Review: Bent Audio Tap Linestage


Category: Preamps

Before, I get to the details of reviewing the Bent Audio Tap Linestage, I first would like to give a context regarding what my linestage reference of the last three years has been in order to "set the stage" so this review would be the most helpful to the members reading it.

My reference over the last three years has been the Placette Audio Dual Mono Active Linestage. It replaced a ML-32 reference preamp in my system. I had auditioned six different preamps/linestages, half were tubed - half were solid state ranging in price from $6000.00 to $16000.00, until I finally heard the Placette Active in my system and found what I was looking for sonically. It offered, compared with the other pieces in my home auditions, the following sonic virtues:

1) No noise floor at all. Music just "floated" out of a totally black background.
2) A great soundstage, front to back - side to side, with the best center fill and layering I ever had in my system.
3) Precise microdynamics and details without being what I would call "dry" or "etched" at all.
4) Excellent extension on both the top and bottom with great slam in the lower bass.
5) Natural tone/timbres, very important to me because I listen almost totally to acoustic jazz.

Not bad stuff! However, being the curious audiophile that I am, I had read about a few new linestages that had come out the last couple of years and decided to listen to what some of the best designers were up to now. This time around I auditioned a highly regarded solid state,tubed, and transformer based units. Even though the solid state ant tubed pieces were almost twice as expensive as my Placette, and they have their virtues, I did not find them to better the Placette in the above mentioned areas. Different but not better for my ear's and personnal taste.

That's the context, now on to the review. The Bent Tap Linestage is the child of John Chapman and his company Bent Audio out of Canada. I would like to share John is one of the great gentleman/designers of high end gear and is a true pleasure to talk and to do business with. His pieces are purchased direct, with a 30 day trail period with full refund if one is completely not satisfied.

At this point in time there has been a full review on the Tap Linestage on POSTITIVE FEEDBACK ONLINE website by Bruce Kinch and on SIX MOONS website there is what they call a "pre-view", along with one of SIX MOONS reviewers, Les Turoczi, who considers the Tap Linestage one of the "favorite discoveries of 2006" and has made it his new reference linestage in his system.

The above mentioned reviews, along with information on the Bent Audio website, will provide excellent background information on the topic of passive preamps/linestages and specificly on the issue of transformer based passives compared to Vishay resister based approachs. By the way, the Placette Active is a Buffered Vishay based passive linestage that gives no gain, but eliminates any concerns with impedance matching the front end with the down stream amps.

I never get into lengthy details regarding engineering or parts, that is all provided by the Bent Audio website, however I always comment on build quality and looks before I get to the the most important part the sonic performance. The Tap Linestage has a "cool modern" look to it, but it will never be the "eye candy" that my Pass Labs or Accustic Arts pieces are to me. The front has angled sides and sits atop a 1" slab of clear acrylic which has been routed out to securely mount the twin transformers. Inside high quality Arlon circuit boards, ribbon cables, and custom OCC copper wire sourced from Neotech speak highly of the construction of this piece.

Now, to the most important part of any review, the sonic performance of the piece being evaluated. In the following areas the Tap and PLacette active were, at least for me in my system, indistinguishable:
1) Total black background, no noise floor, music just "oozes" out of the system.
2) Both provide the best soundstage and layering of any linestage I have ever had in my system.
3)Macrodynamics are present and powerful, but intergrated in the overall "fabric" of the music.

Were the two linestages start to part sonic company is revolving around to key sonic areas, tone/timbres and image density of players in the sound stage.

I find that the Tap to be slightly "warmer/fuller" then the Placette Active in overall timbres, what many listeners would refer to as the "magic of tubes", mind you, not "fat/euphonic" but more "velvety" then the "silkyness" of the Placette. It reminded me when I went from an Edge NL-10 to a pair of Pass Labs XA-100's, both great amps, but I found the XA-100's to be subtly more what I call "organic/musical". Another verbal stab at it would be to say that the Placette Active has "razor sharp" leading edges and the Tap is a little more "rounded off" but has more body and decay then the Placette Active.
The Placette Active never sounds "etched, dry, or overly analytical, but a little less "sweet" then the Tap. They both offer beautiful sonic pictures and what you would like would be very much decided by your personnal taste and what type of system synergy you would end up with in your rig.

The other sonic difference that I noticed was in the area of image density. The Tap kicked it up a notch in comparsion to the Placette Active regarding the density of images, not the size or air around the individual players, but how "real" they sounded in the stage. Again, both linestages are quite terrific regading this sonic aspect, but the Tap gives more in this area then the Placette Active.

So, is there a winner or loser between this linestages, I don't think so, there both reference level in their performance. As I always say at this level of gear it comes down to personnal taste and system synergy. There's always very small but real differences in gear, but the final voicing of any system finally comes done to matching this tiny sonic bits together to get what we are listening for in the pleasure of the music we care about.

