Phono Preamp Comparison | Furutech - Lehmann - Croft - Consonance

#phonoamp #phonostage #phonopre #lehmann #furutech #croft #consonance
In this video I recorded one song - Boris Blank & Malia's 'I Feel It Like You' with 4 phonoamps: the FURUTECH GT40, the CROFT 25R, the CONSONANCE PM-11 and the LEHMANN Black Cube.
Cartridge is a Moving Magnet, the Excel ES70-EX4 w/ Shibata stylus.
Enjoy!
Time stamp:
Furutech / Consonance / Croft / Lehmann
00:09 / 03:48 / 07:27 / 11:07
00:39 / 04:19 / 07:57 / 11:37
01:09 / 04:48 / 08:27 / 12:07
01:39 / 05:18 / 08:57 / 12:37
02:09 / 05:48 / 09:27 / 13:07
02:39 / 06:18 / 09:57 / 13:37
03:09 / 06:48 / 10:27 / 14:07

[@Jil8840]

Consonance sounds the best. Very icely clear and fresh sound, taller soundstage more transparent and live sound. Great test thanks.

[@granoj1]

yes this Consonance is interesting new acquaintance for me. It sounds tight, fresh and airy and a little more exciting compared to Lehmann, in a good way. Listening with HD650 + Sonarworks correction

[@NothingLikeVinyl]

The Croft, followed by the Lehmann, are the ones with the least amount of treble in the overall sound, but not by a big margin. That's the only remarkable difference I perceive. Thank you for this comparison!

[@jwester7009]

I really like the time stamps. A great way to compare. I think I would actually choose none of the preamps based on this track. The most clear and fast dynamic sound is for me the Consonance, but it also has some issues around the treble on this track. My least favorite is the Croft. To me it sounds muffled with slow dynamic attack and release time

[@rich.e]

Having gone through the comparison video using the same four phono pre-amps playing 'Spirits In The Material World', I think all four are a lot closer sounding here than on the Police track. The Furutech GT40 is similarly silky to the previous comparison video, a touch warm sounding, but perhaps too easy a listen and seeming to lack a smidge of bite. Listening to the Consonance PM-11, it seemed comparatively more detailed and open than the Furutech from the first notes but was also a little detached and 'matter of fact' perhaps... more 'hi-fi' even? For disclosure, I have the same model phono pre-amp in my system. The Croft is my favourite again here; with this fairly cold & sparse recording it seems more organic and open sounding without being syrupy, and the vocal coming across a little more naturally. This is the one that put more of a smile on my face than the others. The Lehman is clearly a good phono pre-amp but I'm struggling to say either why I liked it or disliked it, just seeming to come up a little shy of the joy I get from Croft to my 50-year-old ears. For me, the sound is just sort of 'happening over there' and I'm not really feeling it. A much tighter race than with The Police track, I struggle to clearly pick places 2, 3 & 4 as there seems to be small pluses and minuses to each's presentation, and really it is down to presentation imho - although happy enough to carry on with my own Consonance PM-11 (and I've only had it a couple of months anyway). I thought all of these were decent enough products. But the Croft is my pick again here. I've next to no experience of valve amps but this amp has a rightness that places it ahead of the others; it was that little bit less constrained and seemed more like a performance rather than the slightly controlled sound of the others. For me. On my system. Through my ears via KZbin's audio compression. Thanks again, Naughts, for your considerable efforts to give us this opportunity. My conclusion is that through KZbin audio compression, and hearing any of these in isolation, they are all really decent. Your comparison has allowed me to hear minor differences in presentation that can make the difference between a good listen and a great one. Although I'll likely never have the opportunity, it does whet the appetite for auditioning them next to each other in a real world system without having to allow for KZbin's audio compression intervening. If there is any way that you could make the original uncompressed audio rips accessible online somehow, that would be amazing. Great work and many thanks. eggs

[@uweboll8833]

Croft is excellent! Thanks & greetings.

[@robertosamartin9385]

See and hear the guy's work: Where are the likes ?? Where are?!

[@fidellopezbarquiel7958]

Thanks! Amazing work!

[@spencerdeaton7202]

Croft then black cube 2nd, and I’m a black cube owner.

[@sandyshoremann7524]

On this comparo, I like the Croft. Nice Liquidity and a BIg Bouncy bottom shows the Consonance a bit lean down low. Now I personally cant hear above 7khz so take that into account ( I am O-L-D) . I didn't hear the channel imbalance here that was on your later Police comparo. AFA Imbalance , wonder if there was a connection issue or tube going in the 25R ? Thanks for the fun! Cheers! -Sandy

[@one-wayexistence4482]

On this track I've a tendency to Consonance & Furutech for openness and clearity, whereas the Croft seems a tad veiled and dark.

[@pdxsnap]

Great demo. On iPad Pro speakers the Croft an easy win, Lehman second.

[@socksumi]

The Croft by a Country mile.

[@christopherward5065]

Croft and Lehmann were the best options. Followed by Consonance and finally the Furutech. The Furutech had very poor dynamic discrimination. The voice sounded like it was in a compressor and a limiter. There was no space in the recording and little expression. Switching to the Consonance demonstrated that the voice had good dynamics and detail according to the recording. A good sound, it did really well. The Croft gave everything more flow and naturalism. The musicians’ performances were even more apparent and the sense of space in the recording was more available. Note decays were well resolved. The Lehmann Cube lowered the noise floor compared to the Croft and did nearly everything you could want. It had a slight touch of hardness and good flow. The Cube would be really interesting with a bigger power supply and upgrades to resistors and capacitors. I would be looking to lose the hardness and increase the dynamic headroom. So, the Croft wins apart from noise floor. The Lehmann has great potential, a better power supply would make it a giant. The Furutech doesn’t work perfectly, it may need lower gain at the front end to let the signal breathe. The Consonance is wonderfully neutral. A bigger power supply and more bandwidth wouldn’t hurt. It was a country mile ahead of the Furutech without the pixie dust of the Croft and the without the hard edge of the Lehmann.

[@deccasupergold]

Croft sounds the most musical. Depends on the tubes installed.

[@garnetnewton-wade6254]

Croft 👍

[@Jil8840]

The croft sounds muddy and the stereo image is not precise.

[@the_normal]

Black Cube.