Phonostage | MM/MC Fezz Audio
Manufacturer: FEZZ AUDIO |
PREMIERE
t seems to me that between two Polish audio manufacturers, the based in Jarocin PYLON AUDIO, a loudspeaker manufacturer, and located in Księżno, a town near Białystok, the FEZZ AUDIO there are several similarities. The first is obvious - they are both Polish companies. The second, less obvious one is equally important - these are companies built from scratch by their bosses, and also family businesses. Both have their headquarters in small cities. And finally there is something that makes them more than a local curiosity - they have been dynamically developing. The series of phono preamplifiers with the Fezz Audio logo is a great proof of that process. Established in 2014, the company specializes in the production of tube amplifiers, and recently they also started to make semiconductor-based phono preamplifiers. Its base is a well-known company manufacturing toroidal transformers - Toroidy.pl. The Fezz Audio is run by Maciek Lachowski, and Toroidy.pl by his dad, Lech Lachowski and brother Tomasz. It is no wonder that in all of its products Fezz uses the experience of its parent company, even when it comes to output transformers. Its lineup has been built slowly but consistently. The company showed its first project, the Laura amplifier, during the Audio Video Show 2014. A year later, it presented the key product in their offer, featuring EL34 tubes, an integrated push-pull amplifier called Silver Luna. Then came next amplifiers, using KT88 and PCL86 tubes, and then they returned to SE projects, with Mira Ceti utilizing 300B triodes and Mira Ceti 2A3 that, as the name suggests, has 2A3 on board, that is used, for example, by Wojciech Padjas from RMF Classic radio and jazz violinist Adam Bałdych. Last year it was time to take another step and expand the lineup with Phono preamplifiers. Maciek Lachowski, director of Fezz Audio, told us a bit about the latest project, the Gratia preamplifier. MACIEJ LACHOWSKI Maciek during Audio Video Show 2018 We were considering the introduction of phono preamplifiers into the Fezz Audio range for a long time. We were aware that this was the most obvious thing we should do. After all, a tube amplifier and turntable create a most natural setup, as resulted from many conversations with our clients. The project was a bit delayed due to the commonly known ... lack of time. The catalyst that pushed us to complete it turned out to be Wojtek Padjas, who asked me to design and build a phono preamplifier, which he could use in the conditions of a radio studio when preparing the broadcast Muzyka spod igły for RMF Classic radio . The assumptions were: the device was to support MM, LO MC, HO MC cartridges, including monophonic ones, have two separate inputs to work with a studio turntable equipped with two arms, it had to have two parallel outputs, a mono option, gain control and the ability to adjust the tone. Gratia - work in progress - a picture from Fezz Audio workshop We started design work in January 2019. Tests and finalization of the circuits in a compact housing took us almost four months. We wanted to finish this project before the first of June 2019, when at the Kościuszko Mound a special live edition of the Muzyka spod igły was to take place, under the patronage of "High Fidelity", prepared jointly by "two Wojteks", i.e. Wojtek Padjas and - well-known to you - Wojtek Pacuła :) By then the device sounded quite good, although not as good we wanted it to. After this event I called Robert Bajkowski (guy running the Audiofezzowanie.pl blog) wanting to tell him a little about Muzyka spod igły live event. Robert has been designing and installing home cinema audio installations for 25 years. It just so happened that he upgraded his CD player, in which he used operational amplifiers (opamps) by Burson. He offered to lend me these "chips" so that I could try them in this Wojtek phonostage, that I was still not completely satisfied with (neither was Wojtek). I replaced the first opamp, sat down and started listening again. And indeed - the replacement introduced a very clear improvement in the way the sound was presented. I wasn't sure if the sound I proposed would suit Wojtek, so I cut a hole in the preamplifier housing above the opamp base and sent it to him , adding several different opamps to the package. The set included such basic models as 5532, and more advanced OPA2132, also the aforementioned Bursons. Wojtek's final choice was the orange Burson V6 - nomen omen - Classic. Then this new prototype preamp landed in the hands of Paweł "Bemol" Ładniak, a