PRIMALUNA ProLogue Classic
Digital sources
Excellence is a habit, not a single act. The headline is borrowed from PrimaLuna’s promotional vocabulary, in this particular case it is not far away from truth, indeed. With the PrimaLuna ProLogue Classic CD player there is a lot of high-end coming to your home. First, the player is capable to recreate realistic soundstage that is among the finest I have ever heard, turntables inclusive. Further, it swings and sings no matter which genre you insert into its drawer and gets a firm grip on your emotions, pouring out wonderfully resolved, liquid and timed sound that is normally reserved for much higher price tags.
Function and form
The ProLogue Classic is a tubed CD player which means that a future owner has to proper reasonable ventilation around the unit. The player is not far from a cuboid measuring 40x28x19cm (DxWxH) and consists of three separate modules in a LEGO fashion. A power supply towers behind a tube compartment, both sitting on a block that hosts a transport, DACs and control boards. To protect the tubes the PrimaLuna’s chassis is covered by a neatly lacquered and hand-polished perforated steel cage. The cage is removable if you wish but there is hardly a reason to do so as it visually does not interfere neither it resonates. The anti-resonant control of the player is achieved not only by precise craftmanship of individual parts that are assembled with a hair-thin accuracy, but also by thick metal and aluminum sheets that were used for the chassis as well as by the player’s 14kg of Classic.
The ProLogue Classic’s front panel is pure simplicity. Apart from the CD drawer and a sizeable display there are only four buttons that support ‘quick start’ operation. The rest of usual functionalities is available through the provided remote controller which is in fact a heavy metal bar equipped with a rubber ring at either end to keep your furniture protected from scratches. I had no issue in using either the remote or the buttons, still, it would be great to have direct track access option on the remote in the player’s next edition.
The PrimaLuna’s inner topology is strictly dual mono with a separate toroid for each channel. I did not hear any significant benefits to the sound when I paired the ProLogue Classic with my IsoTek Titan filter. This might be due to the multilevel power supply regulation circuits that are already built-in and that literally decouple the player from a power outlet. The most of the listening I did without any filtration at all, therefore.
Bass management
PrimaLuna’s mastermind Herman Van Den Dungen is pioneering the idea that a CD player may sonically benefit from a tubed oscillator. That’s why the ProLogue Classic sports a mini-triode in its SuperTubeClockTM. This should solve the digititis (read jitter) and result into more musicality comparing to any solid-state solution.
There are basically two types of improvements that anyone can easily perform. One of the most straightforward is to use different tubes. The PrimaLune uses 12AX7 and 12AU7 zero-feedback dual triodes in its output stage and 5AR4 in its power supply rectification. All the tubes are Chinese equivalents so I can only encourage a future owner to use genuine parts – the importer recommends affordable TungSol valves or PSVANE 12ax7 T and 12AU7 T for real connoisseurs. The experimenting with tubes is made very easy in PrimaLuna´s world as their amplifiers incorporate proprietary Auto-Bias that instantly and continuously monitors electric and thermal status of the tubes to seamlessly adjust the current for their optimum performance. The steering of the bias happens few octaves below the audible region to keep critical signal paths as transparent as possible. There is no Auto-Bias circuit in the CD player so a certain selectivity should be applied.
The other improvement option is a real upgrade. The digital-to-analogue conversion happens to an upsampled signal. After the audiodata are processed by a Burr-Brown’s SRC4192 chip to 192kHz they are sent to a pair of 24-bit Burr-Brown PCM 1792 DACs. Then the signal is fed into an operation amplifier chip. The Classic´s predecessor, the PrimaLuna ProLogue Eight, offered two optional upgrades to this chip, the Basic and the Super one, that include better performing op-amps and improved capacitors. The Classic unit I had on loan arrived already with the Super I/V upgrade done to it as will all Classics as from now, for they all have the Super I/V board in standard configuration already.
From the above you see that there is a lot of serious engineering in the ProLogue Classic and apparently it positively projected into what I heard.
Clarity & delicacy
I listened to Keith Jarret’s Bye Bye Blackbird. Knowing that the source – the PrimaLuna – is a mid-cost player I wondered whether it could get the sparkle of cymbals right. Though I am not sure that the cymbals were ‘right’ through the ProLogue Classic (who can ever be?), I am convinced that they were not ‘wrong’ for sure. It means that the PrimaLuna could replay the shimmering delicacy of the cymbal’s resonances with grace, charm and truthfulness. There was a nice ‘attack factor’ in the initial transient of the sound and there was realistic portrayal of its decay. Yes, I could have wished the transient’s edge to be more fine delineated and the decay to be more sound and vivid, however, I did not feel it was that important for the level of amusement that was set so high by the player.
Moving down to midrange the piano was clean and extended with enough ‘air’ in between the notes. Similarly to the top end there was little softening identifiable towards the bottom end. Here I may wished for extra punch and firmness but still, considering that I was listening to a 2690 euros player, the sound was amazing.
Tonal accuracy
The PrimaLuna is a very lively player with top-notch phrasing and timing. Though its design is packed with tubes it does not deliver what you would normally associate with ‘sound of tubes’. The analog warmth projects, if it does, only as a touch of humanity and harmonic richness into the otherwise digital experience – the ProLogue Classic is a digital player, right?
Spatial resolution
I made a set of comparisons switching between the PrimaLuna and my C.E.C. TL-51XR CD player that is in the very same price category. In my review of the TL-51XR player I outlined several attributes that linked the player to the analog rather than digital. Though the PrimaLuna and C.E.C. are sonically slightly different both can convey relaxing ease and flow that induces a sense of organic completeness to any music. Where the ProLogue Classic clearly wins over the C.E.C is the already mentioned soundstaging.
No matter if I listened to classical pieces, jazz numbers or just a simple voice of Jane Monheit (In The Sound) the PrimaLuna always reconstructed the recorded acoustics with aplomb. Performances were always laid out with great spatial precision and the soundstages were drawn wide and deep, well beyond the planes of my speakers. If you like to be seated in a soft chair at the best place in an auditorium and feel the spirit of the music then the PrimaLuna is for you. It refrains from firing spotlights right in your face, rather it builds a sense of realism and comfort. This is not to say that the ProLogue Classic cannot rock – for sure it can and surprisingly well. I found myself tapping to the rhythm of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song from their fabulous III album. PrimaLuna could also effectively pick up Jimmy Page's desolate acoustic strums and distant ambient guitars that make Tangerine, an exceptional countryesque number, a haunting masterpiece. Then comes the foot-stomping Bron-Y-Aur Stomp with Page's maniacal fingerpicked acoustic strums and runs, Plant's wonderful harmonized verses, Jones' flawless acoustic bass walk-downs, and Bonham's incredibly simple but catchy bass and tambourine beats. By the time the song ends you know that this is how you would like to hear it again.
Recommended resellers
CZ: Navrátil Audio, Havířov, tel. +420 737 821 360
SK: Kohut Audio, Košice, tel. +421 905 642 156
Manufacturer's website: http://www.primaluna.nl
Associated components
- CD players: C.E.C. TL-51XR
- Amplifiers: Mark Levinson No. 432
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Kubala-Sosna Emotion
- Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima Studio2
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