EAR834L Linestage

... In our line stage survey, we’ve found the competition to be intense.

There is, at or near the head of the class, the conrad-johnson ART (not reviewed in these pages), which has served as a reference for more than a year now.... But of late, there have been some serious contenders for top slot, among them, the Burmester 808 Mk V, which has fewer sonic shortcomings than any unit we’ve heard in these parts; the intriguing new Boulder 2020, which not only doesn’t betray its solid-state op amp origins with the usual distortions, but manages to be both dynamic and creamy (in the non-pejorative sense); the Esoteric Audio Research - again, a unit with a modest price (but exchange those factory-supplied tubes) and immodest performance, a genuine steal from Baron Tim de Paravicini (he really is a baron, by the way). But those are hardly the lot; there’s the Coherence from Jeff Rowland, his finest and most formidable work to date, and the now nearly legendary fully balanced Resolution edition from Manuel Huber’s FM Acoustics....

The Esoteric Audio Research 834 Line Stage and Phono Preamplifier

They took homely, externally, in their standard finish (is it worth the steep increase in price for a chrome-plated front panel?), and, internally, there ain’t much there. But with new tubes... some kind of magic brick or other absorption device over the transformer, and an isolation device underneath, this pair reminds me of the early Audio Research gear in its (relative lack of) tonal coloration and overall purity....

The strengths: continuousness; hop-to-it dynamics in the midbass; grainlessness; and a fine representation of image dimensionality, the soundstage, and the vital middle frequencies.... These are the kind of audio toys you can (and will) fall in love with because they are just so got-rocks musical.

The disadvantages are what you might expect, including the all but inevitable roll-offs at both frequencies extremes.... Given their strengths, I am inclined to forgive their small sins.