Reviews

The Absolute Sound issue 137 Aug/Sep 2002

5 Cutting Edge Preamps Compared (page 99)

Excerpt start page 107

HP’s choice : Line Stages

Edge Signature Solid-State Line Stage

Given the superb Performance of Edge’s Signature monoblock amplifiers, I jumped at the chance to listen to their newest addition to the Signature family, even though it was the last to arrive during tests, and accordingly, will require a bit more of further listening.

What lifts this unit out of the ordinary is the fact that it can be battery-operated, as well as through the usual AC line source. The Edge is not the first such design I have heard. And it has at least two common sonic shortcomings that the others had: (1) a lack of punch and testicular capacity in the lowest frequencies and (2) less dynamic authority throughout the spectrum. The dynamic contrasts simply aren’t as wide or vivid as they ought to be, even in AC operation.

But how just plain gorgeous the Signature sounds in its battery-driven mode! Talk about creme fraiche!

At this point, I should note that, save for the Conrad-Johnson, all of the line stages under review here have detachable AC cords, and I could have listened with the Kimber Palladian connectors, which cleaned up the sound in a way not dissimilar to that of the battery-operated Edge. It didn’t seem fair to do it in a non-stock version (although I am just itching to run this series again with the Palladians in place.) If the Edge, and to a lesser extent the Kimbers demonstrate anything, it is, and conclusively, that there’s a lot of crap coming through courtesy of your local power plant.

What you get with the Edge battery is a genuinely exquisite top octave, a rich, life like midbass that allows the lower strings not only to sing with authority but with their individual harmonics isolated and intact, down to lush sound of the rosin the players use. Each player stands alone, in his own small pool of air. There are several gong strokes in the Penderecki Credo, and it is a revelation to hear here just how complex the harmonics of the gong are. The attack on the percussion instruments in the Credo’s Fourth Movement--timpani, tambourine, and cymbals--is so distinctly rendered that all sound tonally more complete. One more advantage: It brings home much of the hall ambience more recognizably than you ordinarily hear it. Not only do we get much of the transparency we have with the Hovland (and the upcoming Wyetech), but we get that elusive feel of the music, at least during passages that don’t require it to reproduce fortissimos. And in terms of neutrality, the Edge is an almost perfect "five," neither yin nor yang.

On the down side? The Edge, in its battery mode, doesn’t quite "grab" voices in the way the best units can, that is, make a voice sound like a singularity that arrives at the ear as one wave. Perhaps this is because in terms of dimensionality, the Edge just doesn’t recreate the "body" of that instrument. And there is a compression of rear-stage width that bunches players together at the back center. The battery itself can run for about 12 hours, although the preliminary instruction booklet gives no hint about how long it lasts before you’ll need to recharge it (run it all the way down, and it will need an overnight recharge).

The Edge in the AC mode is, by contrast, not particularly special. It has more kick in the extreme bottom, more separation in the rear of the soundfield, and far less air and space between the ensembles and players within. Unlike the Edge battery, the AC version shortens the decay "tail" of transients, while blurring voices and reducing the overall air about the orchestra. There is also a reduction of the sweetness, purity, and delicacy of the top highs. That aforementioned going isn’t as instructively distinctive, nor are the midbass strings nearly so articulate; indeed, they sound a bit muddy. The sound’s character is a bit darker, and certainly there are minor solid-state artifacts. I’m not sure I know how to rate this thing. The battery stage, if you can forgive the low-bass shortcomings and a loss of dynamic contrasts, would surely be three-and-half stars. The AC stage (and this, remember, I am contrasting with the battery drive, not letting it stand on its own) I’d comparatively rate well below that, maybe, two and a half. We could split the difference and call it Three Stars or recommend it solely operated in its battery mode.