Reviews of the DSA PHONO ONE

Mr. Greg Weaver purchased a Phono-ONE Beta unit from DSA in 2004., and this unit has served as his “reference” phono stage since that time. Mr Weaver has dedicated much of his life to the pursuit of fine audio both professionally as a well know reviewer, and for the sheer pleasure that fine audio reproduction can bring. For additional information about Mr. Weaver, see www.theaudioanalyst.com.

Full review by Mr. Greg Weaver can be found in Issue 16 of Positive Feedback Online, November 1, 2004 at:
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue16/dsa.htm

The following are excerpts from that review:

. . .

“ Resurrected passages from the depths of the Mercury Living Presence Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (Mercury Living Presence SR 90012), as organist Marcel Dupré depresses the lowest key on the pipe organ of the Ford Auditorium in Detroit, MI, are simply weightier, fuller and better defined than I've ever experienced from that record. Many good phono stages, some very well thought of in fact, offer up that difficult information as a fluttering "motor boating" distortion rather than the deep bass pressure it actually is. Keeping in mind that this recording is nowhere near the end all in bass performance, the ONE still handles it better than any I can recall.

Midrange is remarkably transparent and exceedingly natural, so much so that it is almost organic in its overall nature. Though this is an inherent strength of vinyl in general, the degree to which it is accomplished by the Phono-ONE is nothing short of astonishing. Listen to things like the inner detail and finesse of a string being bent, from a Janos Starker cello Sonota to a Stevie Ray Vaughn Fender Stratocaster solo, and you will get a sample of what I am describing. Listen for the valving and breath control on well-recorded sax or trumpet. Nothing else I've had in-house unravels these complex and subtle cues as completely and with as much individuality and involvement as the DSA Phono-ONE.

The ONE absolutely excels at capturing the individual brilliance or sheen of a voice. Listen to the magic of Henryk Szeryng's violin on the Lalo Symphonie Espagnole (RCA "Shaded Dog" LSC-2456). Though somewhat artificially spot lit within the stage (an artifact of this particular recording, not the Phono-ONE), the purity and naturalness of its timbre are undeniable.

For a scintillating taste of the ONE's treble proficiency, listen to the subtle flavorings of the struck triangle buried deep within the track "Aja" from the Steely Dan album of the same name (MFSL 1-033). These delicate characteristics, often lost in the clamor of the rest of this complex jazz/pop arrangement, are wrested from the meticulously woven fabric of the composition. They are given an existence all their own: just outside and behind the left speaker with distinct attack, glorious vibrancy, and delicate decay.

With complex and demanding passages like the opening from Prokofiev's Scythian Suite (Mercury Living Presence SR 90006) or delicacies like massed strings such as those in Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings (London "ffrr" JL 41010), it is superb at unraveling the dense and often overwhelming layers of material. The ONE easily and accurately places those layers with vise-like precision in realistic size, shape, and timber throughout the soundstage. Not once under any taxation did it offer the slightest hint of congestion or indistinctness, unless they were the attributes of the recording itself. Lesser devices can exaggerate or constrict this characteristic. Not the ONE, it elegantly and accurately decodes the space captured by the microphones.

For further validation of the ONE's aptitude here, try one of my favorite guilty treasures, Roger Waters Amused to Death (Holland - Columbia 01-468761-20). Utilizing Q Sound to a manner that exemplifies the potential of the process, sounds are happening all around you with a two-channel system. Some of the aural delights here include a dripping faucet behind you on the left, barking dogs outside your wall and directly off your right shoulder, horse drawn sleighs and Ferrari's traversing the stage, and a distant train whistle way out behind your front wall, well behind the plane of the speakers. In track 12, "Three Wishes," the disconnected voice of a Genie fills the room – behind you, left, right, behind the front wall. The power of that disembodied Genie's voice rattles doors in their frames—down the hall, and closed! Yet, all the while, these spatial cues are reconstructed with rock solid location and a degree of coherence that I had not known they possessed previously.

Those of you out there who think vinyl has inherently limited dynamics should try the Rickie Lee Jones 10 inch, seven-song EP, Girl at Her Volcano (WB-23805-1B). Though it was a limited release in 1983, I recently picked up yet another mint minus copy on eBay for $2.99! The verve and subtlety in the piano work on "Walk Away Rene" and the power of drums on "Under The Boardwalk" are simply stunning. This record has long been a favorite test for micro- and macrodynamics. The ONE is simply blistering with this recording. Until the arrival of the ONE, the EAR 324 Deluxe was the reigning champion with this record.

Then too, Chris Layton's snare drum snap near the beginning of the title cut from Stevie Ray Vaughn's Couldn't Stand The Weather (Epic EK 64425), is sharply rendered in its attack: crisp and finely defined with an impact you feel as well as hear. The visceral assault on your senses throughout "L'Daddy" from James Newton Howard's James Newton Howard & Friends (Sheffield Lab 23) is magnificent.

Also from Couldn't Stand the Weather, the muted time-keeping foot tapping of drummer Chris Layton has never been better resolved. During the opening of the title track, there are several breaks early in the cut as the band repeatedly stops then restarts. During these pauses, Layton's ever-so-low key foot tapping is so readily apparent and clearly outlined in space that you can almost tell what brand of shoes he is wearing!

With the 1977 Crosby, Stills & Nash release CSN (Atlantic SD 19104), the cut "Fair Game" is sprinkled with a myriad of percussion instruments (maracas, shakers, etc.) throughout the foreground. Each one takes on a definite location in the soundstage and then never budges from the space it initially occupies. Moreover, the individuality of each separate motion or shake is clearly articulated as such, adding to the realism in a way I had never quite experienced previously. Moving to the 1982 CSN release Daylight Again (Atlantic SD 19360), the ONE uncovered the most articulate and deepest sense of layering I've ever experienced from this recording. It has an uncanny ability to present a realistic sense of the "liveness" of the room as vocals and instruments decay.

The Pursuit of Excellence

What distinguishes an exceptional phono stage from a very good one? For me, it is the combined degree of accomplishment. Many phono preamps do some things very well, while they are merely satisfactory (or worse!) at others. Most of us are obligated, through budgetary constraints or the limits imposed by the evaluation process, to select one that plays to our own personal biases and accept mediocre performance in all other areas. Their shortcomings might best be described by a list of omissions rather than commissions.

What musical attributes do you most treasure? Voicing? Timbre? Tonal balance? Tonal accuracy? Dynamics? Dynamic range? Weight? Impact? Presence? Attack? Pace? Rhythm? Coherence? Imaging? Layering? Ambience? Resolution? Air? Focus? Articulation? The DSA Phono-ONE executes and integrates them all with a level of accomplishment I had not expected possible before its arrival. With the ONE, you get the whole sonic enchilada.”