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This caused head scratching. 'Box 15' was dead quiet—and I do mean dead—into the Indian Rethm Maarga. And very compelling on sound. But $8.450/pr speakers aren't natural playmates. Next. On that count my Boenicke B10 and Aries Cerat Gladius and Voxativ Ampeggio were even more unnatural. Next. On price and copasetic load, Zu Audio's Essence were the best I could manage. For amp comparators I had Peachtree Audio's iDecco as integrated on the lower end, Nelson Pass' FirstWatt SIT-2 on the high. Since the latter lacks volume control, I'd run the $3.000 April Music Eximus DP1 DAC/preamp. I'd trim the FW with its pot but leave it wide open for the two integrateds. None of this was exactly real-world on cost. Nor was it likely to see itself repeated by actual customers. Well, 'sue me' as they say in California. Red Wine Audio's Signature 15 isn't exactly commonplace to make this easy.


While still on muchos trabajo/poco dineros, the perennial cable question arose. Chris Sommovigo's email promised relief. "My new Black Cat Morpheus! cables are some of the more interesting things I've done. I've adapted a process that allows me to insulate our cables in-house in an über-green way without for example molten plastics outgassing poisons into the air. When I use a continuous filament Teflon fiber in the process, the resultant dielectric constant is quite low as a good amount of air gets trapped between the fibers. The mechanical damping is naturally good. Combining this with our dead-soft annealed pure copper tubular conductor—CuTube™—and a nice pure copper shield yields some pretty spectacular results. Now that I own all the means of production except for the raw wire, my per-unit costs have come down considerably. This means I can offer really high performance for very competitive prices.

"Had I contracted this product out and then sold it through traditional distribution channels, it would likely be triple the price. I don't offer a balanced interconnect yet as I'm waiting to see if enough people want one. It would almost double the price of the interconnect (twice the conductors, a little more labor). Part of the way I keep prices down is limiting types and lengths of cables. I can thus make 3m cables in advance and cut them down if I need shorter lengths. I will do custom lengths (just recently did a 7m Morpheus! speaker cable for a client) but there's a surcharge and custom lengths aren't covered by our 60-day MBG (everything else is). To give you an idea on price: 1/1.5m Morpheus! RCA interconnect $127.50/150/pr; 1.5/3m Morpheus! speaker cable $217.50/350/pr." I so wasn't into a dedicated cable assignment. Yet I did promise Chris a mention in this review if he could deliver on time. His pricing sizzled. His reputation for quality designs was equally hot. The timing didn't seem coincidence either. 'Do me'. That settled the review system. While I awaited his delivery, I began the RWA assessment with my usual Zu Event cable loom.
 
To kick off I cued up Angélique Kidjo's infectious Afro-Latin Oyaya! to remain with the real-world theme of not audiophile yawn but music you listen to because you luv 'er. With its pluckily popped bass lines and Cuban-style brass, "Seyin Djro" is a slightly hot Pop number. Here both Signature 15 and iDecco conveyed incisive bite from the upper midrange on up whilst the static induction transistors played it more refined and suave. The two more affordable amps erected the proverbial wall of sound, the SIT-2 carved out noticeably more depth and acute layering. Being more lucid, transparent and quick, the Pass amp also was timbrally leaner particularly compared to the Red Wine. The latter was especially feisty and poppy in the bass and tonally the most saturated and pressurized from within.


Remembering the Signature 30's Zuish sound—meaty, ballsy, dense, somewhat hooded on top and generally thick—I appreciated and expected an instant like+like enhancement of certain qualities into the Essence. The first things which thus struck me about Vinnie's new discrete transistor design were its more teased-out refined treble; and its overall higher resolution. Knowing how the SIT-2 has so far beaten all comers on those fronts, I had a tall marker against which to measure Mr. Rossi's advancements. No, the Signature 15 was not as see-into or feathered out as the Pass. It also couldn't separate recorded space as finely or render the top end as sweetly and blown open. Yet it retaliated with heavier tone and a punchier grippier handling from the midbass downward.
Those aspects were recognizable RWA house sound stuff and akin to Zu. What had gone up—the extent I was unsure of without a direct A/B—was overall illumination. Clearly without sacrificing overall warmth and weightiness, the new battery type plus very different output stage had lifted the general presentation to a higher plateau of sophistication. It still felt like rich caffe latte with cream, slightly chocolaty in fact. But the caffeine content had gone up to approach single espresso level. In combination with the Essence speaker this sound majored big time on body, a powerful sense of robustness, very grippy taut bass and tonal heaviness.

I was frankly a bit spooked by just how compelling this combination played. I would characterize is as eminently unfussy. Like a home-cooked comfort meal it was fundamentally satisfying. That twitchy audiophile trigger finger which is always on the lookout for something to improve or simply change had strangely grown lethargic. While the upstairs judge still had comments just because (that's his job), the need to do anything about the man had seriously relaxed. With the FirstWatt amp, the increase in seeables—things to account for and integrate just so—was clearly higher maintenance. The more you see, the more critical you become.

Feeling nearly like a personal litany due to how often I've commented on both Red Wine Audio and Zu, if tonal weight, image density, dynamic shove and wiry bass speak to you more than airiness, holography, microdynamic jump factor and heightened spatial contrast, this $1.500 integrated amp with remote control and line-out for a subwoofer is quite the heavyweight. And because it really is preternaturally quiet, all those Lowther & Co. noise tracking widebanders which give buzzing valve amps the fantods are beautifully catered to. Two rounds with the 97dB Rethm Maarga and 100dB Voxativ Ampeggio proved this most decisively.

The above was the—completely honest but still—sales spiel to paint the bigger picture. How about any small print before you sign (or not) on the dotted line?