mastering engineer who truly enjoyed the option of an easy opamp replacement. I don’t really want to brag, but both, him and Wojtek highly praised the sound of our preamplifier, which - let’s be honest - was really nice to hear. So we knew we had a good product. We only introduced minor changes to it. We removed "studio" functions that are unnecessary in home systems, we added what might be useful, such as a subsonic filter, and this is how the Gratia MM/MC model came to be. In the production version, I decided to use the Burson Audio Supreme Sound V5i integrated circuit. I decided that the sound it offered was the most universal one. The name of the preamplifier does not have any special genesis. The entire series had to start with the same letter. In this case it is 'G'. The preamplifier line will end with a tube one called Gloria. ♦ | GRATIA Gratia is the largest Fezz Audio phono preamplifier so far. In this manufacturer's lineup, there are also two smaller devices of this type: the Gaia mini model costing PLN 1099 and the Gaia MM for PLN 1599, both intended for MM and HO MC cartridges. Both are small - their front panel measures is just 70 and 163 mm wide, respectively. Gratia is bigger, because it is an (almost) full-size device, the front of which is the same width as of the amplifiers of this company (340 mm). In the tested version, the housing, made of rigid steel sheet, was painted black, with the front in high gloss black. In addition to black finish, there are also three other finishes that the company also uses in its amplifiers: white, red and burgundy. I wonder how Gratia would look like in a "hammer" finish, from which audio devices were known in the 1950s, for example ones by QUAD ... Functionality | The tested preamplifier is made extremely well and sensibly. On the front panel there is nothing but the white illuminated, laser cut manufacturer's logo, because all buttons are on the rear panel. There is a switch that allows user to select type of cartridge, another one turns on/off the subsonic filter, there is a gain selector for the MM input and another to convert stereo signal to mono. There is no load setting for MC cartridges. Cartridge type - obviously: MM or MC, or Moving Magnet, with an output voltage of up to 5 mV and Moving Coil, with a voltage of 0.5 to 2 mV. The first of them is loaded with an impedance of 47 kΩ, and the value of the load for the latter manufacturer describes with a range of 50 - 1 kΩ, but without offering a specific value. Thanks to the gain switch (+5 dB) we can also use MC HO cartridges. The inputs are somewhat unusual. Usually there is one common input for both MM and MC cartridges. Here there are separate inputs for each type of cartridge. So, for example, one can connect two tonearms at the same time. Or to connect a matching transformer (so-called step-up), shortening the signal path - directly into the MM section. Or simply use the HO MC cartridge, which will have a short signal path. And this was probably what it was about - shortening the signal’s path. Technology | Electrically, it is an elegant, quite simple system. The MC input is supported by low-noise transistors, while the MM input, and thus the second amplification stage for the MC, through a single integrated circuit for both channels (I’ll get back to that). The PCB is classically made using through hole assembly, so it was possible to use high quality passive elements. The circuit board with the audio system was placed at the back panel so that the input and output sockets - really nice ones - were soldered directly to it. As a result, the signal path is shortened, and thus noise is reduced. And noise in the phono preamplifier is the biggest problem, because we amplify the microscopic signal to a level comparable to the output of a CD player. Interesting fact - the amplifying circuits and the power supply are bolted to an additional element, that adds enforces the whole design, and the latter is bolted to the top wall, i.e. the circuits are placed upside down. This is a known technique and often used, but in tube amplifiers. Which is a proof of the Fezz Audio’s tube DNA. The housing is additionally damped with mats glued to the upper and lower panels. The is a single power supply for the entire circuit, with one symmetrical voltage and one unbalanced voltage. It uses a high class Supreme Audio Grade toroidal transformer by Toroidy.pl. It is placed inside a metal screen. Voltage is regulated using integrated regulators. Let me add that the electrical circuit was designed by Fezz Audio engineer, Mr. Zdzisław Kulikowski - the man also