PHONO PREAMPLIFIER

MM/MC phono preamp with degauss facility
Made by: Aurorasound Inc, Japan
Supplied by: Pure Sound, UK
Telephone: 01822 612449
Web: http://aurorasound.jp/english; www.puresound.info
Price: £3659 (+£369 for variable MC loading)

Aurorasound VIDA MkII

LEFT: The wooden
sleeve is a nod to
hi-fi electronics ofyesteryear while
the light alloy fascia
is dominated by anilluminated mutebutton. Toggles
offer stereo/mono,a subsonic filter,high/low MC loadswitching [see p67]
and independent
dual MM/MC input
selection

Aurorasound’s VIDA (Vinyl Disk Amplifier), launched in 2011, has marked its first decadewith a number of revisions to merit MkII status. How does it stack up in 2022?
Review: Ken Kessler Lab: Paul MillerS

mall Japanese specialist brands
always fascinate me, due in part tomy delight that they can co-exist
with the Sony- and Panasonic-sized
manufacturers. While every nation has its
bijou marques, there’s an uncanny aura to
the likes of 47Lab, Shindo, Air Tight andKondo, plus countless MC cartridge makers,
that differentiates them from equally exotic
producers from the UK, USA, Italy, Germanyand beyond. Aurorasound could also only
be Japanese, its VIDA MkII, an evolution of
the VIDA [HFN Jul ’13], ticking every box.
As self-contained as the standard £3659
version of the VIDA MkII is – it provides
simple high/low load switching on both
MC inputs, with low recommended for
cartridges below 100ohm and high for
those above 100ohm – there are options
to reinforce the appeal to enthusiasts. On
the surface, then, this is a comprehensively
equipped two-chassis phono stage which
eschews functional minimalism whileavoiding clutter to create a super-cleanfascia. Yet there’s more to its capabilities,
being a unit able to handle MM and MC
cartridges in both inputs, and thus support
two decks or arms.

the original Aurora Amp module-1 for the
Amp module-2 Rev. 3 [the gold PCB in ourinside pic, below]. This modularity extends
to the circa-£10,000 VIDA Supreme, which
provides the option of plugging in various
cards that allow different MM or MC inputs
via active circuitry or step-up transformers,
EQ curves, inverse RIAA, and other settings.
Also available below the VIDA MkII is thesimpler £1000 VIDA Prima [HFN Mar ’19],
this phono stage offering just high and low
adjustments for MCs.
Otherwise Aurorasound has
fundamentally revised the PCB layout
and optimised signal flow with a new
mainboard [compare inside shots here andHFN Jul ’13] with a claimed improvementof 6dB in left/right channel separation.
The degauss control has been moved fromthe front panel to the back, the two pilot

Hit the Load, jackThe vast majority of VIDA preamps aresold with this standard MC loading but oursample was fitted with the optional VI6
six-way load switch on both MC inputs,
which adds £369 and provides settingsof 30, 50, 75, 100, 150 and 470ohm.
This should satisfy the most fastidiousof audiophiles as I find most MCs do not
require to be ‘dialled in’ to the nearestohm. Not fitted to our review sample,
however, are the balanced output (XLR)
option at £549 nor the £459 SPC umbilical
PSU cable with proprietary screening.
Externally little has altered, the MkII
designation referring to the exchange ofRIGHT: The dual-mono VIDA MkII comprises
three building blocks – a switchable op-amp
based gain stage [far right], passive LCR RIAA
network [centre] and custom output stage withonboard regulation [gold-plated PCBs, near left]

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LEDs on the fascia are reduced to one,and the external power supply has been
improved. Furthermore the chassis has
been reinforced to reduce RFI and EMI.

Precision engineering
It occurred to me that this could be mydream phono stage (with the XLR output
option, that is). The front panel provides
everything needed on a quotidian basis,
with the illuminated mute button standing
proud in the upper lefthand corner. Acrossthe bottom, left to right, are delightfully
precise toggle switches as only theJapanese seem to be able to manufacture,for stereo/mono, direct or via a subsonic
filter (useful if you have a badly warped but
playable LP), the high/low MC switch, theMM/MC selector, and the toggle for Phono
1 and Phono 2 inputs.

