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Review: Bent Audio Tap Linestage

Category: Preamps

Before, I get to the details of reviewing the Bent Audio Tap Linestage, I first would like to give a context regarding what my linestage reference of the last three years has been in order to "set the stage" so this review would be the most helpful to the members reading it.

My reference over the last three years has been the Placette Audio Dual Mono Active Linestage. It replaced a ML-32 reference preamp in my system. I had auditioned six different preamps/linestages, half were tubed - half were solid state ranging in price from $6000.00 to $16000.00, until I finally heard the Placette Active in my system and found what I was looking for sonically. It offered, compared with the other pieces in my home auditions, the following sonic virtues:

1) No noise floor at all. Music just "floated" out of a totally black background.
2) A great soundstage, front to back - side to side, with the best center fill and layering I ever had in my system.
3) Precise microdynamics and details without being what I would call "dry" or "etched" at all.
4) Excellent extension on both the top and bottom with great slam in the lower bass.
5) Natural tone/timbres, very important to me because I listen almost totally to acoustic jazz.

Not bad stuff! However, being the curious audiophile that I am, I had read about a few new linestages that had come out the last couple of years and decided to listen to what some of the best designers were up to now. This time around I auditioned a highly regarded solid state,tubed, and transformer based units. Even though the solid state ant tubed pieces were almost twice as expensive as my Placette, and they have their virtues, I did not find them to better the Placette in the above mentioned areas. Different but not better for my ear's and personnal taste.

That's the context, now on to the review. The Bent Tap Linestage is the child of John Chapman and his company Bent Audio out of Canada. I would like to share John is one of the great gentleman/designers of high end gear and is a true pleasure to talk and to do business with. His pieces are purchased direct, with a 30 day trail period with full refund if one is completely not satisfied.

At this point in time there has been a full review on the Tap Linestage on POSTITIVE FEEDBACK ONLINE website by Bruce Kinch and on SIX MOONS website there is what they call a "pre-view", along with one of SIX MOONS reviewers, Les Turoczi, who considers the Tap Linestage one of the "favorite discoveries of 2006" and has made it his new reference linestage in his system.

The above mentioned reviews, along with information on the Bent Audio website, will provide excellent background information on the topic of passive preamps/linestages and specificly on the issue of transformer based passives compared to Vishay resister based approachs. By the way, the Placette Active is a Buffered Vishay based passive linestage that gives no gain, but eliminates any concerns with impedance matching the front end with the down stream amps.

I never get into lengthy details regarding engineering or parts, that is all provided by the Bent Audio website, however I always comment on build quality and looks before I get to the the most important part the sonic performance. The Tap Linestage has a "cool modern" look to it, but it will never be the "eye candy" that my Pass Labs or Accustic Arts pieces are to me. The front has angled sides and sits atop a 1" slab of clear acrylic which has been routed out to securely mount the twin transformers. Inside high quality Arlon circuit boards, ribbon cables, and custom OCC copper wire sourced from Neotech speak highly of the construction of this piece.

Now, to the most important part of any review, the sonic performance of the piece being evaluated. In the following areas the Tap and PLacette active were, at least for me in my system, indistinguishable:
1) Total black background, no noise floor, music just "oozes" out of the system.
2) Both provide the best soundstage and layering of any linestage I have ever had in my system.
3)Macrodynamics are present and powerful, but intergrated in the overall "fabric" of the music.

Were the two linestages start to part sonic company is revolving around to key sonic areas, tone/timbres and image density of players in the sound stage.

I find that the Tap to be slightly "warmer/fuller" then the Placette Active in overall timbres, what many listeners would refer to as the "magic of tubes", mind you, not "fat/euphonic" but more "velvety" then the "silkyness" of the Placette. It reminded me when I went from an Edge NL-10 to a pair of Pass Labs XA-100's, both great amps, but I found the XA-100's to be subtly more what I call "organic/musical". Another verbal stab at it would be to say that the Placette Active has "razor sharp" leading edges and the Tap is a little more "rounded off" but has more body and decay then the Placette Active.
The Placette Active never sounds "etched, dry, or overly analytical, but a little less "sweet" then the Tap. They both offer beautiful sonic pictures and what you would like would be very much decided by your personnal taste and what type of system synergy you would end up with in your rig.

The other sonic difference that I noticed was in the area of image density. The Tap kicked it up a notch in comparsion to the Placette Active regarding the density of images, not the size or air around the individual players, but how "real" they sounded in the stage. Again, both linestages are quite terrific regading this sonic aspect, but the Tap gives more in this area then the Placette Active.