responsible for the development of the Silver Luna - and the final optimization of the RIAA curve was carried out "by ear" by Maciek Lachowski. | BURSON AUDIO, an integrated circuit reversed Opamp in the leading role | The main amplifying element of the Gratia preamplifier is the integrated circuit - Burson Audio Supreme V5i. This is a risky move for the manufacturer, which is associated with tubes. However, as far as I understand it, the idea was to offer music lovers a product that would be affordable (meaning - inexpensive). And indeed, looking at the prices of all three models, seeing how well-made they are, despite very decent prices, it seems that the idea has worked out really well. However, there are a lot of inexpensive, cool phono preamplifiers on the market. Like the ones from larger companies such as: Pro-Ject, Cambridge Audio, Arcam, NAD, and Music Hall, plus there are plenty of small producers, often almost at DIY level. To stand out, it was not enough to propose a good or even very good product. So Fezz Audio reached for an idea that was known but surprisingly rarely used in commercial products - it offered the user the opportunity to easily switch opamps. Switching opamps | I don't know if you remember, but some time ago there was a product on the market that offered similar feature - it was the ASUS Xonar Essence One digital-to-analog converter, available in three versions - the basic, Xonar Essence One Plus and Xonar Essence One Muses. For the latter, the user received tweezers and additional integrated circuits that he could exchange, changing the sound as well. The most expensive version had permanently installed expensive, valued Muses 01 chips from the Japanese company New Japan Radio (my test of these converters in 2013 Audio magazine HERE, accessed: 23.03.2020). The Gratia offers a similar solution. It's just that the "Fezz" crew went all in this time. Already in the basic version we get an excellent, rarely used (because expensive) integrated circuit - Burson Audio Supreme V5i. This is an integrated (operational) chip that the manufacturer calls "hybrid", enclosed in a metal screen. 'Hybrid' because, although its basis is the SMD operating circuit, the screen also includes high-class capacitors and Japanese TDK resistors. This system features a FET input and is a replacement for a lot of different chips, for example from the Burr-Brown OPA series, but also the classic NE5532. Vivid/Classic | Together with the Gratia preamplifier, we received from Fezz Audio two other chips - even more expensive and even more interesting: Burson Audio V6 Vivid Dual and Burson Audio V6 Classic Dual. As the manufacturer claims, they are the result of twenty years of hard work and five earlier generations. These are still the so-called OP-AMPs, or operational amplifiers, but they don't have much in common with "chips". The element they have in common are the eight-legs mounting in the base, but apart from that almost everything else is different. You probably don't remember it, but in the '70s and' 80s a popular choice of Polish music lovers was the Unitra Amator receiver (models 1-3, produced in 1976-1985). Beginning with the DSS-201 ('2') version instead of integrated circuits in the output they used hybrid, "thick-layer" integrated circuits GML-026. It was a great novelty in Poland and the peak of technology, and they were produced - among other places - in Krakow's Telpod factory, where I had apprenticeships a few years later. Well, the Burson chips from the '6' series are very similar to them. These are, in fact, two printed circuit boards with electronic components applied to them in SMD technology. This allowed to combine the advantages of integrated circuits (short signal path) with discrete ones (low noise). In exactly the same way Marantz HDAM (Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Module) circuits were once made, presented - let's add - for the first time in 1992 in the PM-99SE amplifier. Both Burson V6 series models have the shape of high pillars - their base is 14.5 x 12.4 mm, and the height is 29 mm. The housing of the Fezz Audio preamplifier has been designed so, that these chips fit easily inside. Vivid and Classic models differ in the color of the plastic housing - red for Classic and orange for Vivid. They also differ in their electrical system. But both feature a protection against the effects of reversing their position in the base; this protection is called reverse voltage. |
