Reprint of a review of the Black Cube phono stage written by Timothy Liu of
Hi-Fi World
in October 1998.
Republished with kind permission of the publisher.

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Black Beauty

Timothy Liu does the time warp with Lehmann Audio's Black Cube Phono Stage and digs out his ageing vinyl.

In the modern world, fads and fashions come and go. The same could be said of the Long Playing record, whose days once looked distinctly numbered.

Instead, the oldest of formats has surprised many by rising (albeit only slightly) from the digital flames which threatened to consign it to oblivion once and for all.

Lehmann Audio of Germany would rather you didn't abandon your vinyl to a car-boot sale. They have thrown down the gauntlet to the Compact Disc industry by producing the Black Cube phonostage to proclaim their undying love for the black disc.

If attraction is strictly a visual thing for you, then the Black Cube will certainly not set your pulse racing. A basic folded-steel case houses the electronics, fed from an external power supply. Don't get fooled by appearances though. Closer inspection inside reveals the Cube to measure up where it counts. Audiophile touches such as Wima foil capacitors, a screened power-supply lead and passive equalisation make you realize this is a Benz engine in a Skoda bodywork.

The flexible Cube is compatible with most cartridges currently available. Input sensitivity is fixed at 250uV and capacitance at 220pF, values chosen to suit both Moving Magnet and Moving Coil cartridges. Loading is accomplished by configuring two DIP switches, impedance-matching (which is important for optimum sound quality with low noise) ranging from 80 ohm to 47 kohm.

Another useful suggestion contained in the manual advises soldering your tone-arm's lead-out wires directly to the Black Cube's input terminals, thereby leap-frogging the gold plated phono sockets to avoid signal degradation. This makes really sense when you consider the microscopic signal generated by Moving-Coil cartridges.

A small point worth mentioning is that the Black Cube requires a warm-up time of 10 days before it comes to boil; in other words, it's best left on all the time. Once warmed through, it was slipped between a Basis Ovation turntable/Airtangent 10b tone-arme/Roksan Shiraz cartridge source and Audio Analogue's Puccini SE amplifier with Sonus Faber Minima Amator loudspeakers.

After the initial thud of the stylus touching down, what confronted me was a wall of black silence; the almost total lack of surface noise gave the impression of waiting for curtains to rise and the performance to begin. Stevie Wonder's 'Do I Do' emerged from this inky black background complete with a broad palette of tonal colour and lightning fast percussion.

Rhythmic, weighty bass with good extension further heightened the listening experience.

The Ramones maintained pace with their 'I'm Against It'. Instead of curling up in the nearest corner and wilting like so many audiophile products do when the Ramones appear, the Black Cube changed up into over-drive. High-octane guitar thrashing was handled effortlessly, with real speed and power. In the midst of this onslaught, rhythm guitars remained tonally distinct from one another, strummed strings portrayed with a subtlety I've not come across on sub- £1000 phono stages before.

Changing back down to Rickie Lee Jone's 'Lucky Guy' demonstrated the chameleon-like character of the Black Cube. Posessing virtually no character of its own, it could create a wholly convincing sound stage and 3-D imaging, while allowing Rickie Lee Jones' wide vocal fluidity and lucidity without sibilance.

Lehmann Audio's Black Cube is a genuine audiophile achievement in terms of musicality and neutrality. I can't honestly think of anything near its £395 price tag which even gets within spitting distance. The Cube should keep those vinyl junkies out there misty-eyed and defiantly anti-digital for a long time to come. 

Timothy Liu

 

AUDIO PUBLISHING LIMITED
64 Castellain Road, Maida Vale
tel: ++44 (0) 171 289 3533
fax:++44 (0) 171 289 5620
edit@hi-fiworld.co.uk

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