Leonard Cohen's posthumous album Thanks for the dance came across calm and contemplative; perfect fare for late listening hours. Its sparse arrangement makes it easy to follow individual threads. My first impression was of great tidiness. Each instrument had its own immovable very physical place. The amount of surrounding air and distance to fellow players appeared precisely measured. Think of a Michelin star menu where in addition to quality the absolutely correct quantity of each ingredient is vital to the final dish. The Reference Phono apparently knew the right dosage of everything and controlled the sonic imagery down to the smallest detail like fine guitar strums or on "The Night of Santiago", Cohen's every breath. This had little in common with cloudy analogue playback that mercifully conceals the technical shortcomings of bygone productions. On imaging precision, the Clearaudio looked closely at the €7.6K ASR Basis Exclusive HV which in this respect almost sets the standard for meticulous sorting and stage structuring. The ASR separated detail with even more precision whereas the Clearaudio, although capable of similar finesse, seemed to place a little more emphasis on integrating detail into the bigger picture.

On tonality it set up camp on the largely neutral side so look in vain for a warmed-up midrange. Euphony clearly didn't factor on the design team's shortlist. Of course this meant no colorless starkness when everything revolved around a highly correct multi-faceted representation of what was immortalized on vinyl. That noble goal came off quite well. Cohen's pipes lacked neither his trademark rough sonority nor associated chest volume. It neither was thinned out nor warmed over. The ASR and a ~€4.4K Chord Symphonic may give blessed Leonard a touch more pleasing vibrato and move the listener even closer. Whether you prefer this more intimate perspective or Clearaudio's greater overview distance is ultimately down to personal taste.

The Clearaudio didn't extend as deep in the bass as the ASR but the acoustic upright on "Don't explain" from the Siri Svale Band's Blackbird rumbled along just as realistically. The offset in ultimate extension required the subsonic sounds of Kari Bremnes' album Svarta Björn to register The Balance Reference Phono treated the treble a little more softly than the top phono stages from Clearaudio. There was no lack of overall resolving power however, just a very mild tint at the very top. Hence high-pitched female vocals were annoying only in blatantly exceptional cases. Our Francian thus mastered the rather complex vocals of "Lay all your love on me" from Caroline Shaw's Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part and So percussion without overcooking their spicy sibilants. For sonic coherence, the Clearaudio and ASR played in the same league. Both covered the frequency spectrum pleasantly even and stress-free. The Chord was close but in direct comparison a bit more erratic so less of a piece. Of course such nagging takes place at a high level as without question all three belong to the upper class of their guild.

To check dynamic range I reverted to Charlie Antolini's legendary Knock Out (token 100.3304) on my shelf. The hard transients which more than 40 years ago regularly caused tweeters serious grief are nowadays expected but the direct cut played at genre-appropriate volume still triggers regular guffaws with many less hifi-entrenched visitors to my room. "Christal for Christel" contains heavy drum rolls whose clean replay can quickly become problematic for mediocre equipment. Not so with Clearaudio and my other bandmates which across the board got on very well with the Swiss drummer's antics. Larger drums didn't feel quite as powerful and full-bodied but nonetheless well defined. With this material I had at the time identified the ASR as primus inter pares and would rate it no different now. At the same time the Balance Reference Phono with its lightning-fast attacks was on par with ~€8'000 competition like Rike Audio Sabine's III or AVM's OvationPH 8.3. Of course with its variable direct drive the Clearaudio had another trick up its sleeve. More on that anon.