The Bent Tap is my new reference linestage for the reasons stated above. Both the Tap and Placette Active are great performers, terrific bargains for what they sell for, the Tap $3000.00, the Placette Active $5000.00, when you think they compete with any linestage on the market today and both John Chapman and Guy Hammel are great gentleman to work with, you might put both on your audition list if your seeking out a new linestage. Which one you would like better truly would come down to personnal taste/system synergy, so really won't know till your try it in the context of your own rig.
teajay
Just wanted to share as the Bent burns in the sonic virtues I mentioned in the review, such as microdynamics, tonal vividness/image density, and macrodynamics have just gotten better as the hours go by. I would also add to this list rhythmic drive, my whole system just seems more "alive", but without edge or glare of any kind.

I have also become aware of something unique regarding the noise floor or "blackness" that the Tap offers that my old reference linestage did not. Both have no noise floor as far as I can tell in my system. Each floats the music out of total and complete silence, yet something was different which made the overall sonic picture more "pure/real" to my ear's. Well, I came across an older review of another Stevens and Billington transformer based passive, the AVTAC Pasiphae which is no longer in production by Ross Mantle writing for Ultra Audio website. He beautifully describes what I'm hearing, so I quote:

"This transformer based preamp retains all low-level information down to the threshold of hearing, with no artificial blackness to the background. As the unit is passive, it generates no noise of its own. The result is that you can hear the atmosphere of the hall even when the music is not playing. The transients never pop out of nowhere. Rather, they develop and decay in a natural, believable way without being cut off abruptly when they reach the noise floor. At the same time, the superb low-level retrieval results in rich details at all levels.

In his Preamplifier Cookbook, Allan Wright of Vacuum State Electronics coined the term downward dynamic range. According to Wright, downward dynamic range is one of those qualities that separate the preamp men from the preamp boys. I believe it. Another term that nicely sums up these effects would be Harry Pearson's continuousness, which the Pasiphae has in spades. To resort to a tired but apt comparison, the organic effect of the Pasiphae gave CDs a sense of the pleasant continuousness and wholeness associated with vinyl records."

Mr. Mantle really "nails" what I have been experiencing with the Bent, but struggling to put into words.
Nice review, Teajay !
I'm using a Bent NOH, and this wonderful machine made me forget my Sonic Frontiers Line 3 completely....
During the time I was going through the auditioning of the Bent Tap linestage in my system, I also had the pleasure of listening to two other very highly regarded preamps in my system. One was tubed and the other solid state.

I personally do not like the term "shoot out" because it implies an either/or orientation which disregards system synergy, personnal taste and how subtle the real sonic differences are between reference pieces of gear.

Now that I have had time to "digest" what each linestage had to offer I have come to the conclusion that the Tap would be a great linestage, and a great financial bargain at it's price of $3000.00, for those seeking what most audiophiles would refer to as the "magic of tubes" without some of the hassles that goes with tube gear. I understand if someone enjoys "tube-rolling" does not mind having to re-tube as time goes on that tube gear is not a hassle for them. If your the type that just wants to leave your system on and play music, without having to wait for things to have to warm up or concerns over the sound of your system as the tubes age, then the Tap could really be your sonic/pragmatic alternative.

Of all the linestages I have auditioned over the last three years, which now totals over nine preamps, the Tap really does offer a great synthesis of tube warmth/image density/decay trails with the speed/slam/details of solid state. When you also add to the mix that all the other linestages cost at least $2000.00 to $12000.00 more, the Tap is a great bargain.

A final note, I must be becoming a old lazy audiophile because I realized that I will not live with a linestage that does not offer a remote control. Some of the linestages I audtioned designer's believe that a remote would damage the sonics of their piece. I found it quite a hassle to have to get up, often times different cuts on the same CD have different "sweet spots" regarding volume levels, when I just wanted to relax and enjoy the music.
Teajay, your last post reads as though you may have actually preferred one of the other linestages sonically over the Tap, but the Tap "won" on convenience and price. Is this the case?
Drubin, if somehow what I wrote implied that I liked one of the linestages more then the Tap, but just could not be without remote or that price factors ultimately lead to my decision to purchase it, then I did not communicate clearly my intent.

I do believe the Tap is a "killer" regarding price for performance compared to everything else I auditioned. I used to have the same viewpoint regarding my Placette Active, however the Placette now costs $2000,00 more then the Tap. Both offer unbelievable sonic performance for what they cost. The most expensive preamp I auditioned was $20 grand, I won't say either the Bent or the Placette were better, but I would take either of them over the much more expensive piece because the sonic performance was at least as good for ALOT less money.

If during my audition process a linestage, without remote, had offered me some kind of sonic virtue(s) that I would not want to be without in my system, I would put up with the pain in the ass hassle of manual volume control for the sonic pleasure. However, the Tap's sonics out performed greatly the linestages without remote so this had no bearing on my decision at all.