Around the back are RCAs for output
and two decks, two separate earthing
posts, a three-pin connector that takes
the feed from the external power supply,
the aforementioned degausser, and therotary for switching MC cartridge loads.
I’m of two minds about degaussing, which
demagnetises MC cartridges
and which Aurorasoundrecommends once every six
months, but as it can do noharm, and takes 30 seconds,
it’s no hardship to employ it.
While the VIDA MkII has
a classy elegance, its mattesilver fascia offset by a real
wood enclosure, it’s also a bit of a multicoloured light show: red on the power
supply rocker, orange for the big, square
mute button and lavender for the tiny LED
below the Aurorasound logo.

high-end hi-fi, it was the name that didit. One of my favourite T-Bone Walker
tracks is ‘Vida Lee’, so naturally I chosethat to kick off my listening, specificallythe version found on the various artists
compilation Legendary Master Series Vol.
1 Urban Blues – Blues Uptown [ImperialLM-94002]. This stunningcollection from 1968 wasinspired by members ofCanned Heat, and it’s adoozy. It also enabled me totest the benefits of the VIDAMkII having a mono button,whether or not one hasgone to the lengths of alsoacquiring a mono cartridge.
Walker was all about slithery guitar
playing and the kind of vocals that couldmake ‘Old McDonald Had A Farm’ soundsalacious. What the VIDA MkII somehow
extracted from this track – which I used
to play repeatedly when my blues libraryconsisted of a mere dozen LPs – wasplump, rich, honking sax which was enough‘Inspired bymembers ofCanned Heat,
it’s a doozy’

La vida loca
Although predisposed toward this phono
stage because I love obscure Japanese

Shinobu Karaki
Yokohama-based Aurorasound was founded by Shinobu Karaki in 2010. Previously
he’d worked as an engineer for Texas Instruments in Japan from 1980-2009 but
took early retirement to pursue his own interest in audio. The first product wasa line stage called the CADA which incorporated a DAC and rare triodes. Soonafter, he developed the VIDA (Vinyl Disk Amplifier) employing LCR (inductor/capacitor/resistor) equalisation, sourcing the inductors from Lundahl in Sweden.
Says Guy Sergeant of UK distributor, Pure Sound, ‘Karaki is also something ofa fan of specialised and somewhat obscure transistors that, in many cases, weremade specifically for audio use. Indeed, he acquires and hoards quantities of hisfavourites in the way others might do with particular valves. Karaki is also part ofa fairly niche society of mostly Japanese audiophiles who, via a Facebook group,
share their love of cartridges such as [founder of ADC] Peter Pritchard-designed
General Electric variable reluctance designs’.
Aurorasound now manufactures the three VIDA phono stages [HFN Mar 19],
the SP03L MC step-up transformer, HEADA headphone amp [HFN May ’15], PREDA[HFN Nov ’14] and PREDA-III solid-state preamplifiers, the PADA-EL34 triode
stereo power amplifier and the PADA-300B monoblock, plus other accessories.

to distract me from the sound of his big
hollow-bodied Gibson. It wasn’t just thefast runs which signified Walker’s playing– the way he strummed those chords
produced a sound complex enough to keepwordsmiths reaching for the thesaurus.
Resonance, air, some rattles... any Gibson
aficionado would be able to tell you which
ES-model he was playing (without cheatingand looking at the recording date of 1952).

MOOD MUSIC
Back to the sax. This arrives right after
the opening line, a mere two seconds in,
but it establishes a mood that suggests
a darkened bar, in the wee hours, on theother side of town from Ol’ Blue Eyes. TheVIDA MkII was living up to its namesake,especially the realistic, almost tactile
textures of that smoky voice.
From the same LP came Fats Domino’s‘Don’t Lie To Me’, recorded before hewent gold with ‘Blueberry Hill’. Here themain sound was rollicking New Orleansbarrelhouse piano, again dependent on thereproduction of certain resonances. This
immediately reminded me of Dave Wilson– Wilson Audio’s founder – and his Ragtime
Razzmatazz LPs, and discussing with Dave
what was needed to make that sound, theway worn-down hammers would hit withABOVE: Outboard PSU connects to the VIDAMkII via a short umbilical [see rear pic, p67]

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Lab
reportPHONO PREAMPLIFIER

Aurorasound VIDA MkIIABOVE: The MkII still offers two front-switched MM/MC phono inputs, but brings thedegauss function to the rear. Variable 30-470ohm (low) MC loading option is extra

a specific timbre. Fats’ performance
may have been 70 years gone, andwithout the benefit of stereo, but it
still filled the space in front of me.
With both T-Bone’s and Fats’
voices tilted toward the richer endof the spectrum, the contrast ofCarole King’s vocals on Tapestry[Mobile Fidelity UD1S 2-030 OneStep] let me wallow in the honeyed
midband and at the same time
experience spatial recreation. The
piano provided an alternative sonicsensation, again suggesting thatkeen-eared musicians might even beable to identify the make and model.
While the near-excessive warmthfavours my biases – anything thatsounds like valves, even if solid-state,gets my thumbs up – I can expect
some might find it overbearing withcertain MC cartridges, especiallyinto an all-valve system, which iswhat I was enjoying. With Carole
King’s ‘I Feel The Earth Move’ andthe change in tempo, the nature of
the piano bordered on poundingrock ’n’ roll, harder hitting thanFats’ track. Here the VIDA MkII
produced transient attack and crisp
edges which counter-balanced thepossibly-too-warm overall nature.

