Rega should stick to making turntables....
Rega Brio weird sound
Bought an new Brio couple of days ago. Im impressed with its drive and good bass beeing such an small and cheap amp. But in upper frequency there is some issues. There is a precence on some cymbals hihats guitars and s in some voices. And it have this annoing hiss. But this "loudness" upper midrange.. is that a Rega/Brio sound signature or will that go away with some more hours on the amp?
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I had an Hegel before that sounded really good. Clean and neutral but the extreme damping factor of the Hegel amp made the bass disappear at low to medium volume. The Brio is just a tempoary solution saving up for a better amp. But I must say Im really disappointed with its sound after reading all the hype in the audio press. |
Too many modern digital recordings have a hot tipped-up treble. My CD of Master of Puppets. was unpleasant in the highs! I compared it to the LP. No contest! The MoP LP was way better! Find better sounding recordings! Anyway, I am familiar with the Cornwall and find them excessively bright with their EV metal horn tweeters. That's why I sold my Heresy's - same EV tweeters and midranges. |
The Brio has 40 db of gain, not a good mix with Cornwalls, I think. The Cornwalls really deserve a better amp. I would not put the Brio on my Heresys. They really need a quality, quiet, smooth amp. You might be able to put an attenuator between your source and the amp, might help. I always keep some attenuators in my tool kit.
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If the hiss is constant (doesn't go up or down when adjusting volume) then it's noise from the amp. If it does change then the noise is being generated upstream of the amp.
As far as the noise around cymbals and sibilants, my guess is that you're most likely picking up on distortion. Stereophile measurements seem to bear this out.
Since the Cornwalls are very efficient, my suggestion is to find an amp with a high signal to noise ratio and low distortion at the lower power output levels. Given that, an inexpensive option you might want to try is the Topping PA5. |