Customers' letters - 5 -

I got my black cube last monday, plug it in and listen. Right away I notice a strong and tight bass (excellent for pop and rock, good for bass on jazz). Since I am a bass fan, this is a good sign. The soundstage seems to be deeper while the XL-P is quite flat. There seems to be more details, but not by a wide margin. Dynamic seems to be better. May be I should wait 10 days like Steve said. However it is hard to wait 10 days since I listen to 1 - 2 hours music a day. I am still wondering about keeping it or sending it back and get one of the phono stages (rated class A) by Stereophile.

After a week, I plug back the XL-P into the system. The black cube is definitely better in the resolution of the bass, soundstage, details. Is it better than EAR, Sonic Frontier, ARC PH-3? I don't know, never heard them in my system. But there is something I can do with the black cube.

Since the black cube is quite flat, I can put it under my VPI and hook the tonearm cable directly to the unit and eliminate the Cardas Cross phono cable. What a transformation. I don't believe how much different it can do with the elimination of 1 RCA hook-up and 1 m of phono cable. So much clearer, the noise level is so low. Everything improves by a wide margin. Bass is tighter (yes I have no problem resolving the bass and drum line). Guitar plucking is so real. Voice is so natural and real. Record after record I played the whole saturday and sunday. Will I keep the black cube? You bet I do. My system never sound so good. Will I be looking for a class A rated Stereophile phono stage? Not now, life is too short, I have to listen to music and put my money into more lp's.

We are in for the music.

H. N. /USA


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