 The Netherlands are a real basin of good products. And it all started with Ron Wevers, the owner of the company East West Audioshop, who sent me the CD player E-Sound CD-E5 SE for testing (test HERE). He found me by means of Internet, and not speaking a word in Polish, interested by the HFOL subject matter and probably - as he is a professional photographer, that made his career photographing rock bands on their tours – the graphical framing of our portal. With the product he hit the bullseye, and earned the Product of the Year 2006 award (HERE). In January we have tested a new version of the device, the model CD-E5 EWAE (test HERE), and recalling it we touch upon the essence of that, what I wanted to tell. East West Audio Edition is a specific combination of the Chinese industry capabilities and Dutch constructors abilities. They take a very good product and modify it according to their specifications. The changes in the circuitry can be smaller or bigger – in case of the E-Sound the change was substantial, as a completely new D/A converter PCB was added and all capacitors in the power supply were exchanged. Maybe in contrast to this digital source, Ron proposed some time ago a test of a gramophone preamplifier. This time, it is a product distributed by another Dutch company – Audiotorium Audio import. The basis for the modifications is the preamp LP 2.0 of the company Jasmine built-up from two parts – the main circuitry in one enclosure and power supply in another. The quality of manufacturing and of the sound was high enough, that it was decided to make the same step as with the E-Sound. This time the main changes were made to the power supply, the way the power is supplied was changed, a critical thing in circuits with such a large amplification (you have to get 1-2V from 0.2mV). It was decided to go for a non-compromise way and a battery power supply was prepared, that together with the charger was placed in the former power supply enclosure. Also probably all capacitors were exchanged in the preamplifier itself. The price rose significantly compared to basic unit, but the end price, taking into account the kind of the device, quality of manufacture, and similar, is still rather small. LISTENING EXPERIENCE )
The sound of Jasmine in some way fits my idea of the battery powered preamplifier. I did not listen to the most expensive devices of that kind, but I am talking about products like InTheGroove MkII of Pathos, that I hosted in my system. We have a quite delicate in drawing, spacious sound with nice timbre. On the other hand the Jasmine breaks out of this stereotype with a strong treble and actually a quite transparent sound. Like with the Cyrus Phono X the basis here is the choice of the right cartridge. I think that Dynavector XX-2 will sound better than Sumiko Blackbird (test HERE). It will be best with cartridges like Sumiko Celebration (test HERE) – with which the Jasmine sounded really beautiful – and if someone can afford it – I recommend Koetsu Rosewood Signature. GThe treble and upper midrange of the LP 4.0 is strong and prominent. There is no trace of warming, slowing, smoothing, or similar, that could hint the way of supplying power. The first plane is built in a clear way, and is supported with a quick and short bass. Interestingly, this preamplifier, in spite not being fully coherent at the lowest frequencies (this can be heard only with full range speakers and headphones like the AKG K701 – test HERE), has the bass as a whole quicker and more dense as the AC powered Cyrus Phono X and AudioNemesis PM-1. Frankly speaking, the bass resembled that what was offered by the Manley Steelhead (test HERE). This control was extremely handy by recordings, where the bass is played with verve, like on the Alison Moyet maxi-single Love Letters (CBS, Moyet T5, 45 rpm LP), in the “This House” piece. The bass was a bit over exaggerated here and if something in the system does not cope with such impulses, we momentarily have booming. Jasmine handled this very well, not shortening it, not thinning it – in the end that is the way it was recorded – while controlling it quite well, so that it did not overwhelm the rest of the music. )
And though the perception of music, if paired with the right cartridge, is pleasing, almost relaxing, so seemingly in contrast to the tight, precise bass, that suggests a rather analytical sound (meaning emphasized sound attack). Records like Perl Diver of David Roth (Stockfisch, SFR 357.8031.1, 180 g LP), even though there is no warming in the LP 4.0, that would make the transmission more “intimate” in a somewhat delusive way. Intimacy and touchability of the sound is on this record a part of the timbre and it is enough not to interfere with it to have it play like this. Jasmine makes it very good, it does not smoothen anything, not boosting anything, but rather transmits everything as thorough as possible. Because in the Jasmine a kind of impassiveness – in the sense of not imposing its character – and lack of suction: the device does not suck music from music, does not prefer the technical aspects of the sound, treated mostly separated from each other (attack, timbre, speed, drawing) over music, on the other hand it does not abandon the technique in the name of widely defined musicality. This is not the most accurate preamplifier of the world – comparing it to the Steelhead shows that it can be done better – but putting this two centers of gravity together shows, that they are very close, close enough to sound good. And at first the LP 4.0does not attract attention like for example Cyrus Phono X with its saturated midrange, and even for the first few days I had the idea, that it sounds too bright. Comparison to the Manley confirmed the slightly brighter timbre (but not colder), but the difference was not big, not enough to justify my impressions. The advantages of the Chinese-Dutch preamplifier can be appreciated, when we listen to it for some time, and then we try to go back to other preamplifiers. We will hear then, that under the smoothness and delicate timbre that could be heard as first impression, hides significant resolution and dynamics, powerful bass and impressive treble. From all the advantages of this device to me the clarity seems most important. This is an arbitrary choice, but after long time spent with this device (two months), this is my impression. Clarity without sharpening. And it is not about resolution, this is good, but it can be better, but about combining resolution with good articulation, things that do not mean the same. )
