Listening Impressions
If you've been following my Audio Note (UK) review series here at Positive Feedback, you've read that having the Level Four Tomei 211 integrated amplifier and the Level Four M6 RIAA phono preamplifier, plus the AN-S4L step-up transformer (SUT), in my audio system has been a watershed moment for me in that they were a musical match made in heaven for my Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers. They elevated the playback of vinyl recordings to dizzying levels of fidelity, beyond anything that I've experienced in my audio journey up to that point.
Audio Note (UK) Tomei 211 amp (left), M6 RIAA (middle), and M3 RIAA (right).
As I listened to the Level Four M6 RIAA/AN-S4L SUT combo, I was thinking, "How could any phono preamplifier be better than this?" The M6 RIAA was just so incredible during listening sessions that it was hard to imagine anything being better.
So that was my performance baseline when the Level Five M8 RIAA/AN-S8/L SUT combination arrived.
After getting through the 100-hour bedding-in process for the M8 RIAA/AN-S8/L SUT, I have been listening to albums while rotating between the two phono stages and SUT pairings to compare their performance on the same albums.
Audio Note (UK) Tomei 211 (left), M6 RIAA (middle), and M8 RIAA (right).
I'd let the equipment warm up for the recommended 45 minutes, play an album with the M8 RIAA/AN-S8/L SUT combo, then swap in the M6 RIAA/AN-S4/L SUT combination (or vice versa), let it warm up for 45 minutes, and listen to the album again.
The increase in performance going from Level Four to Level Five was not at all subtle; rather, it was quite dramatic, which one would expect from a phono preamplifier and SUT at a price point that is triple that of the M6 RIAA/AN-S4/L combination.
A common question I get: "Is there really that big of a difference between performance levels?" The answer to that question is an emphatic "Yes!"
I've listened to a great variety of LPs during the time the M8 RIAA/AN-S8L SUT has been with me—over 140 LPs before I quit counting—and I felt like I gained a lot of insights into the rather remarkable level of fidelity this combination is capable of.
I listened to a wide range of music genres, including opera, classical, jazz, big band, rock and roll, folk, country, male and female vocals, movie music, and historic recordings spanning different eras of the recording arts. The M8 RIAA/AN-S8L SUT combo excelled in transforming all those recordings into both edifying and mesmerizing music listening experiences.
The M6 RIAA/AN-S4L SUT pairing was already fantastic, but the M8 RIAA/AN-S8L SUT pairing truly took performance to the next level. It's incredibly accurate and refined, and the pairing presented each recording with a musical authority and authenticity that I think the musicians and recording arts teams would have found to be beyond their wildest dreams in achieving. It's like the M8 RIAA/AN-S8L SUT pairing are capable of delivering each recording as the best possible version of itself.
The M8 RIAA/AN-S8L SUT are by far the finest phono preamplification pairing that has ever come my way, which is saying something because I was completely blown away by the performance level of the M6 RIAA/AN-S4L SUT pairing.
Where does that lofty Level Five M8 RIAA/AN-S8L SUT with its all-silver circuitry and exotic components take overall performance in comparison?
First of all, the all-silver circuitry and enhanced level of circuit components of the M8 RIAA/AN-S8L SUT pairing let a lot more musical information come through to me as the listener, which was particularly impressive with more complex recordings like classical music, opera, or big band.
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