Integrated Amp Reviews

The Roksan K2 BT played this song perfectly—not too rough, not too soft, but just the way I needed it to be. These Columbia recordings were made between 1927 and 1930; I doubt anyone could record Johnson's guitar more vividly today, and the 1993 CD remastering was done with taste and restraint. The K2 BT played the attitude and vibrato of Johnson's slide guitar with a vibrant, satisfying realism. Carl Sagan chose "Dark Was the Night" to be included on the "Golden Record" carried by both Voyager space probes because "It properly encapsulated the essence of loneliness that mankind often faces."

The K2 BT showed consistently good tone and scale, but music often felt a tad soft and round—especially at the edges of string plucks and keystrokes. To examine this more closely, I tried some hot live recordings of solo piano, beginning with the great Art Tatum. Tatum was way more than a legendary jazz pianist in the Fats Waller–Earl Hines tradition. He was a complete artist, a musician whose lively but wistful improvisations are capable of generating deep reverie. Like Blind Willie Johnson, Tatum was also a handsome lady's man who didn't need fashion tips. I played all of his Solo Piano (LP, Capitol Jazz Classics Vol.3, M11028), but it was "Dancing in the Dark" that really grabbed my attention. Capitol did an exceptional job on this track—the piano tone and pedal work were very well recorded—and the Roksan conveyed the recording's essence as well as Tatum's art, especially the beauty of his quick small notes. However, through the K2 BT, the piano appeared sounded diffused and farther from the mikes than it did with either the Naim NAIT 5si or my Line Magnetics integrated.

Gigolo fashion tips
If what I said before is true—great artists seldom need fashion tips—then my man Sun Ra wins all prizes for art and fashion. If you don't get his wardrobe, I can't help you. But if you doubt his talent or the scale of his creative ambitions, you must listen to his live recording St. Louis Blues: Solo Piano (CD, Improvising Artists 123858-2). Sun Ra's performance is sprawling, deep, agitated, and often overwhelming in its ability to take the listener to scary places. "I Am We Are I" mixes beauty and horror in a way I never thought possible from solo piano. Left hand, right hand, pedal—all came exploding out of the speakers. All of the fire and feeling of this piece were re-created in my living room. "Thoughts on Thoth" was equally fierce. Were his piano's notes a bit less distinct than they might have been with some other amps? Was the sound of this ADD recording less transparent than it should be? I have no idea—and who the hell cares? This was probably the most flat-out mind-bending music I have ever experienced in my Bed Sty monk's cell. All I know for sure is: The Roksan K2 BT driving the DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 speakers left me shaking on the sofa.

BT phone home
All my friends say mean things about Bluetooth but I always defend it because I hate wires! Therefore I was excited to try the K2 BT's Bluetooth capability and discover what my impressions would be. First, I streamed some Internet radio from my iPhone 5c and I was beyond surprised. The sound was naturally toned, lively, and fun to listen to. Then I "paired" my Mac mini with the K2 BT and played "Some things you don't know about me," recorded by John Atkinson (While You Are Alive, Cantus CTS-1208) that I had stored in iTunes. Again, the detail, life and naturalness exceeded my expectations but I was disappointed by the amount of low-level fuzz and blur I was noticing. For comparison, I played the original CD of this Cantus recording, whereupon focus and detail increased dramatically, the soundstage opened up and the beautiful tone and texture of nine male voices reappeared.

For the final test, I used my iPad mini playing David Chesky's The Zephyrtine: A Ballet Story (HDtracks 24/192k). This beautiful composition has fantastic dynamic contrasts. Quiet is only a mouse hair above silent and crescendos can be room-destroying. This piece quickly brought the K2 BT's Bluetooth input to its limits. Compression was obvious from the start. Low-level passages were thick and muddy. Bass was dull. Music sounded okay during average levels, but when the full orchestra kicked in it was like the sound hit a metal wall—the words; hard, opaque, and toneless came to mind.

Headphone Jack
When I first tried the headphone output a combination of wrong music and wrong headphones left me underwhelmed. But at the end, I did what I assured Steve Guttenberg I would do—I played Chesky's monumental Zephyrtine (a true binaural recording) through the Audio-Technica M50x headphones and what I heard was more dynamic and detailed and fun than I have heard from any other integrated amp's headphone stage.

Conclusions
When I was reviewing the Rogue Audio Sphinx, I kept talking about bass slam, drive, and pianists' left hands. It was impossible not to notice the Sphinx's propensity toward forward momentum. It was exceptionally liquid and transparent, especially through its line stage. Likewise with the Naim NAIT 5si, which did jump, swing, texture, and rhythm with the best amps ever. The NAIT 5si was very precise about the start, middle, and end of notes. Music never sounded boring or wrong through it.

The Roksan K2 BT was a different kind of animal altogether. It did all of those things well enough to make me never wonder about them. Its phono stage was the best I've heard in a moderately priced integrated—it played LPs in living color. The headphone amp rocked. Compared to the Rogue or Naim NAIT 5si, the Roksan sounded more relaxed and natural. In my silly way, I kept calling the K2 BT the yoga amp—music seemed so stretched out and quietly centered. Individual notes, from a piano or plucked strings, were indeed a bit softer, but they were also bigger, and gave the impression of expanding into infinite space. This "expanding" was the exact effect that made the Art Tatum and Sun Ra recordings so wondrous.

I find that whatever stereo system I'm using directs, usually unconsciously, my choices of which records I play. I wasn't listening to any of this American blues-jazz heritage music before the Roksan appeared, but I slid into it very quickly after installing the K2 BT. This was no coincidence. This 140Wpc integrated played those recordings extremely well, and encouraged me to play my boxed sets of Leadbelly and the Memphis Jug Band all the way through. But before I moved on to the next exotic integrated amplifier, I decided to play From the Ashes, with Dr. L. Subramaniam on violin and Larry Coryell on guitar (SACD/CD, Water Lily Acoustics WLA-CS-59-SACD). These compositions were written in one day and recorded the next, by Kavichandran Alexander, in a single session, using an all-analog recording chain with custom-built microphones in a classic Blumlein configuration. No noise reduction, equalization, compression, or limiting of any kind was applied. There was no recording studio, no sliders or mixing board, no editing. The 1" tape recorder was a custom-built, two-track, tubed design by Tim de Paravicini, of E.A.R. Digital mastering was done from the analog masters direct to the Sony Direct Stream Digital (DSD) recording system by Chris Rice, using a custom-built DSD A/D converter designed by Ed Meitner. (I told you not to worry about me. This ain't no mountain-goat windup grammyfone recording!)

One problem, though: When the music is this beautiful and mystical, it's difficult for me to assess imaging and soundstage. However, I can say, with absolute certainty, that the Roksan K2 BT played this high-pedigree SACD with precise enough imaging, a big enough soundstage, and convincing enough instrumental timbres to make this cabbage-plantin', Midwestern hillbilly very happy!

Highly recommended!