I mentioned about pairing the Jasmine with expensive cartridges, but the cheap Denon DL-103 cartridge sounded extremely well with it (test HERE). This is something like a small diamond, that can easily be overlooked. With the Jasmine it gave a smooth, nice, very pleasant and by this very impressive sound. Well pressed discs played with noblesse, without problems with timbre or details. Contrabass from the mentioned Roth disc had very good, saturated timbres, and was not glued together to a pulp. In contrast to my earlier statement (there are always exceptions to the rule) the LP 4.0 sounded very good paired with the, quite expressive, Ortofon X1-MC cartridge. This is not the same quality league, but it shows that you have to experiment. During the usage I had only two problems: the first one was regarding the grounding – LP 4.0 with the Koetsu always played with a significant noise (low frequency). Regardless of how the grounding was arranged in the plugs (also without those – it is a battery powered device), of how I connected the grounding of the tonearm, every time somewhere below was that humming noise. It became apparent that it was the combination of the character of the cartridge and the sensitivity of the Jasmine – the preamplifier cannot be placed near the motor of the turntable, as even from a distance of 0.5m the devices interfered heavily. Only when I placed the Jasmine with its side to the gramophone, and on the front ledge, the humming diminished. But it did not disappear completely. With other cartridges the problem was not that annoying, but the device required to be put far away from the turntable. Also the noise floor from this device was higher than from the Cyrus Phono X. I think however, that it can be attributed to early status of the specimen I received. To be sure, I would recommend to check it by yourselves. Let us listen to the Jasmine longer than usual. This is not a preamplifier that throws somebody on his or her knees, that engages the listener's ear just after powering it up, because the Audionemesis or Cyrus sound with a warmer, more involving from the beginning, sound. However, after some more time, the Jasmine does not bore the listener, what often happens with warm sound. Then we start to appreciate the combination of delicacy and resolution with clarity. But let us remember, to pick the right cartridge. THE MAKE )
The RIAA preamplifier named LP 4.0 is an effect of Chinese-Dutch cooperation. Similar to other ventures of that kind (like the E-Sound – test of the CD-5E EWAE player HERE, Prima Luna, Melody, Advance Acoustic and similar) it is a basis device of a Chinese company, engineered and tuned by an European distributor. The changes made to the basis model LP 2.0 of the company Jasmine are substantial and cover exchange of some elements in the preamplifier itself, as well as a complete change of power source. Instead of a standard line power supply we have a power supply with batteries. This, at least in theory, is the best possible way of feeding power to the preamplifier, especially a gramophone preamplifier, but it is more common in higher price ranges. LP 4.0 is composed of two elements: the power supply and the main preamplifier. Both elements are placed in very nice looking, square based enclosures with perfect workmanship. Their top and bottom covers are made from aluminum, anodized with steel color. The elements are screwed to a solid, steel frame, that has an indentation, where black painted acrylic plates were placed. Originally both plates contained a blue lit writing with the company name “Jasmine”. In the battery version this writing is lit only in the power supply in AC power mode. This is logical, the power consumption is minimized in that way. The power supply charges the batteries automatically and then switches off. The battery status is visualized by two red LEDs on the power supply. When we unscrew it we see a nice, but unsophisticated (and maybe due to this reliable) circuitry – a considerably sized toroidal transformer, powered through a nice mains filter from Shaffner, and two separate power supplies – as we have two sets of batteries. Interestingly those are Li-polymer Varta batteries, used in cell phones (we have two sets of three batteries). )
The power supply is connected to the preamplifier by a quite short, but very good, elastic shielded cable, made from a Proel microphone cable, terminated with large lockable plugs a la DIN. The preamplifier itself has an identical enclosure, but on the backplate we have many elements: there is a RCA input and output, power switch, a switch cutting ultra low frequencies, MM and MC cartridge selector and a rotary impedance selector. We can choose one of four values: 30Ω, 100Ω, 250Ω and 1kΩ. The inside surprises with high quality of the used elements and a very simple construction – clearly trying to eliminate every not really needed element, connection, and similar (Audionemesis follows a similar path). The whole was placed on one, very good PCB, and in every channel only three (yes – only THREE!) K170 Toshiba transistors. This are low noise transistors of the JFET type (with N channel). The equalization circuitry is based on very good, metalized capacitors Audyn-Cap (MKP-QS) and a few other capacitors, from which some look like ERO. It seems, that all capacitors were exchanged by the Dutchmen. The resistors are metalized, precise. The input impedance selector looks solid, and the resistors are soldered directly on the selector. Because I managed to get one of the first working prototypes, some of the writings were made on small labels.
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