The are ventilation slots cut out in their housings. Discrete FET (field effect) transistors and precise passive components work there - for example, TDK capacitors and resistors with 0.5% tolerance. I will add that the transistors are selected manually. V6 Vivid and Classic are expensive, highly specialized circuits that can be replace classic integrated circuits. However, you have to take into account the expense of PLN 300 for one such system. And you thought tubes were expensive ... | HOW WE LISTENED TO IT The Fezz Audio Gratia phono preamplifier was tested in the "High Fidelity" reference system. The signal path looked like this: the turntable BennyAudio Immersio → phono preamplifier Fezz Audio Gratia → RCA Crystal Cable Absolute Dream interconnect → Ayon Audio Spheris III line preamplifier → RCA Acoustic Revive Absolute interconnect → Soulution 710 power amplifier → Siltech Triple Crown speaker cables → Harbeth M40.1 speakers. Gratia was compared to my long time reference, the RCM Audio Sensor Prelude IC preamplifier. During the test I used three different cartridges: Ortofon 2M Black (MM), Denon DL-103 (MC) and Miyajima Laboratory Madake (MC). I will add that I placed a Nordost QPoint noise generator on the preamplifier, which took care of reducing interference inside the device, and the signal from the turntable to the preamplifier was sent via Amplifier Surgery interconnects. Recordings used for the test (a selec- tion)
| Burson Audio Supreme V5i After carefully studying the circuit of the tested preamplifier, and then listening to how it sounds, it will be difficult to get used to the fact that this is not a "solid-state" sound, much less one we would expect from integrated circuits. And I'm not talking about the real world, because my RCM Audio preamplifier, I used when assessing turntables for 1000 and 300,000 PLN, and which is simply a unique product, also features integrated circuits and does not sound like a "transistor" device. I'm talking about stereotypes. And the stereotypical sound of semiconductors is cold and emotionless. And it still happens today, and many early solid-state products sounded like that. But first of all, not all of them (see: Scully 280-2 germanium transistors based tape recorder HERE, Sugden amplifiers etc.), and secondly - that’s the past. Today, in a blind test, it is difficult to say unequivocally whether we are listening to a tube or solid-state design. At least if we are talking about the top products - see Vitus Audio. It is similar with the Gratia preamplifier. In a blind test I would say that was listening to a tube device. And this is because the sound is full, smooth, I would even say - sweet. Already at the first album, the reissue of The Voice by Frank Sinatra, which is an old recording, first copied from 16" transcription" records and acetates on tape, and then pressed on vinyl, I heard what remained with me until the end of listening sessions. It's about balance. It's a sound that worked well with Sinatra, and with the Art Ensamble of Chicago that I listened to right after, physically transporting us to the studio, but also with John Coltrane’s Giant Steps in the Rhino version, pressed straight from the analog master tape. By the way - the latest version was released recently for the 60th anniversary in Japan in the SHM-CD version. Anyway, Gratia played all these records in a complex, dense, good way. It demanded my attention, but not using details or subtleties, but emotions. Because, if I may say so, it’s an "emotional" presentation. There is a lot of love, warmth and positive tension in it. It is not a particularly selective sound, we do not get information about the exact location of sources in space, or about the exact, precisely described aura accompanying the instruments. But when I write this, I have to remind myself that this is - after all - a quite inexpensive preamplifier, and I automatically evaluated it would have been an awesome tube product for 10,000 PLN or more. To justify my opinion I can say that the Fezz Audio preamplifier is simple so pleasant to listen to, so well-tailored to listen to the music in longer sessions that I automatically started treating it as if it were much more expensive. This does not mean that Gratia sounds like phonostages for PLN 10,000 and more, that's not the point. The point is that I perceived it this way, it impressed me so. So - within the limits imposed by the budget, manufacturer managed to prepare a device that does not exhibit problems specific to products in this price range. It was achieved by saturating the midrange and slightly rounding the sound attack. The bass is dense and strong, but also a bit soft. These modifications do not exceed the limits of good taste, and