Listening

Samantha Crain has made a beautiful and varied album with “A Small Death”. The io enhances the inspiration in the vocals and gives some weight to the instruments. This is certainly not a clinical, analytical amplifier. Crains vocals often sound fragile and the io can handle that. There is enough nuance and feeling in the reproduction so you are involved and keep listening.

“Room for the Moon” by Kate NV is a playful album full of complex electronic songs. Those songs are mostly supported by the voice of Ekatarina Shilonosova, the real name of Kate NV, creating some kind of wondrous sound tapestry. We grew up with Plaid, Mouse on Mars and Aphex twin and this album is definitely one of them. A bunch of musicians were recruited to create this bizarre universe. Bass guitar, drum, saxophone, xylophone, flute are just a few of the instruments that pass in review. The Rega io doesn’t disappoint and brings this album flawless. Fluent and exciting!

Nordmann is a band from Ghent that quickly developed their own jazz sound. On their latest record “In Velvet” their unique sound has been further refined. This is exciting music full of surprises and above all full of fun. Because of the io the track ‘Cascade’ comes through quickly and rhythmically. The whole thing doesn’t skid and stays up nicely. This amplifier focuses on the piece of music as a whole and the reproduction is therefore very balanced and rich. We connect our Hifiman Sundara and notice the same contagious sound. The io delivers 1.6 volts in 32 Ohms which is sufficient for many headphones.

Compare

Coincidentally, we ourselves have a fine, modest amplifier in our listening room! It’s the Keces E40 (599 euros) which, as its name suggests, has 40 watts in class A / B on board and also performs a bit above its level. It even delivers some decent watts in pure class A. And it offers, besides a phono stage, also a USB dac. So there are more similarities than differences between both amplifiers. But in terms of sound we notice some nuances here and there. The io has a more powerful bass and is a bit more playful than the Keces. The Keces is a bit more balanced to our feeling but a bit less transparent. Choices, choices, choices.