My Reflex M thoughts

Now I have lived with it for a few weeks, here are my impressions of the Reflex M. I took advantage of the (fantastic) loan scheme and borrowed one for a couple of weeks. I am used to the sound now and am really enjoying it but on first listen I had to turn down the volume from my usual listening level. So much more information was coming through the sound felt overwhelming.

It was a much bigger sound; wider and deeper than I was used to hearing from both my Arcam A19's onboard phono stage and the Moth 30 series external phono stage I had been using. Tons more space and air in the music. Were these really the albums I thought I knew so well?

It is a well-worn cliche but I was hearing things I had not heard, or noticed, before. Now I could hear more space between instruments and could more accurately place their location. With John Martyn's Solid Air I felt I was no longer sat in front of the music, I was in the middle of it with the musicians arranged around me. Danny Thompson's bass notes had more of a deep, richly satisfying 'thrum' than before.

Of all the improvements I have made to my set up; having the arm rewired by Origin Live, trading up to a higher quality cartridge, this has been the best by far. When the end of the loan period came I was reluctant to return the Reflex M, life was not going to be the same without it. So I immediately splashed out my hard earned and have not regretted it for a moment.

Thanks to the loan scheme here are my impressions of the Reflex M. Compared to
inbuilt stage of my parasound halo the sound was a bit more dynamic, transparent and
cleaner. The differences are not as night and day but they are noticeable.
This is not the case for all records. On some records I find it solid-state hard sound with the lack of warmth and refinement. The bass goes generally lower but it is sometimes uncomfortable stiff .Hard to explain. To sum it up I have mixed feelings and I'm not entirely satisfied.

My system: TT pear audio/ decca london gold / parasound halo / sonus faber concerto