So, is there a winner or loser between this linestages, I don't think so, there both reference level in their performance. As I always say at this level of gear it comes down to personnal taste and system synergy. There's always very small but real differences in gear, but the final voicing of any system finally comes done to matching this tiny sonic bits together to get what we are listening for in the pleasure of the music we care about.

The Bent Tap is my new reference linestage for the reasons stated above. Both the Tap and Placette Active are great performers, terrific bargains for what they sell for, the Tap $3000.00, the Placette Active $5000.00, when you think they compete with any linestage on the market today and both John Chapman and Guy Hammel are great gentleman to work with, you might put both on your audition list if your seeking out a new linestage. Which one you would like better truly would come down to personnal taste/system synergy, so really won't know till your try it in the context of your own rig.
teajay
dbld
297 posts
 
Perhaps the new amp delivers more current for the same power???

Oddly, I once went from 1200w/ch to 350w/ch with no real difference in volume level, but a great improvement in sound quality with the 350w amp.
teajay OP
1,691 posts
 
Just wanted to share that on this last Sunday afternoon my girlfriend, she's a musician with great ears, and I did an audition comparing the Tap to a very highly regarded SS preamp that retails for $6000.00.

I have tried before on other occasions two tube preamps to see if they offered something the Tap did not in my system, and neither replaced the Tap.

Well, the SS preamp offered great details, dynamics, big soundstage, and offered a silky/smooth approach to timbres. Not bad, but the Tap still had all those sonic virtues and added a liquidity/easyness, lower noise floor, and more natural timbres in my system. I find it amazing that many audiophiles still believe that passives don't do dynamics like an active, well maybe the older designs, but the TVC's and buffered passives don't suffer in this area at all as far as I can tell!

I talked to John Chapman today and he hopes to be up and running building new Taps at the end of the summer. I hope so because it offers so much performance, build quality, and features at such a reasonable price.
denjo
46 posts
 
Teejay, interestingly I did the same and swapped the Bent TAP for my active preamp (highly modified). After about an hour or two, I found that the active pre was just unlistenable. The active pre sounded better I thought with my CIAudio D*200 monos as I felt the TAP through the D*200s sounded closed in and less dynamic. You will see from my earlier thread that I was concerned that through the D*200s, I was almost playing the TAP at maximum volume. When I hooked up the Sanders ESL amplifier, I was amazed that it synergised so well with the TAP. The sound was dynamic, soundstage was superb (not only deem and wide but high as well!) and the bass coming from my Thiels was simply a revelation! I did not know my Thiels could pump out so much bass! This leads me to the conclusion that system synergy is very important. Comments you read about the TVC being less dynamic, lean sounding, etc I suspect are due to the fact that the amplifier is not powerful enough to allow the TAP to reveal everything (I am assuming the source is reasonably good).

Really glad to hear the news that the tap will be flowing again. John has come up with a product that is excellent and I certainly hope that more will be able to enjoy his products again!
clio09
3,355 posts
 
Any idea what transformers he will be using in the new TAP?
teajay OP
1,691 posts
 
This weekend I tried another audition of a very highly regarded tube linestage, retails for $6500.00, to compare to the Bent Audio Tap. Everyone always talks about the "magic" of great tube linestages regarding harmonics, image density, and that " more natural midrange" were most of the music is contained in.

Well, after about six hours of listening, I wanted to put my Tap back in for the following reasons:

1) After over four years of using the Placette Active buffered stage and now the Tap, both are passives, I guess I'm addicted to pure and pristine transparency, total clarity, and just an "easyness" to the flow of the music that either SS or Tube linestages do not offer, at least in my system.

2) The tube linestage offered a very good large soundstage, but was far beyond the Tap regarding "air" between the Players and the individual players did not sound as real as they do on the Tap.

3) Yup, I heard that "magical midrange" on the tube linestage, but the addition of a slight warmth/lushness did not bring me closer to the emotion of the music, but kinda got in the way because it sounded to my ears as an additional coloration not part of the natural timbres of the music.

4) Who ever says that passives just can't do dynamics or give the body to the music that actives can, should just come over and listen to my system. The highly regarded SS linstage was better in this regard then this weekends Tube linestage but both were not as good in the lower end then the Tap and the Tube linestage's PRAT compared to the Tap was missing in action.

It always comes down to personnal taste and system synergy, my hunch is that with my Pass XA-100's adding warmth/musicality this tube linestage addition of a slight touch of "lushness/warmth/romance" took my system to far towards thick "velvet" and was not a good match in my system. If someone had SS amps or speakers that would lean towards bright or forward sonics, I understand way a tube linestage would be just the ticket to give some warmth to their overall system sonics.
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