big voluminous soundstage and holographic imaging, makes for incredibly involving listening sessions.
Summary and Conclusions
The true measure of any great audio component lies in its ability to immerse you in the musical world it brings to life, inviting you in, touching your innermost being with the profound truth of that performance, allowing you to breathe in its glory, feeling the full expression of its artistic emotion upon your innermost being, to where the phenomenal world melts away to leave only ecstasy in its place.
This is the world of the M8 RIAA phono preamplifier and AN-S8/L SUT pairing.
Their performance is at such a lofty level that I actually suffered writer's block for a few weeks while trying to frame in my mind how to articulate what this ultra-performing duo is capable of, as they transcend mere ultra-fi sound quality performance and dive deep into a realm that delivers music in an extraordinarily honest, convincing, real, live-like, and emotionally powerful way.
The M8 RIAA/AN-S8/L SUT pairings' all-silver circuitry provided an abundance of musical information with remarkable resolution and clarity. That combined with a holographic soundstage and imaging, a natural sounding organic flesh-and-blood presentation of the music, effortless dynamics, unfailingly delivered a big, bold, dramatic, endearing, colorful, spine-tingling, and room-filling musical performances.
That combination of superbly natural tonality plus the ultra-resolving all-silver signal path reveals high-fidelity recordings as having remarkably live-like sound quality and emotional impact, while at the same time they seem to miraculously fill in musical information of lower-fidelity recordings that seemed missing, making them sound much more complete, much more enjoyable and engaging, and of much higher fidelity than they had any right to.
The Audio Note (UK) M3 RIAA to M8 RIAA phono preamplifier family product line has greatly impressed me. The Level Three M3 RIAA phono preamplifier is at the upper limit of performance of what the vast majority of us audio enthusiasts have experienced. The Level Four M6 RIAA phono preamplifier blows past that lofty level of performance into a rarefied realm that only a relative few audio enthusiasts have experienced. The Level Five M8 RIAA elevated the performance way past that into a realm that only a handful of the most discerning audio cognoscenti have encountered.
Personally, I would be thrilled to own any of these three phono preamplifiers with their recommended step-up transformer pairing: the M3 RIAA ($11,314 USD), M6 RIAA ($23,383 USD), or M8 RIAA ($69,300 USD).
They all performed exceptionally well during my time with them, and the improvement in performance as one ascends through the levels closely aligns with their price, doubling or tripling in performance with each level. You get the performance you pay for with Audio Note (UK) components.
However, cost will be the limiting factor for many of you when ascending levels, just as it would be for me, but it's nice to know that such lofty levels of performance are available to us vinyl enthusiasts even if the price of admission is out of reach. As for me, I think I'll start buying lottery tickets. You just never know.
The M8 RIAA ($69,300 USD) and AN-S8/L SUT ($18,130 USD) pairing are capable of a stunning level of performance, and if you are one of the lucky few who can afford these state-of-the-art artisanal audio components, I truly envy your upcoming music and audio adventures. Well done.
I never quite got there on being able to articulate the full performance that the M8 RIAA/AN-S8/L SUT pairing are capable of the way I wanted to. I would be listening to music, the doors of heaven opened and I walked through, transcending the material world. They are so good they truly defy description. I tried. Sorry. That's all I got for you. You really need to hear them yourself to understand how special they are.
I would like to thank Peter Qvortrup for sending the M8 RIAA phono preamplifier and AN-S8/L SUT for me to hear and write about as part of the Audio Note (UK) review series here at Positive Feedback.
M8 RIAA Phono Preamplifier
MSRP Retail: $69,300 USD
AN-S8/L Step-Up Transformer
MSRP Retail: $18,130 USD
Audio Note (UK)
Contacts for sales inquiries: Daniel Qvortrup and Peter Qvortrup.
