The Koru Phono Stage, part 1: Initial Impressions
We're trying on the Plinius Koru phono stage in our system. And with our limited experience, we can say each phono we have tried brough a very strong character to the sound. So much so, that my inner electrical engineer was having a bit of a caniption fit since something that is an amplifier, and EQ circuit built to a specification shouldn't change the character of the sound so much ... yet each did. We'll try to give you guys a feel of what we experienced when we tried out this wonder from New Zealand.
Enter the Koru
Our friendly local audiphile dealer came by to pick up his box ofcrack tweaks, and with a wink and a smile dropped off this phono stage for us to "have a listen." There was a gleam in his eye when he did this, and took off at a high rate of speed. I think we see tire marks in the street in front of our house and we heard maniacal laughter as he pealed out, though that could be my imagination.
Looks, and Yes, they DO matter ...
And for those wondering if we're "just the sonics ma'am" kind of people, we're NOT. If you spend ungodly sums on a piece of stereo gear, it's got to look good and perform well. We feel the design of a product helps set the mood and state of mind that can enhance the enjoyment of your music. If our backs were up against the wall and we had to chose something that looks nasty but sounds great, or something that looks awesome, but sounds bad, we'll obviously go for the sound. But that is really one of those fake choices people use in the various endless "audio-weenie" flame wars online - because it has been our experience that most companies work very hard to have the looks of a product be equal to its sound. And the Plinius Koru is quite definitely a looker!
This thing looks sleek. Like "Apple could have done this" sleek. Like "Really expensive Industrial Designer on retainer" sleek. And somehow they manage something that looks solid without looking heavy or brutish. There is something about it's curved silver brushed finish, that is the right balance between "industrial" and "organic" that puts you at ease, it looks serious in a quietly competent way. And it looks like this look is the "house look and feel" for nearly the entire Plinius lineup. Even their rather large and brutish monoblocks have those design elements in them, though their packaging is dominated by some massive heatsinks. And for what it's worth, you can pick black or silver as the finish ... we'd suggest silver, actually, since a design this handsome should not fade into the shadows or entirely disappear when the lights are turned on low the way black would.
It greets you with a curved front panel with the "Plinius" Logo machined into the front of it, with a single blue LED on it to let you know it's on (and it is not too bright like many blue LED's - looks like they paid attention to how it would look in a domestic setting). In your rack it looks clean the way a phono stage ought to from the front, IMHO. On the back, it is a clean, functional layout in that somehow looks attractive as well. It has some DIP switches that allow 4 gain settings and possibly every loading option you would reasonably want with a moving coil cartridge. It has the phono inputs with a grounding post, and both balanced and unbalanced outputs, as well as a AC switch on the back for the power cord.
We took out our Parasound, and put this thing in, and with very little fuss, we had the Plinius up and running. We were using a Denon 103R, so we put the gain to 60dB (with the output of the cartridge, 60 or 66dB both likely would work but further testing showed 60dB to work since most of our sources put out a comfortable volume of sound right around the same spot), and we set it to 100 Ohm loading which the Denon seems to prefer. We used the balanced outputs, too, which was the same outputs as we used on Parasound.
Initial Impressions, non Detailed
We played a few sides of various albums to let the thing warm up, not taking any particular note just yet, and while it took about an hour or so to really start sounding good, it seems to benefit from remaining on. And while we feel a component should never sound bad (and this didn't), it's important for anyone to note when you first turn it on, it'll sound a little tipped up on the treble, and as an hour or three, the bass fills out and the midrange dials in, and you forget there is a phono stage at work at all.
But after a couple of hours, but not critically listening (that comes later) we noticed a few things right away in comparison to our trusty Parasound:
1. The bass seemed both better defined and weightier (and detailed!)
2. The midrange seems a little fuller and richer
3. The treble in the Parasound is a teensy bit more detailed.
4. As good as the Parasound is at imaging, this is better and bigger with the illusion of depth, too.
We played a combination of audiophile re-releases and while we won't go into detail until next time when the thing has some time to warm all the way up, it offers a solidly better sonic experience than the Parasound. Where the Parasound is good, this is great. But this is how it should be. The Parasound, while an astonishingly good phono stage, weighs in a $2.4k and the Plinius Koru is sitting at right around $4k. Is it "twice as good" I hear you ask? We have to finish our evaluation before telling you what we think, and at the end of the day, you would have to decide the extra sound and music which is one of those "subtle but significant" things is worth it to you or not.
But, detailed listening and comparison to our reference will remain for next time ...
Enter the Koru
Our friendly local audiphile dealer came by to pick up his box of
Looks, and Yes, they DO matter ...
 |
| Looks DO matter, and what a stunner! |
This thing looks sleek. Like "Apple could have done this" sleek. Like "Really expensive Industrial Designer on retainer" sleek. And somehow they manage something that looks solid without looking heavy or brutish. There is something about it's curved silver brushed finish, that is the right balance between "industrial" and "organic" that puts you at ease, it looks serious in a quietly competent way. And it looks like this look is the "house look and feel" for nearly the entire Plinius lineup. Even their rather large and brutish monoblocks have those design elements in them, though their packaging is dominated by some massive heatsinks. And for what it's worth, you can pick black or silver as the finish ... we'd suggest silver, actually, since a design this handsome should not fade into the shadows or entirely disappear when the lights are turned on low the way black would.
 |
| Simple, attractive, functional layout on the back |
It greets you with a curved front panel with the "Plinius" Logo machined into the front of it, with a single blue LED on it to let you know it's on (and it is not too bright like many blue LED's - looks like they paid attention to how it would look in a domestic setting). In your rack it looks clean the way a phono stage ought to from the front, IMHO. On the back, it is a clean, functional layout in that somehow looks attractive as well. It has some DIP switches that allow 4 gain settings and possibly every loading option you would reasonably want with a moving coil cartridge. It has the phono inputs with a grounding post, and both balanced and unbalanced outputs, as well as a AC switch on the back for the power cord.
We took out our Parasound, and put this thing in, and with very little fuss, we had the Plinius up and running. We were using a Denon 103R, so we put the gain to 60dB (with the output of the cartridge, 60 or 66dB both likely would work but further testing showed 60dB to work since most of our sources put out a comfortable volume of sound right around the same spot), and we set it to 100 Ohm loading which the Denon seems to prefer. We used the balanced outputs, too, which was the same outputs as we used on Parasound.
Initial Impressions, non Detailed
 |
| The Parasound JC3 ... our current reference |
But after a couple of hours, but not critically listening (that comes later) we noticed a few things right away in comparison to our trusty Parasound:
1. The bass seemed both better defined and weightier (and detailed!)
2. The midrange seems a little fuller and richer
3. The treble in the Parasound is a teensy bit more detailed.
4. As good as the Parasound is at imaging, this is better and bigger with the illusion of depth, too.
We played a combination of audiophile re-releases and while we won't go into detail until next time when the thing has some time to warm all the way up, it offers a solidly better sonic experience than the Parasound. Where the Parasound is good, this is great. But this is how it should be. The Parasound, while an astonishingly good phono stage, weighs in a $2.4k and the Plinius Koru is sitting at right around $4k. Is it "twice as good" I hear you ask? We have to finish our evaluation before telling you what we think, and at the end of the day, you would have to decide the extra sound and music which is one of those "subtle but significant" things is worth it to you or not.
But, detailed listening and comparison to our reference will remain for next time ...
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