I think it is time for well overdue conclusion. (everything I do takes longer then it should
)
Without a doubt Blair of Niteshade Audio took quite a gamble with AC tour of one of his products. (besides the IC that came with the Beacon Two pre). It certainly takes some serious guts and confidence to inject one's reputation, and possibly future into a crowd of total strangers who got nothing to loose except few keystrokes describing their experiences with product under "review". Like most of the regulars here at Audio Circle, I had great reservation towards this newcomer and his attempt to convince the masses that he isn't your average builder but someone capable of bringing you just a bit closer to (strangely abused) "audio nirvana". But at this point I can assure you that Blair is the real deal and if other products from Niteshade stable resemble Beacon Two preamp then I will be the first to admit that we have missed on some of a very interesting components which passed us by unnoticed.
Personally, I will place Niteshade Audio on my list of manufacturers to contact for my future purchase(s).
In short, I am very impressed with Beacon Two performance, design, simplicity and most of all, performance.
Some of the music used:
Equipment used:
-Decware SV83M monoblock amplifiers
-Custom build linestage (5V4 rectifying tube, 6J5GT output tubes)
-Virtue Audio Piano1 CD player
-Majik Buss AC filtering
-CIAudio XDC 2 enhancing filter
-Audio Nirvana Super 15 cast frame drivers in open baffle design
-Interconnects used: Niteshade LH1, Audio Research
-Power cables: Signal Cable, Morrow Audio, Electra
-Speaker cable: NOS cooper solid core wire, no termination
The Sound:
Despite the circuit appearance of being minimalistically and efficiently laid out as well as absents of brand name components or parts the sound was surprisingly good. In fact, it was almost on pare with my reference preamplifier which costs (parts alone) at least twice the Beacon's Two asking price (tour special price) and weights at least 10 times as much. Beacon Two preamp reminds me of a simple culinary dish based on raw and fairly common ingredients which with help of incredibly skillful chef, can taste like a million dollars, price winning entrée. It is quite amazing what was accomplished with so little and within budget of a regular "Joe". Well, it is not exactly beer money but it is also far from ridiculous or silly.
It would be even a better deal (as well as aggressive marketing) if the asking price was around the tour special offer.........say, between $750-$850. There is still competition in that price range.( Competition with years on the market & hundreds of satisfied users around the world ) Stealing slice of that "sweet apple pie" won't be easy. Blair has the tools and product(s) to do it. It's just going to take some patients and hard work. I wouldn't be surprised to hear a whole lot more about Niteshade Audio in very near future and I hope that this company will get some well deserved recognition.
The characteristics that can describe Beacon Two preamp are:
- excellent speed and pace
- transparency and attempt of faithful reproduction of the source/media
- female voices and string instruments sounded most impressive
- bass is fast, punchy, but one might wish for more weight and meat around the bones
- minimum self noise, black background, very quiet
- great air
There was not much to complain about and if there was ........ it would probably has to do with system synergy or component mismatch. Also keep in mind that I didn't engaged in any tube rolling feast, cable swapping extravaganza or tweaks delight. I never felt the need to apply any of that nonsense. It simply sounded great regardless of what I throw at it. It might be also worth mentioning that my Decware amps never sounded so good (and these almost end up for sale.......not anymore). It turns out that there is more to these fine amps then meets the eye, it just has to be discovered. I thing that Beacon Two preamp might just be the answer.
OB Audio Nirvana full range drivers also shined with Decware and Beacon pairing. During the audition, my quickly assembled, plain rig turned into something really special.
I LOVE IT.
I do not want to sugar coat anything or influence this tour but you would be wise to at least try it for yourself in your very own system. It would also help a lot if Niteshade Audio offered some sort of in home free trial. Certainly risky proposal but it might turn out to be a necessity to reach broader audience.
Thank you Blair
and bravo!
Mariusz
