Anyone who pursues their nocturnal passions under reduced SPL will be thrilled by how much dynamic fire the Clearaudio still exudes. It remains finely differentiated on microdynamic gradations to safeguard music's natural drive. The Balance Reference Phono brought out the sensitive interplay of cello and piano in Beethoven's Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 [Duo Per Albena, Opus 3] perfectly. Recordings on this Swedish label tend to be unvarnished and astonishingly natural which could be heard clearly and distinctly any time of day or night thanks to Clearaudio's excellent tracking of fine dynamics. It's not easy to make a clear pronouncement on its soundstaging however because this aspect changed significantly with different Ω loading. The more cartridges like the Titan i and Aventurin 6 were terminated into high impedances, the deeper the space behind the speakers unfurled. This was no new insight and of course changes in physicality and precision accompanied it. But how general 3D varied and the ease whereby this was heard still came as a pleasant surprise. So the decision on whether space behind an orchestra presents narrow or expansive, wide or narrow is determined with the appropriate termination resistor. It's where this deck differs significantly from competitors including the Chord Symphonic where pressing a button to change resistive loading usually only triggers marginal such changes.

Together with the phono stage Clearaudio had also shipped me their top MM Charisma V2 pickup which colleague Christian Bayer summed up in his report as a fantastic all-rounder whose true competition is far more likely to come from the MC camp. What changed once the Balance Reference Phono processed the Charisma V2's higher voltage? Not very much. A dash of warmth added itself to the sound. Not shadowed by any loss of precision, this wasn't at all deleterious to the other virtues. Granted, the Charisma V2 didn't play as mercilessly articulate as my Lyra in the bass and in the treble was less pronounced, too. Other than that, Clearaudio's best MM amazed with excellent dynamics, timbre credibility and class-appropriate fine detailing which, if I didn't know better, suggested a skillfully tuned very musical MC. What more could one ask for? Direct so as to never worry about a bulky coin-intense line-level preamp. Provocative? Once the Bastanis Imperial XLR made the direct connection to my darTZeel power amplifier, it was time to use Clearaudio's included remote.

Even though I retain perfect faith in my Silvercore Line 2 preamplifier's musical acumen, the Clearaudio replaced it exceedingly well. With the Duo Per Albena, cello and grand piano were even more clearly defined, their surrounding sense of space still more expansive. These were just nuances but still. While tonality didn't shift, the Balance Reference Phono without external preamp had a particularly dynamic effect. I cued up Antolini's Knock Out again which gained so much additional impact and power that I remained glued to my chair across both sides of the vinyl. Incidentally follow Clearaudio's advice, operate their phono stage strictly symmetrically and it'll net extra points for sounding even more direct and pristine. This machine scored high on tonal balance, dynamic contrast and immaculate sorting. It targets those vinyl connoisseurs who operate more than one pickup or tonearm and want the convenience of not having to rewire their phono preamp with each change. Two fully independent gain sections with a range of well-chosen adjustments cater to both MC and MM and though the symmetrical connection is superior, Clearaudio aren't precious about it to. You can use RCA instead. Headphone fans appreciate their two outputs but to me, the integral master volume with remote was the real highlight especially for pure analog listeners who can now forget the detour through a linestage. It would take an exceptionally accomplish preamp to exceed Clearaudio's pure direct connection.

The close proximity of the umbilical connector demands a suitably compact power-cord barrel to fit.

Psych profile of Clearaudio's Balance Reference Phono…
♦ best-of-class resolution. For anything more, prepare to spend five figures.
♦ calm and collected overview no matter what. Images focus as though laser-locked in space. Good depth of field.
♦ even tonality with deep just not extremely deep bass. Honest and informative midband. Good treble resolution slightly subdued at the very top to support long-term comfort.
♦ brilliant microdynamics, good macrodynamics. Transients are crisp with sufficient power. Both still improve in direct drive.
♦ soundstage perspective depends on resistive loading. Stages generously large when terminated correctly, mediocre when mismatched.
♦ very good performance in direct-to-amp connection to really decommission a line-level preamp for pure vinyl listeners.
♦ two completely separate gain stage sections with their own RCA/XLR inputs and adjustments to run multiple MM/MC pickups and tonearms. Remote control.

Facts.
Concept: symmetrical phono stage with two independent gain sections, outboard power supply and MM/MC support
i/o: 2 each RCA/XLR in, RCA/XLR out
Dimensions & weight: 240 × 145 × 78mm WxHxD each; head unit 2.9 g, PSU 2.2 kg
Trim: black or silver
Other: two 6.3mm headphone outputs, remote-controlled master volume
Power draw: 12 watts idle, sub 0.5 watts standby
Warranty: 3 years with registration