In one of the last rooms I visited on the 30th floor of the Venetian hotel, Mark O'Brien, Rogue Audio founder, president and electrical engineer/designer, debuted the big brother of the Rogue Audio Sphinx, the Pharoah hybrid integrated amplifier ($3495). A tube/solid-state hybrid—their literature variously claims the power at 185Wpc and 175Wpc into 8 ohms, 350Wpc into 4 ohms—the Pharoah includes an adjustable MM/MC phono preamp section, tube headphone amplifier, processor loop, and home-theater bypass. Paired with a Dr. Feichert Analogue Woodpecker turntable with Jelco tonearm and Arché headshell, Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge, Synergistic Research "Core" cabling and Quantum power strip, and Dynaudio Confidence C1 II loudspeakers, the system exhibited quite lovely, fairly neutral, and extremely listenable sound. "A good cozy-up system," I wrote in my notes.
On passive display, but not pictured in the photo, was the new Stereo 100 tube amplifier ($3495). Based on the KT-120 output tube, this fully balanced baby, which replaces Rogue's Stereo 90, is so new that no literature was available in the room. Instead, information is available here.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
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