Florida Audio Expo 2020

Zesto Audio presented the third generation of its Leto preamplifier: an Ultra version that offers a slew of new features, from upgraded all-analog circuit topology and a new 12DW7 tube configuration to the addition of three gain options (3dB, 6dB, 9dB) that can be saved for different input sources. Full remote control capabilities have also been added for on-the-fly adjustments of input, volume, gain, mono, and muting.

But perhaps the most intriguing new feature is a Presence control for the upper or upper-mid frequencies. Broadly speaking, it's tone control-like but more accurately described as roll-off adjustment in which a low-pass shelving filter cuts the highs in a gentle way, with six positions across different frequencies. It might sound tweaky, but with more revealing systems and across various recordings and styles of music-or even your mood-this can be helpful for taking the edge off or smoothing peakiness in the higher frequencies. I happened to have with me the lovely recording of the Labèque sisters playing Bryce Dessner's Concerto for Two Pianos on a Deutsche Grammophon LP that contains some thrillingly dynamic upper-register piano passages, which made it an ideal demo for the Presence control. Through Zesto's amplification stack, feeding Vimberg Mino speakers, the fortissimos retained their intensity, but the degree of brightness could be scaled back ever so slightly with these adjustments-without tampering with the actual signal. Although this recording didn't "need fixing," it beautifully demonstrated this nice feature to have at one's fingertips.

The analog front end for this excellent-sounding system included a Merrill Williams Audio REAL 101.3 turntable fitted with Tri-Planar tonearm and a Benz Micro Gullwing SLR MC cartridge. Cabling was from Cardas Audio's Clear Beyond line, with a Cardas Nautilus power strip up front. Racks were Stillpoints ESS42-26-4.