even - I have to say - they improve the sound. Low bass from the Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms in the Mobile Fidelity version, on two 45 rpm discs, was really deep and powerful. This version has a slightly boosted low tones, and Gratia showed it nicely, without imposing its character on the whole presentation. One of the advantages of such presentation is a large, extensive soundstage with 'air' between the performers. Because the preamplifier does not emphasize the attack not the treble, the travel noise and crackles are at a very low level, and this further improves the depth of its sound. And that's why Brendan Perry from the Ark sounded in such a credible way, against the tight synthesizer background, with a guitar added here and there. WOJCIECH PADJAS, RMF Classic tells us about his experience with Fezz Audio I call myself picky because instead of using a convenient streaming platform in which music is reduced to a common denominator, I listen to vinyl records. It's even more than that - I listen to vinyl records released in the 1950s and 1980s, as well as contemporary releases. The differences in their productions and approach to sound are radically different from record to record - especially in the case of the classical music. That is why such an important element as phonostage, must do its best to play the Gilels’ recording from the mid-1950s (piano), Bach fugues (organ), Vivaldi's concert for two violins (Stern and Ojstrach) last but not least Sleep by Max Richter (contemporary recording) in an equally enjoyable way. This task is basically impossible, which Maciek Lachowski did not know when he proposed that he would make a phono preamplifier for me, because "he’d heard my previous one humming and moaning". Wojtek Podjas Mira Ceti 2A3 amplifier, and below a phonostage custom made for him – photo taken during the event in RFM Classic I asked him to build into the burgundy chassis of the Mira Ceti amplifier, so that I would have a set (I listen to music using this amplifier with 2A3 tubes) and to give it two outputs, MM and MC input and a few additional elements, such as a subsonic filter for example. Yes, he did the best he could with my needs in mind. And I didn't like it at all. The sound, although very detailed, seemed too sharp. Jazz and electronic music sounded spectacular, but violin recordings released before the 1970s sounded horrible. So I found courage and sent the device back asking for help. After all, making changes over the phone is not easy, and the distance from Bialystok to Krakow is too great to make these changes in my room. When I sent the phonostage for the third time, because "it still wasn't it", I received a device with a hole at the top and a bag of opamps, which are responsible for the sound. And it worked. By the way, I did not think that this small cube changes so much in the sound. Now, when I have critically difficult records to listen to, with one move of a trained hand I change the opamp and enjoy the - and the sound is beautiful! ♦ | Mono/Stereo Listening session with this phonostage I began and ended with monophonic records: the aforementioned Frank Sinatra at the beginning and Strange Days by The Doors at the end. This second album was released in 2017 on the occasion of Record Store Day on 180 g of vinyl, in the original mix. In both cases, the mono / stereo switch on the back of the device helped to play them, significantly improving the performance, or rather my own comfort. Why is such a switch not a standard? - Hard to say. The differences are not very big, yet important. After the signal from the stereo cartridge is converted to mono, the sound becomes more mature, more solid. Also in this case, the cracks audible in stereo disappeared, so that the presentation was more reliable, it was more coherent. Although the use of a mono cartridge brings even more benefits, the compromise of playing music from the stereo cartridge and adding the signal from the left and right channels, as here, is what we need, because it costs nothing. | Burson Audio V6 Classic Dual/V6 Vivid Dual The Gratia's sound in the basic configuration is very good, cool, addictive. But ... Replacing the opamp with the V6 Classic Dual is a bit like switching to another level. Everything is more resolving, better differentiated, but the overall character of the sound, i.e. a bit tube-like - remains. The first record I listened with it was the monophonic recording of the Bach cantatas from 1960, released by Archive Production, a branch of Deutsche Grammophon. With the V6 Classic Dual, I could hear voices more