Tube Preamp Reviews

The Hyperion P1 arrived with its four 6922 tubes already in place. To prepare it for use, I employed a special tool (included in the box) to remove the 10 screws that fasten its top to the rest of its chassis. After carefully removing the top, I inserted the two 6H30PI tubes into their prescribed sockets. To ensure correct positioning, Bierfeldt had labeled both the tube sockets and the protective bubble wrap surrounding those tubes "1" and "2."

To replace the cover, I had to surmount two minor challenges: setting it in place without pinching fingers and lining up the screw holes. Most of us have been through such things before and survived unscathed. As long as you're not fielding texts, watching YouTube videos, or struggling to keep your pet(s) or child(ren) quiet and at a distance, you, too, should make it through safely.

That chore complete, I placed the Hyperion P1 atop Wilson Audio Pedestals on the left top of my Grand Prix Monza double rack. To its right sat the Display and Core of the superb and far more expensive five-piece dCS Varèse Digital Music System, collectively a streaming DAC. The data source was files—either streamed through or stored on an Innuos Statement Next-Gen streamer-server outfitted with ultrarevealing upgraded umbilical cables. Speakers were the trusty Wilson Alexia Vs with LōKē subwoofers. The two XLR outputs allowed me to send the P1's output to the monoblocks (then on to the main speakers) and the subwoofers.

All front-end components received regulated battery power from a Stromtank S-4000 MKII XT power generator; the D'Agostino Momentum M400 MxV monoblocks got their kick direct from the wall. Cabling, which included XLRs to the balanced D'Agostinos, was a mix of Nordost Odin II and Valhalla II, AudioQuest Dragon and Firebird.

Most Canor Hyperion P1 preamplifier owners will pair it with less pricey equipment. My reference setup is not an obvious match, but it allowed me to hear and determine the best that the Canor Hyperion P1 is capable of.

How it sounded
The Canor Hyperion P1 performed flawlessly during the review period, with no buzz or hum. What did not operate flawlessly was this reviewer. During one of my listening sessions with a friend, I inadvertently buried the small remote under the triple layer of plywood slab, cushioning, and special back support that prevents me from sinking into our vintage couches. Before I even discovered it missing, I had sat on it. By the time a replacement arrived via expedited shipping, I'd grown accustomed to adjusting volume by hand.

In almost the same amount of time it took my tuchus to wreck the remote control, the Hyperion P1 distinguished itself with one of the airiest and widest soundstages that any preamp has delivered in my music room. I listened to Kristian Bezuidenhout and Freiburger Barockorchester's period instrument recording of Mozart's Piano Concertos Nos.19 and 23 (24/96 WAV download, Harmonia Mundi) and Isabelle Faust and Les Siècles' extremely detailed recording of the Ligeti Violin Concerto, conducted by François-Xavier Roth on Ligeti: Violin, Piano & Românesc Concertos (24/96 WAV download, Harmonia Mundi). On both recordings, both the solo instruments and orchestra were set back and spread deliciously wide, with significant air around solo instruments. The effect was captivating. The openness and depth made me want to listen more.

There's a mystery to the Hyperion P1's sound that will draw many listeners in. If you want to hear what it can do with a recording whose spaciousness is superb to begin with, marvel at any track on Morten Lindberg's recently released Stjernebru with The Norwegian Girls Choir (Det Norske Jentekor) (24/352.8 FLAC download, 2L). For another airy goodie, listen to Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, & Harp, recorded in the remarkably spacious, deep, and resonant Salle Colonne in Paris, on Debussy: Sonates & Trio (24/96 WAV download, Erato). Emmanuel Pahud, Gérard Caussé, and Marie-Pierre Langlamet wonderfully perform this masterpiece, composed three years before Debussy's death.

Timbres were neutral and true, and the midrange was quite beautiful, albeit with colors less bold than with some gear. Given that my room is prone to brightness, I enjoyed the fact that the P1 takes a soft and gentle approach to the top octaves. This treble reticence will prove a benefit in many systems.

This is a fine place to acknowledge that although I made no direct comparisons in this review, my ears have been conditioned by a reference system featuring expensive, solid state preamplifiers. This should be kept in mind in considering this review of a much less expensive (though hardly inexpensive) preamplifier that uses tubes.

I spent quite some time using the Hyperion P1 to review Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith's boundary-challenging new recording Defiant Life (24/96 WAV, ECM/download). The sense of space was marvelous, the air tremendous. The Hyperion P1 wasn't the fastest preamp—its "snap" is of the gentle sort—but it's certainly one of the most listenable and nonfatiguing I've enjoyed in my music room.

I also used the Hyperion P1 to review baritone Benjamin Appl's fascinating Lines of Life: Schubert and Kurtág (24/96 WAV, Alpha/ download). Initial attacks were a bit blunted, and the cores of tones were a mite blanched. Bottom octaves were extended but less than precisely focused. On two of my friend Scott Campbell's favorites, The Modern Jazz Quartet's rendition of John Lewis's "Place Vendôme," from the remastered version of their album Pyramid (16/44.1 FLAC, RevOla/Tidal), and the title track from the Remastered 2007/Rudy Van Gelder Edition of Ike Quebec's Blue & Sentimental (24/192 FLAC, Blue Note Records/Qobuz), bass pitch was a mite hard to discern.

This characteristic affected the low notes of the piano on another reference, the title track on Grant Green's Idle Moments (24/192 FLAC, Blue Note Records/Qobuz). But while edges were a bit blunted, the Hyperion P1's airy, laid-back quality ultimately enhanced the realization of Green's musical intentions.

This effect, which to me seemed paradoxical, worked to the advantage of other recordings as well. Returning to Kristian Bezuidenhout and Freiburger Barockorchester's tangy, period-instrument renditions on Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos.19 & 23, the copious delight of No.19's first movement came through in spades. Ultimately, the music's joyful warmth was enhanced by the P1's gift of air and space. The Hyperion P1 may not have conveyed dynamic contrasts in big pieces recorded in high resolution, such as a superbly recorded Mahler symphony, or the subtle changes in volume and nuance on a close-miked recording of a chanteuse, but its marvelous sense of air and space and its ease on top frequently trumped other concerns.

Conclusion
Every piece of gear—like every artist and every performance—offers a different window on truth. We rarely get to have it all. Yet if we choose carefully, we can end up so satisfied that, instead of searching and searching some more, we can sit back in our easy chairs, survey the beauty that's before us, and rest, content to breathe it all in.

Such was my experience with the Canor Hyperion P1. Time and again, I sat still in my listening room and marveled at how easy it was to enjoy music. Highs were smooth, and music was graced with such a profound sense of air and spaciousness that it elicited smile after smile. My auditions took place in early spring, but Gershwin's line, "Summertime, and the livin' is easy," perfectly describes the Hyperion P1's many gifts.