Rega Brio-R Break-in time.

I just got the Brio-R in for a demo and want to chime in here. This is unusual amp, and the comments about a certain part of the frequency range being annoying are right on the mark.

I would not say it is bright.... but there is an unatural coloration, almost a fuziness on certain parts of the frequency range.

It is a shame, because this amp, for it's price, has some amazing qualities. It has a propulsive PRAT to the rhythm, it's 50 watts drive harder than other integrated amps with twice the rated power, and it can seperate the layers of congestion very well. It has a musical presence and very different sound to all the other integrated amps i have had.

I was hoping with break in, the coloration would clear up, but it seems this is not the case.

The amplifier output stage in the Brio-R is apparently new and never used before in the industry, let alone in a Rega amp, so perhaps this is just a first try and they will sort this issue out in another model.

My speakers are Vapor Audio Cirrus, which use RAAL's best ribbon tweeter. It has been very revealing of any cable and equipment changes downstream. Speaker cables are Tellurium Q Black, interconnects are an assortment.

It is possible there was only a few hours on it, as this was a dealer demo unit. If I had it for more time I would put it in the burn in system for 200 hours, with my Isotek burn in cd on repeat.

So I am open to the possiblity that with break in it could open up, but judging by some posts here this was not the case, so I did not end up buying one and risk making an immediate loss selling it on.

It sounds colored and not very neutral to my ears, but has fantastic bass control, it really locks onto the beat, and the midrange has this almost tube like presence.

It soounds a bit negative, but I think the Brio-R is better than the Marantz PM7003 and vastly better than the Cyrus 8xp I had in.

About the Tellerium Q cables, they have nothing to do with the NACA5, its just that many Naim people are using them, simply because they are British based and getting some press over there. The Tellurium Black has a consistant sound across 3 different amplifiers I have played with recently, and they are not tone controls thats for sure.

The Cirrus speaker is ultra resolving and revealing of equipment, cables and power related issues. I do not think the Brio-R has trouble driving this speaker. Quite the opposite, I think the Brio-R can drive much harder and easier than 3 other amps at 70 watts and another at 100 watts.

But this is what I hear, voices are a bit colored and not neutral, strings on guitar do not sound real and there is a lack of ambient detail, but it all sounds great, like there is an additive effect of tonality.
Maybe it all opens up with some break-in, I will perhaps just buy one to really see.

I suspected the issue with the Brio-R sound was due to the preamp stage and not the power amp. Thanks for that info Affinity.