Jeff Rowland Pre-Amps: The Corus & The Capri

Stephen, I have heard the Corus in two different rooms at CES last January and then again in Orange County and it is superb. I think it is Jeff' most musical line of pre amps since the Coherence II; MkII. I'd go Corus. At Rocky Mountain he didn't use the Corus but a Laptop into his DAC with volume into the M625 stereo amp. Wow, did that one sound great too driving the difficult to drive Thiel top speaker.

Hifimaniac,

Thanks for the response. Have you heard the Capri? As a frame of reference, that is currently in my system and I wonder how much the Corus would effect the rest of the components I currently have. If you can, take a look at my system and let me know your thoughts. Thanks Stephen

Stephen, I do not have any experience with the Capri; only the Consummate; Synergy IIi and the Coherence II; Mk1. The Coherence was the best. It is so hard to know where most of the credit lies in the all Rowland systems I listened to; is it the Corus, the M625 stereo amp or a combination of both. I would say both and also say I have never heard such an easy flow and pace to the sound from any other solid state system. The noise floor is so low and the notes have bloom like a good tube pre amp. I think more and more will be written about this and his top Criterion over time. You have a very nice system; I like Tyler speakers.

Hi, the Corus replaced a treasured Synergy IIi. It provides more musical insight through lower noise level, extended bandwidth (an obviously deeper and cleaner bass) and fluidity (something highlighted by Roy Gregory in his recent HiFi+ review). Unfortunately I don't have any experience with the Capri. But one definite advantage of the Corus will be the transformer coupling used for inputs and outputs that minimizes earth loops and removes a layer of grit – something I experienced with both the Synergy and Corus. The improvement of the Corus over the Synergy is obvious through my relatively modest (if over achieving) Cambridge Audio 840W amplifiers. But do factor in a long run in time. Mark

Thanks for all the comments. I wish I had a dealer near me so I could go back and forth and hear the differences in my system between the Capri and the Corus.