Jeff Rowland Capri S Series Ii Preamp Reviews
I wonder if Jeff Rowland e'er read EF Schumacher's popular tome Pocket-sized is Beautiful, a guide of sorts to the benefits of keeping a business small, a state of affairs that many sound manufacturers have taken to center, albeit not necessarily past choice. The Capri S2 preamplifier also embodies that philosophy: it is no bigger than it needs to be. In fact, past American high end standards it's positively portable at just over 35cm wide, but it's also pretty dense as the iv.26kg weight attests. Construction is typical Jeff Rowland machined-from-solid aluminium; his products always look not bad just that dazzler is more than peel deep. But the pare is misleading; those peaks you lot see give the impression that the surface undulates, merely close inspection reveals it to exist totally flat.
In its standard state, the Capri S2 is a line stage with two unmarried-ended and ii counterbalanced inputs plus a home theatre featherbed, which seems an unusual input array for what appears to exist a purist product. But 'abode theater' is bigger in the US than in many markets, and even audiophile brands have to cater for market trends once in a while. Usefully, if you lot don't want this feature, an internal jumper tin can transform it into a regular, volume controlled input. Output is via RCA and XLR and that about covers the back panel. Behind the inputs is transformer coupling circuitry called for universal compatibility with different sources, identical gain for unbalanced inputs and racket rejection. This isn't a TVC (transformer book control) notwithstanding, such things being solely the domain of passive components.
The volume control has usefully small increments of half a decibel that can exist achieved with the remote control or the beautifully turned knob. The latter is speed sensitive, so can requite you big changes chop-chop as well. The piece of cake to read book display can exist switched off with the handset or you can move an internal jumper that turns it off after five seconds if its yellow/green hue offends. The remote is not equally impressive as the casework sadly, but that keeps costs downwardly, it has mute, stage and channel balance switches aslope the usual book and input selectors.
The compact size is aided past the fact that this Jeff Rowland, similar the bulk of products from the brand, has a switch-mode power supply, so there's no need for a large mains transformer nor for dissimilar transformers to adapt different mains voltages. The supply is described equally a low racket, loftier current, dual regulated switch-mode, which is still quite a rare characteristic in the loftier end outside of products from Linn and Chord Electronics. However, the day cannot be far away when the puritans in high places decide that whatsoever products that draw more than a few watts are the spawn of Satan and blackball them from our systems, and so it could be a canny move.
Despite the diminutive nature of the Capri S2, it has space inside for an optional circuit board, which can exist phono bill of fare that converts input 1 into an MM/MC input with three gain and loading options. Alternatively, you tin go a plug-in DAC card that converts input ane into an S/PDIF coaxial input that's good for PCM up to 24-bit/192kHz. It would exist more appealing if there was a USB connection but naturally there isn't such a socket on the preamplifier in its line stage guise, which limits the DAC'southward entreatment to the streaming generation unless they have a bridge with coax out such every bit the AURALiC ARIES. Sadly, there is no provision for DAC and phono, as they both plug into the same slots.
I initially hooked the Capri S2 upwardly to a Marantz SA-ten existence used as a DAC, and connected my regular ATC P1 power amplifier with Bowers & Wilkins 802 D3 speakers. The Marantz was withal running in so I didn't look likewise much, but hearing Emma Kirkby's vox on Handel'due south Messiah [Academy of Ancient Music, Hogwood, Loiseau Lyre] it was clear that things were working rather well. This is obviously a dandy recording and in the Capri's easily, it takes on a depth of epitome and richness of tone that is very highly-seasoned, cheers to strong presence from the vocalizer in particular. It inspired me to endeavor the aforementioned thing with the CAD 1543 MkII DAC and a direct USB link to the Melco server (previously I used an ARIES LE between the server and DAC). This brought out more of the depth and openness of the recording, producing an unusually natural, even sublime sound from that voice. As I'chiliad not that familiar with the recording I substituted my fifty-fifty more diminutive preamp of reference, the Townshend Audio Allegri. This passive device went farther in terms of transparency and openness again, indicating that the Capri S2 while clearly very neutral and revealing does add a subtle polish to the sound; a slight veil that is hard to spot on it's own but becomes apparent with the contrast.
