I've owned a lot of nice gear. When I had to downsize, I needed an all-in-one solution. The Pharaoh (original) may not be perfect, but Mark has assembled a stellar product; a great value with all the phono-pre-amp I need for now and the foreseeable future. They say he designed it for his personal use, something for his vacation home. A great original design. In the period of time that the CM went through 3 versions with many tweaks, the Pharaoh remained unchanged under the recent redesign. I wanted to sweeten the vocals, so Brent Jessee sold me a matched pair of Mullard 1960's OEM 12AU7's that did the trick. All I have to do now is enjoy the music.
The new Rogue pharaoh II slams
I recently downsized my stereo to reclaim my apt living room, switching from revel 228 towers to jbl L100 limited additions, and sold my beloved Rogue M180 dark monoblocks and other front end gear, and needed a good intergrated amp to replace all those big boxes. Since I had experience with Rogue I decided to take a chance on the new Rogue Pharaoh II and boy am I glad I did. I cannot comment if or how it’s different sounding than the original but the Mk II kicks ass with the Jbls putting out 400 wpc into the speakers 4 ohm load! The slam and bass control is stunning, AND AT LOW VOLUME LEVELS!!! It’s also amazingly clear and transparent throughout the full frequency spectrum, with a non existent noise floor, The soundstage is huge, and once again you can hear all of this at low volume levels which is very impressive. Rogue knocked it our of the park with this integrated amplifier, although I loved the sound of my old tube monos this integrated actually does somethings better for a lower cost! If you are looking for a new amp/pre amp combo or integrated amp you have to go hear one of these, I bet it will surprise and impress you as much as it me, bravo Rogue Audio, well done!