Yamaha HX-10000 phonostage, any views?

I assume that mass means weight, and "volume" is a reference to the physical size

Volume refers to an abundance of Parts used for the Topology and Abundance of Parts.

After having been involved with EE's and EE's that moved on to become the Proprietors of Sales Business and Directors of Manufacturing Companies producing Audio Devices. I am aware there are different ethics today, how one expresses care for the Atmosphere and Pollution capable of getting into the Local Environment are considerations seen attractive for an individual to have. 

I am fortunate I meet individuals who have this as a fundamental and pass on this side of their practices to others building on the encouragement.

I have found my way by being pro-active in participating in the Circular Economy.

My Hobby of listening to Audio has a Green Footprint, my interest in experiencing a broad range of Audio, has produced a little more C02 than some others, but possibly a lot less than a constant equipment changer, chasing the audio dream whilst grasping the Greasy Pole to be climbed.           

The major change in audio components that has arisen due to environmental concerns is the elimination of lead in solder. That edict did not emanate from the manufacturers;; it came from environmental scientists. It also goes without saying that you never see mercury vapor rectifiers in tube equipment or beryllium cantilevers. There may be other new rules in force in the EU or the UK. Other than that, I would say our hobby is squeaky clean. If environmental consciousness was the intent of your earlier post, it got past me at least. I can’t see anything environmentally dangerous in the HX10000.

Lyra once made a phono stage, the Lyra Connoisseur (based on design purchased from Mares), that was an all out assault on the state of the art.  I got to hear this extremely lively and vivid sounding phono stage.  Lyra stopped production claiming that they could no longer manufacture the component to their high standards while being ROHS compliant.  What could be in their phono stage, other than lead solder, that would make it non-ROHS compliant?  In any case, many years after it went out of production, I tried to search for it and found that it rarely sold, and when it did, it went for $15,000-$20,000.

RoHS is an EU regulation, I think, but I noticed that the two US based mail order electronics suppliers I use, Digikey and Mouser, do mention RoHS on their spec sheets.  Here is what I found:

"Any business that sells applicable electrical or electronic products, equipment, sub-assemblies, cables, components, or spare parts directly to RoHS-directed countries, or sells to resellers, distributors or integrators that in turn sell products to these countries, is impacted if they utilize any of the restricted 10 substances.

With the rapid spread of digitization, the world’s production of electrical and electronic devices is exploding. Besides mobile devices, think about the coming wave of IoT, smart home assistants, robots, drones, 3D printers, and home medical devices to all corners of the planet...they are all regulated under RoHS.

EU RoHS specifies maximum levels for the following 10 restricted substances. The first six applied to the original RoHS while the last four were added under RoHS 3, which took effect July 22, 2019.

• Cadmium (Cd): < 100 ppm
• Lead (Pb): < 1000 ppm
• Mercury (Hg): < 1000 ppm
• Hexavalent Chromium: (Cr VI) < 1000 ppm
• Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB): < 1000 ppm
• Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE): < 1000 ppm
• Bis(2-Ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP): < 1000 ppm
• Benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP): < 1000 ppm
• Dibutyl phthalate (DBP): < 1000 ppm
• Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP): < 1000 ppm

There a number of other EU regulations that are adjacent to, and intersect RoHS regulations. These include REACH, WEEE, ELV, EU Battery Regulations. These are discussed on this website."

Interesting that beryllium is not mentioned here. Cadmium is used sometimes in re-chargeable batteries, with nickel (NiCd batteries). Was the Connoisseur battery powered?  Even if so, you would think they could adapt another type of battery to power it.

I could not think of what it utilized that was non-compliant, except for lead in solder.  Their phono stage was NOT battery based; it had a massive separate power supply.  Maybe ROHS was an excuse for ceasing production, for all I know.   I wish I could hear one today and compare it to some of the better phono stages on the market.

I own gear that is built using some very old vintage parts, such as 80 year old input and  output transformers.  Although these are not subject to high temperatures so it is doubtful that they have PCBs in them, I would be concerned if they start to leak.  Fortunately, I don't run mercury vapor rectifiers.  The builder who made my preamp and power amp does build stuff with such rectifiers; it looks nice (beautiful soft blue glow), but I would worry about an accident with those things.