For those who are familiar with Synaestec, low noise platform is one of the brand strength which helps build the strong reputation of Fulcrum and Saxum being the quietest preamp and power amp.
Igniculus is a heavy lifting design work which took more than 2 years to accomplish. I recall 2 years ago when the company launched the flagship preamp Fulcrum, there was a consideration to incorporate a phonostage but eventually for perfection sake, such aspiration had evolved to a full blown dedication to give rise to Igniculus. 490mm x 490mm inherits the same footprint as its siblings Origo (SACD) and Fulcrum. What is inside this humongous chassis is a full differential true balanced architecture with multiple stages of proprietary octa-drive ultimate low noise amplifier for such high gain phono amplification!
If I recall, I have never spent 6 hours in one audition session in a friend’s place and we broke such record in Dynamic’s place listening to Igniculus pairing with Fulcrum/Saxum. I brought along several LPs from Columbia and Decca as the ability to choose curve also lends a competitive advantage to Igniculus among other peers in the market. Igniculus hardly picks up any audible noise into the speaker under the max volume when we lifted up the cartridge giving a remarkably dark background upon playing.
PT/Roy, in the World’s premiere of Wadax Reference DAC, have demonstrated how curve selection can significantly improve the playback. Dynamic and myself were fortunate among those who attended the session with such impact deeply implanted in our minds. In the 6 hours audition of Igniculus, we were busy searching and switching the curve selection in order to yield the best ever performance of those LPs. Conclusively, with the right curve setting, the soundstage is expanded 3-dimensionally and eyes closed, the Rockport Atria Mk2 sound with enormous grandeur and authority which is out of proportion to its humble size! When playing the Swanlake and Red Army Ensemble, I repeatedly exclaimed to Dynamic that that Igniculus really threw me into the concert theatre overseeing the full landscape of the performers fanning out in the stage with widen and deepen virtual realism.
Igniculus is designed with triple isolated power supply and mu-metal magnetic shielding, coupled with other patented noise mitigation circuitry, the overall S/N is better than 100dB (A-weighted). A-weighted is a more scientific and stringent approach to measure the S/N over a range of audible frequency instead of picking up only a specific frequency (eg 1000Hz) for a snapshot measure. Let’s not confuse with the spec shown in other peers.
6 hours flew like 6 mins when Dynamic was calling out for dinner with his family. This is one of the sessions that I find myself so captivated and indulged in enjoying the music. Only complaint is when playing back some of the re-issue LPs, the gap with the original version was mercilessly unleashed under the scrutiny of Igniculus!
Very interesting. Something new. Refreshing. The big deal is 80db gain without noise. From the description, it is the gain that transformed the perceived size of the speakers.
I would attribute to both the gain and the curve selection help reconstructing a more proper soundstage of the original recording venue, only limited by the room acoustics.
It has been almost 2 months since I have installed Igniculus in the showroom in Central mating with a full suite of Da Vinci Gabrielle mk3 turntable , Virtu reference tonearm and Grandeza cartridge.
The calmness of the turntable setup blended nicely with the roaring dynamics the phono can reproduce when the right curve has been specified. The synergistic effect of running a whole suite of synaestec electronics sets the music on express way in the signal path as well as put my mind into peace just focusing on the musical performance!
Wish to invite comrades of this forum to come and pay a visit.