strongly, more densely, they were also better "anchored in space". Replacing the standard opamp with the V6 Vivid Dual changed the sound towards a greater opening at the upper midrange, making the voices clearer. At the same time, however, the vividness that had previously delighted me was no longer as addictive. In turn, what happened with the Dire Straits album was a bit different - it was the V6 Vivid Dual that offered a stronger, better defined sound, with a slightly withdrawn vocal, which was previously shown a bit higher and had a less rich lower midrange. Although the changes should be similar every time, depending on the music, using the Vivid and Classic versions gave different results. Ultimately, I chose the Classic version. It offered the best saturation, and was also best tonally balanced. It was "my" sound. But not because the Vivid version was bad - on the contrary, in many systems it may be the right one. Density and dynamics are more appealing to me, and I got them with the orange opamp. | SUMMARY Gratia by Fezz Audio is a thought-out, mature device.I missed a bit a possibility to adjust settings for cartridges, but I understand that manufacturer had to find a way to make some savings in one place to be able to do something else. In my opinion, this is a good compromise. Because, apart from that, this is a well-equipped device, and the mono button, obviously if we have such records, is a great feature and really improves the presentation. Gratia's sound is mature, saturated and full. It gives a sense of experiencing a high-end product. It resembles the sound of tube devices, although of course it is not synonymous with it. But without tubes one still gets a lot of what they usually offer. Especially when we use the Burson Audio V6 Classic opamp. In this version it is a phonostage that will allow users to listen to really expensive turntables and cartridges without feeling that they are missing something and not benefit from something. As usual with Fezz Audio - a really good job! ■ Technical specifications (according to manufacturer) Type: Phonostage for MM, HO/MC, MC cartridgesPower consumption: 12 W Input impedance MM | MC: 47 kΩ | 50 Ω - 1 kΩ OpAmps: Burson Audio Supreme V5i AC Supply: regulated + toroidal Supreme Audio Grade transformer by Toroidy.pl Dimensions (W x H x D): 340 x 320 x 80 mm Weight: 4.2 kg |
Reference system 2018 |
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1) Loudspeakers: HARBETH M40.1 |REVIEW| 2) Line preamplifier: AYON AUDIO Spheris III Linestage |REVIEW| 3) Super Audio CD Player: AYON AUDIO CD-35 HF Edition No. 01/50 |REVIEW| 4) Stands (loudspeakers): ACOUSTIC REVIVE (custom) |ABOUT| 5) Power amplifier: SOULUTION 710 6) Loudspeaker filter: SPEC REAL-SOUND PROCESSOR RSP-AZ9EX (prototype) |REVIEW| 7) Hi-Fi rack: FINITE ELEMENTE Pagode Edition |ABOUT| |
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Cables Analog interconnect SACD Player - Line preamplifier: SILTECH Triple Crown (1 m) |ABOUT|Analog interconnect Line preamplifier - Power amplifier: ACOUSTIC REVIVE RCA-1.0 Absolute-FM (1 m) |REVIEW| Speaker cable: SILTECH Triple Crown (2.5 m) |ABOUT| |
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AC Power Power cable | Mains Power Distribution Block - SACD Player: SILTECH Triple CrownPower (2 m) |ARTICLE| Power cable | Mains Power Distribution Block - Line preamplifier - ACOUSTIC REVIVE Power Reference Triple-C (2 m) |REVIEW| Power cable | Mains Power Distribution Block - Power amplifier - ACROLINK Mexcel 7N-PC9500 |ARTICLE| Power cable | Power Receptacle - Mains Power Distribution Block: ACROLINK Mexcel 7N-PC9500 (2 m) |ARTICLE| Power Receptacle: Acoustic Revive RTP-4eu ULTIMATE |REVIEW| Anti-vibration platform under Acoustic Revive RTP-4eu ULTIMATE: Asura QUALITY RECOVERY SYSTEM Level 1 |REVIEW| Power Supply Conditioner: Acoustic Revive RPC-1 |REVIEW| Power Supply Conditioner: Acoustic Revive RAS-14 Triple-C |REVIEW| Passive filter EMI/RFI: VERICTUM Block |REVIEW| |
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Anti-vibration Speaker stands: ACOUSTIC REVIVE (custom)Hi-Fi rack: FINITE ELEMENTE Pagode Edition |ABOUT| Anti-vibration platforms: ACOUSTIC REVIVE RAF-48H |ARTICLE| Isolators: |
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Analogue Phono preamplifier: Phono cartridges:
Clamp: PATHE WINGS Titanium PW-Ti 770 | Limited Edition Record mats:
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Headphones Headphone amplifier: AYON AUDIO HA-3 |REVIEW|Headphones: Headphone Cables: Forza AudioWorks NOIR HYBRID HPC |
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