corus vs coherence 2

Over the years I've owned a couple of Coherence IIs as well as all of the iterations of the Synergy (I, II, IIi). Right now I'm quite impatiently awaiting the arrival of a Corus.

Guido's description is pretty much spot on and the last iterations of the Coherence and Synergy were just on the warm side of neutral. I was always a big fan of the Coherence and ultimately let mine go as I needed a pre with a home theater bypass input which could be selected by remote control (so that I could fully automate the system in my old house).

This was back in early 2008 and I looked at a number of preamps which were current at the time. I really wanted a Criterion, but the product wasn't shipping yet. I ultimately went a completely different route and picked up a VTL TL-7.5 Series II. While this unit solved my ergonomic issues it also showed me that the Coherence was limiting dynamics somewhat. While the Coherence was fully capable of reproducing a dynamic signal my feeling was that its rise time was a bit slow which made the leading edge of transients sound a bit muddy.

Don't get me wrong, the Coherence was an excellent preamp in its day, but has since been surpassed by a number of designs. I can't tell you how the Corus compares as I haven't received mine yet, but based on numerous conversations with Corus / Criterion owners (Guido included) it sounds as if the overall presentation has much improved over the previous designs. Since I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a pair of M925s I decided to order the Corus as well with the hope of a synergistic match between amps and pre.

As much as I love the Coherence and have very fond memories of it I would look to newer designs in order to take advantage of 15 years of progress in circuit and power supply design.

One interesting feature of Corus is that it is compatible with an upcoming external Rowland power supply based on supercapacitor technology to be called PSU. Yes, of course, PSU will add a fair chunk to the price of a Corus, but unlike the Criterion with its battery unit, PSU is completely optional and can power two devices at the same time (Corus and Aeris).

If my conjectures prove to be correct, PSU might further enhance authority and transient speed to Corus.... But until someone tries PSU out, my conjecture is only worth the electrons expended in displaying it.

Thank fully "supercapacitor" is not a new fangled nuveau-fizzy-marketing term.... it's a class of devices that combine quasi-battery energy density with quasi-capacitor charge/discharge cycling... Look them up on Wikipedia if interested.

G.

thanks for the great discussion regarding REAL improvements in the sound of these components. BTW, i didn't know that the Criterion preamp had been discontinued....! wow, this IS a surprise. and the upgraded power supply for Corus is soon to be released- also, very interesting news indeed.
i guess i am getting a moldy brain when it comes to what these newer products can do for a more realistic presentation. i just tend to think of, for example, the Pass Aleph-P, which came out some time ago, a simple box running in Class-A, which sounded almost as good as a passive preamp in a stereophile test. i get "stuck" i suppose in thinking that at a certain point, you have a great preamp, so quit window shopping- in this case for an XP-30 ( or the rumored XS-series preamp to be releaseed). but i admit my personal biases- even though, as a Rowland audio-salesman told me as i took home my (1st big purchase) Consonance from his store , that "now you're done, that piece of your audio system is taken care of". i finally had a 1st rate, high-end component, built to an incredible standard, nothing like my mid-fi harman kardon preamp i had brought in on trade.
but i must now face a different challenge- WHICH high-end preamp gets out of the way of the music better than all of the other offerings at prices i can't afford anyway?
I kept worrying about how much money i had just spent- $3500 for (just) a preamp, and yet since that fateful day, I have had a Pass Aleph-P, a Consummate, and EMM lab pre/dac, a levinson 380S, and now a levinson 326S. and THAT is now quickly becoming passe... i think i need a big spoonful of Geritol and a nice long nap.
you youngsters better carry on without me....

Thanks for your responses, I appreciate them all. I has spoken to a technician who does authorised service for Rowland,Arc and a few other manufactures and he seems to think that the ARC Ref3 or Ref2 mk2 would in his words smoke the Coherence 2 but he couldn't comment about the Corus since he hadn't heard it. Feel free to comment and thanks again, you have been very helpful.

I owned Rowland gear in the 90's, then I made a long stop from 2001 until 2011 because none of those newer units moved me. In a way, power, but dead. I bought Coherence II.2 + Model 2 with Battery Power Supply 2012 and I think, they have indeed something to do with a musical reproduction.
Marketing will let us know that the latest is always the best. But you don't get a definition of "best". Instead you get a lot of technical explanations what parts are inside but you don't know what they do. A good Design is very often a combination of knowledge and pure luck. There is absolutely no guarantee that the next unit from the same designer will be better. Different of course, but better? There are endless examples out there, countless Audio Research units, Cartridges, Tonearms .... and so on. The old Pass Aleph amps beat any new in any second of the day when they are connected to a matching speaker. They can't drive ultra low loads, but is that a proof that they are worse?? Isn't it more intelligent to avoid such a Speaker Design and to look for something better....?

I listened to Criterion and I decided to go for Coherence II, but my priorities will not be shared from everyone. Most think, when they hear a difference, that this difference is better (for example, louder is always better, faster is always better.....) but a musical reproduction, the illusion of being part of a Performance is something different. Spectral for example is fast, but none of their units have something in common with music. It is the way it is.

Rowland gear is good, personally I don't like the Switch Mode Power Supplies, the sound is going on my nerves after a few hours, but there are others out there who like it more.
The Coherence II has a very unique internal Design with some very, very expensive parts and intelligent technical solutions. The XLR input and output are different from the "old" ones and the newer ones, so when you compare them you have to get the right cable terminations :-)
Specially when a Cadence Phono is used also (a very amazing unit, but wrong cable termination will rob a lot of its abilities...).
It is no secret that the very best sounding Rowland amps were Model 2/6/8/9.... some - intelligent - Dealers announced the 625 Model as the next best units after Model 8.... Marketing is one side, proof or time another....