I am pretty happy with my Analogue set up, very happy in fact. Attached to My Satchmo Pre's Phono stage is my Hashimoto HM-7 Step up
(kindly acquired from Tom of this Parish and boxed and fettled by Amp Regen), it is without any doubt a fabulous box
offering much of what i'd wished my Vinyl front end would one day deliver. It really is very good.

Anyway, David Coe of AD Audio (also of this parish) called me and asked if i'd be willing to put the mighty Japanese Step Up against
his very modestly priced (currently around £170..ish) AD Audio Jfet MC amplifier.
I, of course, said yes, if he was willing to brave the London traffic and drive from Wimbledon to Barnet, no mean feat! a drive that could actually take 3 weeks should one get the timing wrong, although only 22 miles door to door..

Well Mr Coe pitched up last evening with a very plain box of tricks and Mrs Westlower provided a great homemade fish curry (bloody amazing)
Whilst we were eating we fired up the Valves and let it all warm ..

And so, let the battle commence!

Playing my newly acquired Bill Evans Sunday At The Village Vanguard (UltraDisc one step pressing) ... Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab the Hashimotos delivered it fantastically well.
The music flowed with real body, micro detail and pace. Bill In the room and all that!

I switched boxes, Jfet into the Satchmo pre and sat back. I must firstly say I had a preconceived outcome already (stupid).

Well, first impressions, and they are first impressions, WOW, WOW, WOW!! This little light-weight, battery powered box came out swinging and punching!!
It delivered the music with such flow, great dynamics and musicality.
It drove the Dynavector DVXX2MK2 with real pace, authority and feeling. An understatement to say, I was very impressed indeed.

Does it stand up equally to the Hashimoto on this cartridge?, maybe not... but on initial impressions I wouldn't say there is an awful lot in it, in fact not a lot at all
and we are talking about a serious Step Up in the Hashimoto HM-7

I do know one thing from my first half evening with it...It's a complete hifi bargain. £170 ish quid!!
A Stonewall no brainer for anyone needing to get a lot out of a MC cart, even if your budget is 10x the price, I'm serious.

Further impressions to follow. Give it a spin, you will not regret it.

BTW the Bill Evans? Sell your Granny or the kids to get one. Fuck, it's off the scale!

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