Each November, US audiophile magazine The Absolute Sound showcases a selection of the world’s best audio components in its annual Buyer’s Guide. In the just-published 2024 edition, German brand Clearaudio remains at the leading edge of all things analogue with a raft of highly recommended turntables, phono cartridges and accessories.
Six turntables that turn heads – at multiple price points
Clearaudio’s compact, entry-level Concept turntable package is arguably one of most-awarded decks in the industry and is a winning concept for sure: a simple, compact, plug-and-play deck that’s high-end in technology and performance and yet is also astonishingly affordable. Moreover, Clearaudio offers considerable flexibility and choice with several variations on the Concept theme.
Featured in the Absolute Sound’s 2024 Buyer’s Guide is the Concept Air Black package (with optional Satisfy Black tonearm). “Made like a fine mechanical Swiss watch,’ it is “a model for how a mid-priced, belt-drive turntable should look and perform… Analog lovers need look no further”.
Moving up a notch is the Concept Active series, which “redefines what is means to be an affordable and accessible high-performance turntable in the here and now.” The Buyer’s Guide singles out the Concept Wood Active Air with Satisfy tonearm and Concept MC cartridge, which also comes with “a top-notch built-in phonostage with headphone output and volume control”. The result is “a rarity in the high end: a triumph of performance, pricing and packaging.”
Moving up form entry-level to the mid-range, Clearaudio’s Performance DC Wood Air “took the listening experience to another level” with its “sonic nimbleness and freedom combined with a smooth and steady effortlessness,” delivering “an outstanding, even addictive analog setup that should be on any LP lover’s short list.”
Moving up further still, Clearaudio’s Ovation turntable series builds on the Concept’s model by “bundling together even more sophisticated turntables, arms and cartridges into fine-sounding but relatively hassle-free combinations”. Partnered here with the magnetic-bearing Clarify tonearm and Talisman v2 Gold cartridge, this “may be the most ambitious yet of such packages” and “nicely bridges the gap between high-end sound and real-world convenience.”
Clearaudio’s renowned Innovation series is also deservedly singled out. As its name suggests, the dual-plinthed Innovation Wood “combines some stunning innovations” and delivers “superb speed accuracy” and “such rock-solid pitch stability.” “This is a terrific analog front-end of near-reference quality that raises the bar on what a $14,000 ‘table can do.” (Price quoted includes optional Professional Power 24V linear power supply).
At the top of the Innovation series, the Master Innovation Wood is “a brilliant Peter Suchy design” that “delivers everything – energy, detail, body, tone colour – and does so with an even-handed impartiality that makes that gestalt shift from hearing ‘sonic parts’ to the shivery feeling you get when in the presence of virtual ‘wholes’.” An “engineering masterpiece – and one of [reviewer Jonathan Valin’s] references”.
Up close and personal: three phono cartridges that delve into detail
The Maestro v2 Ebony is “as musical as they come” and “brings symphonic recordings to life, unifying each orchestral section into the greater whole”. Co-winner of The Absolute Sound’s 2013 Phono Cartridge of the Year Award, the original Maestro has since been upgraded to deliver an even “more faithful sound” and “should be required listening for moving-magnet and moving-coil fans alike”
Clearaudio described its Charisma v2 cartridge as company founder Peter Suchy’s ‘moving-magnet masterpiece’. Here, we have the Charisma v2.1 with a new Prime Line stylus from Ogura Japan. “It has tonal vibrancy and complexity, classic midrange heft and bloom, dynamic electricity and top-end sweetness.” “Tracking is unshakable” and The Charisma “retrieves images like they’re being monitored by LoJack.”
Clearaudio’s flagship Goldfinger Statement was previously described by The Absolute Sound as “simply the best – which is to say, the most sonically complete moving-coil cartridge [reviewer] Jonathan Valin has ever heard.” Here we have v2.1. “Yes, it is different, and yes, it is improved,” writes Valin in the magazine’s September issue. “In moving coils [the Goldfinger Statement v2.1] is my current favourite.”
Clean and pristine
Finally, Clearaudio’s Double Matrix Professional Sonic record cleaner is another upgrade of an earlier edition, the original having been “already pretty damn impressive.” The later version adds a ‘sonic’ vibration to its simultaneously two-sided cleaning, leaving LPs sounding “notably cleaner” and “lower in noise, higher in resolution”.
What’s more, most of these recommended products – as well as several others from Clearaudio – were also singled out in The Absolute Sound’s Editors Choice Awards earlier this year.
Discover more about all of the above at https://clearaudio.de/en and track down your nearest specialist retailer via UK distributor www.soundfowndations.co.uk
The Absolute Sound’s Buyer’s Guide 2024 is out now, in the November issue of the magazine.
David Denyer PR | The hi-fi specialist 