The latestarivalsfrom Regam ightlooklike busines asusual, but Ed Seley thinksthere’saquietrevolution underway
This being Rega, it is more the significance ofthere being inputs at al than the inputsthem selvesbeing radical. O ne optical and one coaxial input are fited with both ofering supportforPCM up to 24-bit/192kHz.Decoding com esvia an unspecified W olfson DAC. This sm al digital section joins four RCA line inputs and a m oving-m agnet phono stage, the later being retained from the previousElicit-R,m aking thisthe largestRega am p to feature an internal phono stage. The amplifier section benefitsfrom Rega’swork developing its Aethos (HFC 457) and this is m ost
Over the last decade or so, two-channelaudio hasundergone one of the m ost revolutionary phases of evolution in its history.You can now constructtrem endouslycapable stereo system s thatlook alm ostnothing like whatwould have been the case even a few yearsago.Asthem arginsbetween source and am p blur into nothing, som e com panies seem to have litle interestin altering theirapproach –but even long-standing holdouts are m aking som e changes. Atfirstglance,whatyou see here is an ultra traditionalpairing ofam p and CD player,buttherealityisalitlem ore interesting. As a prolific builderofturntables, Rega is a logicalcandidate to build am plifiers that concentrate on being am ps, but even it has reached the decision thata litle extra connectivity m ighthelp the cause.The ElicitM K5 is the first am p to augm ent analogue inputswith digitalones.
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