Stereo Image France, November 2007
PRIMALUNA PROLOGUE EIGHT – A significant demonstration of power
The Dutch electronics brand PrimaLuna obviously never ceases to amaze us not only with their circuit originality and exceptional design and manufacturing, against very reasonable prices, but also their measured performance and, ultimately, their uncanny sonic achievements. Indeed their latest ProLogue Eight "hybrid" CD player drops a real bombshell on the traditional CD player competition. It is so far reaching in its sonic character, blending a liquid analog musical rendition, with an explosive sense of rhythm.
Nevertheless, this unconventional CD player has something unique to itself; it sets up excellent timing to each note and chord with a natural respect to intensity decrease. It is not immediately apparent, but gradually while listening to CD’s played through the ProLogue Eight, the sound totally loses its strained and tense character and becomes more relaxed in the dynamic time/difference, a result that typically you only get with a state-of-the-art and well-adjusted turntable.
In any case, we notice that either for the impedance adaptation and output gain stages or for the reference clock, the tube has not had its final word while working in perfect harmony with ultra sophisticated circuits, converters, or surface components. Each is at its own spot to produce sonic advantages in a most indisputable way.
Listening conditions
As with any piece of tube electronics, the ProLogue Eight needs some breaking in. After only about 10 to 12 hours we noticed a progressive improvement in the opening, the density of the timbre and the clarity of the micro dynamics. The ProLogue Eight is also slightly sensitive to the mains phase; the correct orientation of the plug brings a plus to the stereo image width –which is already amazingly impressive, and more stability to the image plane depth, which is extremely variable from one CD to another. Regarding the cables, do not hesitate to invest in high quality cables able to respect the micro information range and able to keep a good timing and pace to avoid introducing anarchy into the order of the harmonics. Our previous cable tests can help you on this topic.
Listening
We began our audition with our test disc The Pulse; we did not expect such a shock with the ProLogue Eight: Its explosive dynamic capacity, sound matter density, and upstroke between the billions of simultaneous information on the surroundings of the recording areas. In the heat of the shock, the ProLogue Eight imposed strength, impact power, and a climbing speed of the wave front never felt before. We asked ourselves for a while if a dynamics’ expander was used in the circuit; the violence of hammer impacts on the bronze alloy of almost 1.5T was mind blowing: we were rooted to the spot.
However, the best part was still to come; the micro detail levels have never reached such an amplitude so well audible (even at low volumes) with the true color of the bronze alloy. The realism of the walker’s steps are staggering, with the real notion of weight in the heel attack and then the sole, even when he shuffles along while going down the stairs. It feels like we’re live at the scene; the steps seem to be in the ground under the speaker level; it’s simply amazing that the sound recording phase is held so well. The noises of the surrounding outdoor atmosphere clearly stand out, yet perfectly integrated to each other in a very natural fusion and, not at all cut with a scalpel. The birds' singing sounds genuine in both the trilling and the cooing. The air circulation feels almost tangible. The ProLogue Eight produces a “magical” character by transposing you right into the recording. While listening to the strokes on the huge drums, it feels like you are in front of the percussionists, yet with the extraordinary feeling of being shrouded in the ambiance of the public space. The adding of the percussionist head are clearly reproduced, but every audience noise seems to come out around you, as if you had a 5.1 system. Even if the effect seems “magical”, there is no magic here; only a faithful upholding of the phase in the recording time. There is no lead or delay from one channel to the other one, certainly because of the ProLogue Eight’s SuperTubeClock™, a very sophisticated low-jitter system including a reference clock and tube oscillator. Even with the impact on the bass drum’s huge stretched skins, we can physically feel the air displacement and amplitude variations according the applied strength; absolutely amazing.
Even on the most difficult test of waves recorded on different places on the Pacific coast, the ProLogue Eight translates the full “liquid” character of the tidal waves. You can hear the distribution of the infra-bass energy from the ground swell to the foaming of the backwash that breaks on the rocks. The sound is surprising; it does not include any of the usual electronic colorations always adding roughness and reduction into the multitude of different noises. The ProLogue Eight is one of the very few CD players that make you really believe that you are standing on the waterfront.
