This is a review and detailed measurements of Superhon Revelation vintage preamplifier and phono stage. It was sent to me by Peter at Quirk Audio where he restores audio gear with impeccable attention to detail and performance.
The Revelation "Basic" came out I think in 1980 and cost $399. It is not a bad looking unit even though it was clearly a budget build. The front panel selector has CD/VID input but no such indication exist on the back panel:
An oddity is the AC transformer being permanently wired to the unit. Let's see how it measures.
Superphon Preamplifier Measurements
I adjusted the independent channel volume controls for unity gain, fed it Aux-1 as input and this is what we get:
This is surprisingly good! Distortion in one channel less than -110 dB. The other is around -102 dB. What distortion there is, is only 2nd harmonic. SINAD is noise dominated, rendering a value that would almost provide transparency for CD content. SNR confirms the same:
Frequency response is ruler flat and extended:
Crosstalk could be better though:
Same with residual noise for IMD test:
Distortion and noise are frequency independent which is good:
SuperPhon Revelation Phono Stage Measurements
To keep this review manageable, I am going to just run a couple of tests here:
That residual noise naturally got worse landing the unit pretty low in our rankings:
RIAA equalization is well implemented though:
Conclusions
Devices like this show how much audio performance has slid backward. We had CD level analog performance 40 years ago in a budget box like this. Today, we would celebrate if an expensive high-end product produce this level of performance for thousands of dollars! Talk about taking your eye off the ball....
I don't usually make a recommendation for vintage products but here, I will make an exception and put the SuperPhon Revelation on my recommended list. And services of Peter and Quirkaudio.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The Revelation "Basic" came out I think in 1980 and cost $399. It is not a bad looking unit even though it was clearly a budget build. The front panel selector has CD/VID input but no such indication exist on the back panel:
An oddity is the AC transformer being permanently wired to the unit. Let's see how it measures.
Superphon Preamplifier Measurements
I adjusted the independent channel volume controls for unity gain, fed it Aux-1 as input and this is what we get:
This is surprisingly good! Distortion in one channel less than -110 dB. The other is around -102 dB. What distortion there is, is only 2nd harmonic. SINAD is noise dominated, rendering a value that would almost provide transparency for CD content. SNR confirms the same:
Frequency response is ruler flat and extended:
Crosstalk could be better though:
Same with residual noise for IMD test:
Distortion and noise are frequency independent which is good:
SuperPhon Revelation Phono Stage Measurements
To keep this review manageable, I am going to just run a couple of tests here:
That residual noise naturally got worse landing the unit pretty low in our rankings:
RIAA equalization is well implemented though:
Conclusions
Devices like this show how much audio performance has slid backward. We had CD level analog performance 40 years ago in a budget box like this. Today, we would celebrate if an expensive high-end product produce this level of performance for thousands of dollars! Talk about taking your eye off the ball....
I don't usually make a recommendation for vintage products but here, I will make an exception and put the SuperPhon Revelation on my recommended list. And services of Peter and Quirkaudio.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
