Jeff Rowland Pre-Amps: The Corus & The Capri

Hi Guido,

Thanks for the response. Where does the Coherence II fit into this equation regarding the quality of the various Rowland preamps. Thanks Stephen

Stephen, Rowland like many other designers, learns something new with each new product, and his devices have evolved. His older designs were warmer-sounding, and not quite as extended, resolving, and transparent as his newer ones. In particular, I remember Rowland commenting on Capri vs Coherence II... according to him, Capri outperforms Coherence II in resolution, transparence, and musicality, even though Coherence looks like a much more impressive device... At the time of Coherence, Rowland did not have available the high speed low noise parts that he used in Capri, and later in his Criterion and Corus devices.

Of course, older products have already that "nostalgia factor", that the newest stuff will eventually acquire a decade or so down the road *grins!*

Guido

Stephen, three years ago you asked this question. Now in your system the Capri is still mentioned. Did you make any direct comparisons with Corus? Was there any argument not to upgrade because of sonic matters?

I'll just mention this and let you do the research. The Rowland Continuum S2 integrated amp is unimaginably good. I replaced a Capri and a pair of Hypex NCore 400 monos and was amazed by the upgrade. Before my purchase I was very persuaded by the Roy Gregory review.
It puts out 400 watts per channel, contains the new Capri S2 preamp and can be bought with either a phono or DAC on board. Functionally, it is identical to your current Capri. Same inputs, outputs and controls. Worth a look.

Stephen, since my last post, Capri has been replaced by Capri S2. I prefer S2 over the original..... In particular, S2 is much better at managing the complexity in the treble, which in the old model occasionally suffered of minor instances of brittleness.... At the last RMAF, I could not detect any trace of ragged treble. Bass was much more well defined and deep than on the old model. I heard Capri S2 driving a Rowland M825 stereo amp, as well as the preamplifier subsystem of the Continuum S2 integrated. Both marvellously musical. By the way, Capri S2 also supports an optional internal DAC card, which was not available in the original model.

G