Well it has now been a month since I received the Audio Interface SUT and I am still very impressed with the level of detail retrieval the SUT provides.
Whilst the FRT4 SUT is an excellent performer and is super versatile, the Audio Interface SUT has taken my music to the next level.
Things that have stood out in the past month have been the "unmerging" of certain musical combinations. For example where there are passages of music that have a number of instruments playing in close proximity to each other, the Audio Interface appears to pull them a little further apart so they each have a little more separation and because of this, each become clearer and more distinct.
Also vocals have become a little clearer. For example I have listened to the Vanessa Fernandez song “Be Thankful for What You Got”, hundreds of times and never really focused or over analyzed the exact lyrics. Because of this I always subconsciously thought one of the lines was saying “TV enters in the back”. When I played this track the other week I was in my usual relaxed state and not over analyzing anything about the track, but this time to my surprise I heard something different and that was “TV antenna in the back”.
I know this is embarrassing to admit and I obviously hear it now with both SUT’s and even in the You Tube video, but it was the Audio Interface that made it so obvious.
The one other thing that it does a little better is revealing very subtle details that are not as noticeable with the FRT4. Subtleties like the breath of a saxophonist in between notes, the very tiny triangle note in a complex musical arrangement, the distant cough from the audience in a live performance, etc, etc.
I think if you are a fan of classical music then this SUT would be very hard to beat as it would pull apart very complex music arrangements and subtle details that are so common with this genre and provide a very dynamic performance.
The only down side is, that with some harsher recordings you may want a slightly more mellow and veiled presentation as too much detail retrieval and transparency can be slightly fatiguing. I have only noticed this with a couple of records and for 99% of the time it is not a problem.
In summing up I have now come to the realization that the initial amplification of a Moving Coil cartridge is one of the most important aspects of vinyl playback and should be given as much attention and investment as the cartridge itself. Whether you choose passive or active pre-amplification I believe you must spend as much as you possibly can to make sure the signal from your very expensive cartridge is not degraded in any way whilst on its way to the phono input of your main amplifier.
I am so impressed with the Audio Interface CST 80 SUT “H” that I have managed to find and purchase for a very reasonable cost, the very rare 3 Ohm “L” version for use with my very low output moving coil cartridges.
In summary I wholeheartedly recommend this SUT to anyone looking for a high end MC phono stage.
That’s if you can find one :)