Returning to the Capri S2 and Alice Coltrane's 'Journey in Satchidananda' from the Impulse anthology of the same name, I was encompassed by the heavy sound of double bass and sparkle of percussion, harp, and drone. What struck me hither was how well the preamplifier tracked the micro-dynamics of the various instruments, the changes in level between notes existence specially well presented. The audio remains slightly constrained overall compared to a passive, but this doesn't go far the way of musical menstruum or detail. In fact, it's replete with the nuances of the various instruments in the mix, all of which are well separated and piece of cake to follow. The composer's harp playing existence particularly well resolved in the context of such a broad acoustic cosmos, and when it sounds this adept it'southward hard non to drift away on the vibe.
A stiff drink (Assam tea) later, I had pulled myself together and got downwards to the tough but necessary chore of further listening. Up to this point, the Capri S2 had been connected to the power amp with unmarried ended cable, but given Jeff Rowland's clear predilection for balanced connections I tried that instead. This made small but worthwhile improvements to the results, notably with regard to depression-finish gravitas. The bass now had more authority, which is not an uncommon finding in my experience, but the epitome seemed to have greater depth and more clear-cut layering. Fifty-fifty lyrical intelligibility seemed better with the Messiah piece, and then listening connected with this connexion. Timing is non the Capri S2'south strongest point but neither is it disastrous; alternative preamps do seem to become to the rhythmic parts more finer, but they frequently lose out too much elsewhere. The accent here is more on detail resolution, which makes it easy to listen right into a piece of music and empathize what each instrument or vox is contributing. That means that complex pieces no longer seem so dense for instance, which is a good sign of coherence. It also gives each note it'south due weight in terms of attack and decay, which is the opposite to a fast audio I gauge and one which suits material where the emphasis is on tune rather than transients. But, the Capri S2 treads a careful line betwixt the tune and rhythm, and remains diffidently neutral at all times.
Information technology'due south worth noting that this Jeff Rowland does not sound like it has a switch mode power supply, every bit at that place'south no graininess or effulgence at all. In fact, it couldn't exist smoother, information technology'south the most polished SMPS device I've encountered. And this does the Capri S2 a lot of favours when bringing out the tonal richness of everything y'all play. It's not just classical sopranos who benefit; Tom Waits' 'In Shades' [Heart Assail & Vine, Ayslum] also has great depth to the guitar and organ, and the burble of the dining audience is clearly separated from the music, a upshot in role of the impressive depression level resolution on offer. This is a very quiet preamp indeed, which means that very picayune fails to become to its outputs. This in turn means there's plenty of dynamic range bachelor in the resulting audio.
At first glance, the toll seems pretty high for such a compact device, merely the Jeff Rowland Capri S2 is not only superbly built, finished and thought out but its audio quality has a similarly deep sheen. Size matters when it comes to some things – loudspeakers, listening rooms, cakes – but small is conspicuously beautiful where preamplifiers are concerned.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Solid country line-phase preamplifier with optional DAC and phono cards
Valve complement: N/A
Counterpart inputs: Ii pairs of single ended inputs (via RCA jacks) two pairs of balanced inputs (via XLR connectors) i single-concluded HT bypass input (via RCA jacks)
Counterpart outputs: 1 pair of balanced outputs (via XLR connectors), 1 pair of single-ended outputs (via RCA jacks)
Input impedance: Non specified
Output impedance: Non specified
Bandwidth: Not specified
Gain: 99.5dB
Distortion: Not specified
Signal to Noise Ratio: Not specified
Dimensions (H×Due west×D): 67 × 350 × 157mm
Weight: 4.26kg
Cost: £4,300
Manufacturer: Jeff Rowland Design Group
URL: jeffrowlandgroup.com
U.k. Benefactor: Signature Systems
Tel: +44 (0)7738 007776
URL: www.signaturesystems.co.uk
Source: https://hifiplus.com/articles/jeff-rowland-design-group-capri-s2-preamplifier/
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