Review by Noam Bronstein My review of Audio Exklusiv’s P0.2 happened during a busy time, didn’t get off to a great start, and almost got “lost in the shuffle”. I knew (from hearing it at TAVES) that this preamp was a solid performer, but I couldn’t get any decent results with it at first. Sound was flat and lifeless, and there was a persistent hum. What the heck? Finally, Charisma Audio’s Bernard Li got the review unit back from me, and gave me a call a couple of days later. The problem was the wall transformer! His local supplier of DC wall-warts for the North American market had supplied him with a bad power supply. It was only, uh, supplying 20.5 VDC, and had some distinct noise issues. After sourcing a good working 24V replacement, I got the P0.2 back from Bernard, and was off to the races. And what a fantastic little phono preamp this German-made unit turned out to be. At $1325 Cdn, Audio Exklusiv’s basic model, while not exactly “cheap”, is meant to fill a niche – in the vinyl system where the user demands top notch sound quality but isn’t willing to commit to an all-out package [...]
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