Clarity-4 and Clarity-8 review
Wednesday, 5th October 2011
The October 2011 issue of Hi-Fi World carries a review of our Clarity-4, Clarity-8 and the [now discontinued] Clarity-16.
Paul Rigby starts off with the Clarity-4, using his turntable as a source and immediately notices that the music becomes more organised:"The stereo image, for example, was rock solid. I played a couple of vinyl albums with a mushy central image. The Clarity-4 fixed them both dead centre which was both startling and welcome".
There were also improvements to the soundstage which provided "clarification on who stood where and why".
Moving on to the Clarity-8 and he observed the same elements as the 4 but with an extra boost in performance. "Bass provided more depth and heft, drums had more 'thwack' while upper midrange and treble appeared more spacious with more room for stringed instruments to manoeuvre".
Finally, the Clarity-16*. Building on the performance characteristics of the previous two models, the 16 adds more focus to "the musicality of the performance with a lighter, breezier playback".
For those with the resources, "the best sound of all actually arose when all 3 units were plugged in simultaneously ... [h]ere, the music sounded darker, as if it was surrounded by silence. Bass was confident while upper midrange frequencies upped their game."
Overall, each of the Clarity units was seen as a very worthwhile upgrade for removing a level of distortion that:
"will allow your current system to run at its true potential, stripping away the clinging, extraneous rubbish and allowing you to hear the true voice of your hi-fi".
Magazine: Hi-Fi World
Issue: October 2011
Verdict: N/A
*Clarity-16 has since been discontinued but similar effects can be gained by using 2x Clarity-8s
Written By Simon Dalton
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