The next recording in our audition is Kalliwoda’s Symphonie No. 5 performed by Das Neue Orchester, directed by Christophe Spering. The Prologue Eight sets up the different sections of the symphonic orchestra with pinpoint precision in the depth of the different plans, yet retains an extraordinary openness that stays constant at any level. Again, we find this incredibly dynamic character on level variations; it looks like the attacks are literally boosted with respect, not packed or “panned” amplitude ratios. While listening to the brass instruments, the gleaming and irresistible side stands out while keeping a “silky” and never aggressive character in the strings section. Again, the acoustical surrounding of the concert hall surrounds you; it is stupefying in its realism.
While listening to a very complex section of the especially uneven melodic evolution of Smetana’s Moldau Vltava performed by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Raphael Kubelik, you are not merely listening to the concert through a window cut out in the concert hall; but thanks to the ProLogue Eight you are in the concert hall. The melody varies according to very pronounced ranges that act strongly on the concert hall acoustics, which instantly respond without sounding suffocated. The audience noises are omnipresent; you are not sitting in the back, but among them. It's quite unique and hyper realistic, almost like you’re sitting front-row center.
Feeling that we find back as glorified, sublimated with the Allegretto of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 performed by Bayeriches Staatsorchester directed by Carlos Kleiber, in which every coughing noise from the audience, every turned over score, every chair creak spatially comes out “located”, the surrounding space being so correctly respected between the complex ratios of directive and reflective sounds. We can follow the melodic course with a bewildering easiness. The ProLogue Eight knows how to captivate the attention without any listener fatigue by using its sharp, expressive power. It only creates enthusiasm.
In a total different music style, the track Eighthundred Streets by Feet by the E.S.T. Group (Tuesday Wonderland), the Prologue Eight shatters the usual criteria of dynamic capacity with lightning speed while giving body and depth to the piano and the bass guitar that roots you to your chair. The drumstick strike on the snare rim at the intro sounds just as real as the crashes of the cymbals. The contrabass comes out of its usual reserve to literally “sing,” yet retains an extreme pressure when the strings attack. Everything is in its proper place, with incredible focus in the spatial positioning.
With voices, the pronunciation nuances also come out with a natural understanding of each word in amazing clarity, as we found in the interpretation of Autumn Leaves by Patricia Barber, from her album Night Club. Each syllable stands out with absolute intelligibility while retaining that finesse in the “swinging” modulation of the words. We were surprised by the impact of the contrabass play of Marc Johnson which normally does not appear to have such clarity in the attacks; while still keeping the singing characters in the note evolution in pace. The slightest breathing noises of the bass player and the fingers sliding on the neck are easily distinguished. Those who believe that tube stages are often weak need only to listen to the ProLogue Eight and be frozen by so much firmness, such clarity which eliminates any interference or repetitive false reflection. The final with the piano reprise and the drums leave you speechless as the performers are brought right into the listening room.
If, by any chance, you’re not convinced by its natural character and good sense of musical shading, the transcription of People Make The World Go Round bring you around. Saying that it “pushes” is not accurate, its dynamic explosiveness leaves no shadow of doubt. The different acoustic percussions, the electric keyboards, to the acoustic piano have never sounded so true, so real without getting too aggressive in the upper mids and highs. The ProLogue Eight is a real cure against glumness. It establishes itself as a source with stunning “musical health”.
Sound aesthetic synthesis
Most modern digital technologies match wonderfully with the analog signal processing by using well-thought tube stages, which reveal their full harmonic richness, their stunning dynamic capacity; and the ProLogue Eight is no exception. Its design is revolutionary: an anti-jitter system made up with a reference clock using a vacuum tube oscillator, which is able to maintain correct phase between the two channels. It is obvious that this CD player has the ability to transport you into the real acoustic ambiance of the recording place, literally surrounding you with it. For those who do not regularly attend concerts, the “striking” dynamic capacity might knock you down to notice that in reality, the level differences are poles apart from what traditional hifi system can reproduce, which often suffocates the vivid music power of a live show. The ProLogue Eight respects the real recording level differences of all sorts of music. Without any doubt this CD player will stand out and will leave no audiophile and music lover indifferent. Go and discover the ProLogue Eight as soon as possible. With such a price compared to the proven listening pleasure, it comes as a golden opportunity.