CLASSIC FLAVOUR
Note that this was consistent fromcartridge to cartridge, and theseincluded a couple of flavours ofOrtofon 2Ms for moving-magnet
duties, and both classic and modern
MCs of varying impedances. If apattern was emerging, and with an
ear to the kind of neutrality which
is a virtue for those who favour
solid-state, digital, and anything elsethat isn’t a 300B or 845, it’s that theVIDA MkII has all the speed and slam,across the frequency spectrum, todisarm any whose initial impression
is coloured by the warmth. I’m trying
hard not to confuse you… or myself,

for this phono stage will never be
mistaken for some all-valve design
like the astounding EAT E-Glo.
Instead, my findings are basedon comparing it with other solidstate phono amps, all of whichsounded cooler and more forensic.
With Little Feat’s ‘Willin’’ from
Sailin’ Shoes [Mobile Fidelity MFSL
1-307], the VIDA MkII had nodifficulty separating the myriad
layers of sound, subtle little licks
from acoustic guitars, pedal steelfar right, dry percussion, and thoseharmonies on the line ‘Weeds,whites and wine’. You’re gonna fighthard not to shed a tear about theloss of Lowell George.
That pedal steel provided
an illustration of the clarity thisphono stage can yield and do so
without ever sounding brittle.
Mainly it’s down to the unit’s
transparency, which some mightfind is often clouded by warmth,
but Aurorasound has found anear-perfect balance. If there’s any
criticism I can make about the VIDAMkII it’s that it also tends toward thepolite. But in this mean old world,that’s a virtue.

While passive RIAA networks are often employed for theirperceived subjective advantage, conventional RC stages soakup a lot of gain (~20dB at 1kHz) and present a variable load forthe input/buffer preamp. Bridged T-network LCR filters can be
designed for a constant input impedance without sacrificing as
much gain, but optimising the inductor value (against its series
resistance) is a trade-off, especially in the low-pass arm of thenetwork. Aurorasound’s latest circuit offers about 2dB extra MMgain vs. the VIDA MkI (+40.5dB vs. +38.4dB) with a +1dB ‘boost’for MCs (+65.1dB vs. +64.2dB) at the expense of slightly reduced
input overload margins – 128mV vs. 163mV (MM) and 7.0mV vs.
8.6mV (MC). The MM margin is still more than sufficient, offering+28dB headroom for a 5mV/1kHz (5cm/sec) rated pick-up, thiscoupled with a worthy 82dB A-wtd S/N ratio. The MC input has agood 76dB S/N but is arguably less well suited to very low outputtypes where a 70dB+ gain is required, or very high output MCs
where the +22.9dB input margin (re. 500µV) may be insufficient.
Distortion is reduced to 0.0015% through the midrange in
the MkII although low frequency THD is slightly higher at 0.017%[see Graph 2, below] – all these figures being two or threeorders of magnitude lower than that from a ‘real world’ pick-up.
The equalised response shows a mild +0.2dB lift through thebass (~60Hz) and treble (~10kHz) and boasts slightly greater
extension over the MkI, reaching +0.11dB/20kHz and –5.3dB/
100kHz. The low bass extension of its DC-coupled output stage
is extreme, just –0.6dB/1Hz, while the AC-coupled subsonic filter
shows an improved –10dB/5Hz attenuation [see Graph 1, below].
Finally, the MkI’s high 1.1kohm output impedance has beenslightly reduced to 850ohm in the MkII. PM

ABOVE: RIAA-corrected MM frequency response from
5Hz-100kHz re. 0dBV (subsonic filter dashed)

HI-FI NEWS VERDICT
Aurorasound’s VIDA MkII might
be classified as a cult product due
to its esoteric origins, but it isnothing of the sort. This delicious
little phono amp is ergonomicallyideal, comprehensively equipped,
beautifully made and – as ourreview reveals – is as sweetsounding as deserved of the finest
analogue systems. Fresh out ofthe box, it caressed everythingfrom budget MMs to £5k-plus
MCs. It’s a delight!

Sound Quality: 85%
0-------- 100

ABOVE: Distortion versus frequency re. 0dBV from20Hz-20kHz (MM, black; MC, red)

HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS
Input loading (MM/MC)

47kohm/100pF / 30-470ohm/1kohm

Input sensitivity (re. 0dBV)

9.42mV / 554µV (MM/MC)

Input overload (re. 1% THD)

128mV / 7.0mV (MM/MC)

Max. output (re. 1% THD) / Imp.

13.5V / 850ohm

A-wtd S/N ratio (re. 0dBV)

81.9dB / 76.0dB (MM/MC)

Freq. resp. (20Hz-20kHz/100kHz)–0.0dB to +0.20dB / –5.25dB

Distortion (20Hz-20kHz, re. 0dBV)

0.0015–0.017% (MM)Power consumption

8W

Dimensions (WHD) / Weight

260x100x250mm / 2.8kg (1.4kg, PSU)

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