Listening Notes
The first cartridge mated with the Canofer-S was the My Sonic Lab Ultra eminent BC. Unfortunately, despite having an output of 0.3 mv, the Canofer-S did not have enough gain to drive this cartridge to a satisfactory level; the music simply lacked dynamics. For reasons unknown to me, the next cartridge I tried, though having an even lower output, worked marvelously with the Canofer-S, which goes to show once again that with analog, you cannot always believe the numbers.
With the ZYX Universe (Copper Coil, 0.24mv), I was mesmerized by the unit’s ability to retrieve microscopic information on virtually all recordings. Be it Heifetz’s Scottish Fantasy on Living Stereo [LSC-2603], or Michael Rabin’s Meditation on his famous Magic Bow album released under Capital Records [SP8510], the ZYX combined with the Canofer-S delivered more top-end clarity and airiness than any other combination I have tried. The presentation was nothing short of captivating, capturing every detail on every twist and turn of the bow gliding across the violin’s strings. Not every phono stage I have tried can keep up with the ability of the Universe to retrieve minute details. Some gave a somewhat rounded and rolled-off presentation versus the Canofer-S, while others were able to deliver the details but at the expense of sounding grainy and “solid state-ish.” The Canofer-S was able to maintain this fine balance without ever tipping towards either end.
One of the finest recordings of string instruments is Bach’s Cantata No. 140, on Living Stereo’s Clair de Lune album [LSC-2326]. With the ZYX Universe cartridge, the Canofer-S delivered a silky and smooth presentation on the string instrument, again with lots of details and instrument separation. The only complaint that I had with the presentation is that it was somewhat “thinner sounding” than what I am usually accustomed to; by this I mean the lower notes on the double bass did not register as low as the other phono stage units I have on hand, which gave an impression that the instrument is somewhat smaller than it should be. There was also less body and weight in the performance.
Moving on to female vocals, I found Joan Baez’s voice on the Fairwell, Angelina album on Vanguard Records [Cisco Reissue VSD-79002], to be somewhat slimmer and less full-bodied than usual. The same can be said of Ronnie Gilbert’s voice on “Guantanamera” on the Weaver’s Reunion at Carnegie Hall album [Vanguard VSD 2150], as it sounded as if the weight in her voice was coming from a body that was 30 pounds lighter. The usual “thumping” of the instrument in the background also seems to have less impact than usual; it sounded more like a faint tap than a “thump”.
With the Kondo IO-M cartridge going through the KSL-SFz step-up transformer into the Canofer-S, the overall presentation went towards a different direction. There was a lot less detail and definition when compared to the ZYX cartridge, the presentation became bass heavy but with less texture and definition. Female voices no longer have the clarity, but at the same time the IO-M’s seduction magic with vocals seem to have disappeared with the Canofer-S versus the Kondo M7. The overall presentation became wooly, sacrificing top-end detail and airiness. I also found excessive groove noise with this combination, which was absent with the Kondo M7 phono stage. My thought is that the Kondo gears are made for each other, and introducing the Canofer-S into the chain simply broke apart the Kondo house sound. The sound stage presentation, however, was excellent with both the Universe and the IO-M cartridges. The instrument size was somewhat smaller with the ZYX cartridge and bigger with the IO-M, but both maintained excellent focus, image depth and solidity.
After experimenting many hours with each of the five cartridges I have on hand, my impression of the overall sound of the Canofer-S is that it has extremely high resolution, with the complete absence of grain or edginess. The presentation is neutral and polite as a whole, with a good balance between dynamics and forwardness, while being slightly shy on bass, resulting in presentations which are less full-bodied than usual. The Canofer-S is not as polite as the Sutherland PhD or the FM Acoustics FM-122 Mk II, but at the same time it does not seems to carry the “attack” and forwardness of the Pass Labs XP-15 or the Audia Flight phono. But in terms of resolution, it is much higher than anything that I have owned. If tonal balance can be weighed on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being warm, relaxed and “tubish,” 5 being neutral, and 10 being fast, cold and dynamic, I would probably give it a score of 6.5.
In my system, the perfect cartridge for the Canofer-S seems to be the Clearaudio Goldfinger, followed closely by the Lyra Olympos; as such my comments will be focused on the Goldfinger combination. Readers who are familiar with the Goldfinger know that it is one of the most dynamic cartridges on the planet, capable of delivering thundering dynamics and earth shattering bass. It is brilliant on the top-end, and grabs your attention in the bass region. With the Goldfinger, every one of the weaknesses mentioned above was totally compensated by the sonic characteristic of this cartridge. The result from this combination is a match made in heaven and to my ears it nearly reached perfection in almost all the qualities that can be named: highs, mids, bass, tonality, sound staging, and dynamic range.
One of my favorite albums to demonstrate a system’s overall ability to retrieve details in a large scale performance is the Ruggiero Ricci album with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pierino Gamba on DECCA [SXL 2197]. The recording is somewhat tipped up, which means the presentation can prove to be difficult for some solid-state phono stages. The slightest presence of any edginess will push the recording over the limit, and will sound bright and harsh to the listener. With the Goldfinger going into the Canofer-S, the performance was close to perfection. The performance begins with a fast paced gymnastic display of Ricci’s ability on the violin. With many phono preamps I have tried in the past, this passage was so bright to the point of being unbearable. However, with the Canofer-S, every minute detail of Ricci’s fast-paced performance was smooth, silky and effortless without any hint of grain or glare. So the Canofer-S passed my torture test. When the full-scale orchestra was heard, there seemed to be an endless reserve of dynamic power to push the instruments to their fullest. The aforementioned bass shy characteristic which was present with the ZYX / Canofer-S combination, was no longer a problem. The bass was adequate, tuneful, and plentiful.
