Listening ears award12/27/2023 ![]() There’s harmonic bloom across the spectrum, most notably an infusion of resonance and decay cues around strings and winds. It mines musical detail down to the softest levels. Anchored by the precision of Wayne Colburn’s single-stage electronic volume control adapted from the Xs line, the XP-12 produces an almost eerie sense of musical spontaneity and immediacy. ![]() Sonically…well, that’s another matter altogether. With its all-business looks, certainly no one is going to accuse it (or you) of an ostentatious display of gilded consumerism. As a classic, old-school, line-level preamp, it forgoes the dual-chassis extravagance of Pass’ uptown siblings. Pass Labs’ entry-level linestage preamp has been a constant presence in my system for years. ![]() Take your pick, but either way MBL’s 126 and 120 deserve to share this award. Crafted and finished with precision and taste, and inseparable in so many sonic respects, these Golden Ear prospects ran in a virtual dead-heat. But it’s the superb, carbon-fiber, radial mid and tweeter drivers that spin the sonic silk-both grainless, airy, and harmonious. Low-level resolution and sensitivity to dynamic gradients abound. Orchestral music assumes a naturalism and spine-tingling immediacy akin to the real thing. As only an omni can, they approach the complex relationship between imaging, soundstaging, and envelopment in ways direct-radiating transducers often only hint at, but rarely attain. The sonics they offer are characterized by sweeping ambience retrieval, 3-D-like immersion, and seamless top-to-bottom response. But beyond that there are more similarities than differences to these three-way, omnidirectional, stand-mount Radialstrahlers. While closely related in many respects, the beefier MBL 120 sports greater bass output, extension, and dynamic range, thanks to its larger-diameter side-firing woofers. I didn’t know just how much I’d missed the musicality, transparency, and astounding spatiality of the brilliant MBL 120 until my memory was jogged by listening to its equally startling and extraordinary little sister, the MBL 126, now in my review queue.
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