Comments
Igniculus 名字來自拉丁文，意思係小小嘅一點火花，從Marvel 口中得知，這部超級phono，output gain 最高可達80db，這可算是mission impossible 吧，除咗MM/MC 、阻抗選擇外，仲有幾種電容值供選擇，終於等到有機會試聽。
開機！簡單試聽Accardo 嘅Rossini，強弱對比令我明顯感受到琴手嘅節奏，每一下發力嘅動作。
再試聽Jennifer Warnes 嘅The Well 背景寧靜、抖氣與歌詞間嘅停頓位、低頻嘅下潛力，能令你瞬間被Jennifer 嘅歌聲迷住了。
Igniculus 附設有四條curve 選擇: RIAA，EMI，Columbia，Decca。Karajan 嘅AIDA，先用RIAA curve 聽聽，已經感受到Igniculus 嘅權威同霸氣，再用回EMI curve，音場大咗一倍，整個扇形舞台呈現眼前，合埋眼，喇叭好似大咗一倍咁，深度直穿後牆，真係俾佢赫咗一跳，從來未聽過真竹唱頭不如此嘅氣勢。
值得提提，到現在Igniculus 只係大概run in 咗十小時左右，但我已經感到佢狀態非常之好，高頻一點都不覺生硬，相信再過兩週，完全burn in 後，聲音必定更加從容。
從尼次試聽後，我會將Igniculus Phono Stage 理解為: 佢能夠令火花般嘅訊號，變為火山般嘅能量，星星之火可以燎原！
「火花」是突然的驚喜，因為從來冇任何報導。80db 的MC gain 非常難做，因為噪音會明顯增加。但是現今大部分的唱頭輸出大多是低於0.3mv，如果有80db gain應該可以把它們發揮得淋漓盡致。
對呀，沒有誇大，現在 Igniculus 就把我的「真竹」變成了一粒小「天命」
Igniculus is a heavy lifting design work which took more than 2 years to accomplish. I recall 2 years ago when the company launched the flagship preamp Fulcrum, there was a consideration to incorporate a phonostage but eventually for perfection sake, such aspiration had evolved to a full blown dedication to give rise to Igniculus. 490mm x 490mm inherits the same footprint as its siblings Origo (SACD) and Fulcrum. What is inside this humongous chassis is a full differential true balanced architecture with multiple stages of proprietary octa-drive ultimate low noise amplifier for such high gain phono amplification!
If I recall, I have never spent 6 hours in one audition session in a friend’s place and we broke such record in Dynamic’s place listening to Igniculus pairing with Fulcrum/Saxum. I brought along several LPs from Columbia and Decca as the ability to choose curve also lends a competitive advantage to Igniculus among other peers in the market. Igniculus hardly picks up any audible noise into the speaker under the max volume when we lifted up the cartridge giving a remarkably dark background upon playing.
PT/Roy, in the World’s premiere of Wadax Reference DAC, have demonstrated how curve selection can significantly improve the playback. Dynamic and myself were fortunate among those who attended the session with such impact deeply implanted in our minds. In the 6 hours audition of Igniculus, we were busy searching and switching the curve selection in order to yield the best ever performance of those LPs. Conclusively, with the right curve setting, the soundstage is expanded 3-dimensionally and eyes closed, the Rockport Atria Mk2 sound with enormous grandeur and authority which is out of proportion to its humble size! When playing the Swanlake and Red Army Ensemble, I repeatedly exclaimed to Dynamic that that Igniculus really threw me into the concert theatre overseeing the full landscape of the performers fanning out in the stage with widen and deepen virtual realism.
Igniculus is designed with triple isolated power supply and mu-metal magnetic shielding, coupled with other patented noise mitigation circuitry, the overall S/N is better than 100dB (A-weighted). A-weighted is a more scientific and stringent approach to measure the S/N over a range of audible frequency instead of picking up only a specific frequency (eg 1000Hz) for a snapshot measure. Let’s not confuse with the spec shown in other peers.
6 hours flew like 6 mins when Dynamic was calling out for dinner with his family. This is one of the sessions that I find myself so captivated and indulged in enjoying the music. Only complaint is when playing back some of the re-issue LPs, the gap with the original version was mercilessly unleashed under the scrutiny of Igniculus!
Marvel
One of the hidden jewel I found is the Columbia Red Army Ensemble
Can you imagine such ensemble was in Dynamic apartment!? With the Decca curve selected, this happened!
你應該快換音箱了。
I would attribute to both the gain and the curve selection help reconstructing a more proper soundstage of the original recording venue, only limited by the room acoustics.
Marvel
It has been almost 2 months since I have installed Igniculus in the showroom in Central mating with a full suite of Da Vinci Gabrielle mk3 turntable , Virtu reference tonearm and Grandeza cartridge.
The calmness of the turntable setup blended nicely with the roaring dynamics the phono can reproduce when the right curve has been specified. The synergistic effect of running a whole suite of synaestec electronics sets the music on express way in the signal path as well as put my mind into peace just focusing on the musical performance!
Wish to invite comrades of this forum to come and pay a visit.