On Clifford Curzon’s Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 on Decca [SXL 6023], the Canofer-S presented the performance in its full magnificent grandness. To my ears, the early Decca recordings in the SXL series are some of the most demanding albums for an audio system to present, and when your equipment is up to snuff, the sheer dynamic range of these recordings is unmatched by anything else in the market. Similar to the previous album, this recording will sound hard and analytical with the wrong setup. Again, the Canofer-S passed this test. When Curzon struck some of the lower notes on the grand piano, it was as if a full, life-sized grand piano was sitting right in my living room. The strokes of the felt hammers hitting the metallic strings of the piano, combined with the harmonic resonance of the sound board simply sounded accurate, realistic and with a live presence. Transient attacks were fast, but not so much that it was in your face or aggressive. Not only could I hear the lower notes of the piano with utmost clarity, I could feel the vibrations of the piano coming through the floor of my living room. Everything sound “just right”, without being too forward.
Moving onto male vocals, I pulled out Giuseppe Di Stefano’s performance on Donizetti’s L’Elisir D’Amore, on London Blue Back [OSA 1311], which I was lucky enough to pick up on eBay for $1.99. Giuseppe Di Stefano remains my favourite Italian operatic tenor. Before I played the recording, I had a preconception that with the muscular characteristics of the Goldfinger combined with the neutral and accurate character of the Canofer-S, the presentation would be somewhat analytical and uninvolving, never coming close to the Kondo M7 tube phono stage and the Kondo IO-M cartridge combination in terms of emotional involvement. I was only partially correct. The vocal presentation was not nearly as seductive or syrupy as the Kondo IO-M / M7 combination, but it was far from being uninvolving. In fact, the Goldfinger and Canofer-S gave one of the most realistic and emotionally charged Di Stefano performances I have heard. It was as if the “Golden Voice” was standing right in my living room. The midrange was not hard or analytical, but full-bodied and realistic. More importantly, his voice carried more weight and clarity than the Kondo IO-M / M7 combination. It wasn’t as seductive as the Kondo setup but it was more realistic and authentic, with an immediate, live presence to the sound.
Moving along into the more complex segments of the same opera, I preferred the soundstage presented by the Goldfinger / Canofer-S combo versus all the other cartridge / phono combinations I had on hand. The Goldfinger/ Canofer-S combination provided a superb soundstage presentation, which allowed me to clearly identify the size, weight and pinpoint-position of every performer as well as instrument. All in all, this combination was able to recreate a grand illusion of a real opera performance in my living room.
Although Christoph never explicitly said so, the tonality of his unit tells me the Canofer-S is voiced to deliver a more neutral and accurate presentation rather than a warm and euphonic one. The Canofer-S is not particularly warm sounding, and it consistently delivered an elegant and clean presentation without any hint of “tubishness.” Large-scale orchestral performances were always presented accurately, yet without being overly analytical or dry. I have been repeatedly told by many audiophiles who know me, that my system is tuned for classical music. The McIntosh gear and Dynaudio speakers I have are warmer and polite sounding by nature. The Goldfinger cartridge ended up being the cartridge of choice for the Canofer-S phono stage and I have decided to keep the combination, until I can find something better.
Negatives
Personally I do not believe there is such a thing as “perfect” audio equipment, and as such the Canofer-S does have a few shortcomings.
First of all, the cardboard box packaging that the Canofer-S comes in leaves room for improvement. I say this because I own a lot of McIntosh equipment so I have been accustomed to seeing double boxed bomb-proof packaging which has been tested to withstand a 6-foot drop. The box which housed the Canofer-S, albeit well insulated, looked a little flimsy.
The menu that came with the unit is also somewhat confusing, reading this review will probably tell you more about how to operate the three control dials than the owner’s manual.
Last but not least, I must warn potential buyers that the burn-in period for the Canofer-S unit was painfully long. Those who do not believe in equipment burn-in may ignore this review altogether, but for those who have experienced first-hand how painstaking the burn-in process for phono stages can be, you are forewarned that the Canofer-S will probably require more patience than any piece of equipment you have ever owned.
Personally, I used a Hagerman RIAA inverter combined with a tuner to send a replicated MC signal to the Canofer-S unit non-stop for one month. During the entire month, I basically forced myself to forget ownership of the unit. Patience is not one of my virtues, but at least the wait paid off. The before- and after- sound of the unit was dramatically different.
Conclusion
The Canofer-S is no doubt a high-end product, when you are talking $7,200 for a phono stage, “budget” is not the first word that comes to mind. With its exotic internal design and its flexibility, it’s certainly in the upper echelon of the high-end market segment. So whether or not I would recommend this phono stage will depend on what the listener is looking for. If a person is just beginning to appreciate wine, it would not be recommended to start off with a bottle of 1982 Romanée-Conti, which by the way is about the same price as the Canofer-S. The Canofer-S is suitable for the individual who has experience with analog, and knows what type of sound is desired. If you are looking for something more “tubeish” in nature with a laid back euphonic type of presentation, the Canofer-S will not foot the bill. It would also fail to meet the needs of those who are looking for something fast, clean, analytical or with a lot of slam.
The Canofer-S is the quietest phono stage I have encountered. It is solid-state but with the complete absence of grain, brightness, or edginess. It’s main characteristics are elegance and politeness along with qualities such as silkiness, smoothness, and musicality. It gives you full on-the-fly front panel access for all adjustments. For the individual who is looking for these qualities, the Canofer-S will probably stay with you for a very long time.
As for the $7,200 MSRP, there are pens which cost more than cars in this world, so I will not be the judge of value here, that was never part of my goal for this review.
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