Review by Noam Bronstein These days, a product like the Copla on review here, is about as rare as the type of company that makes it: S.California’s Lounge Audio. See, the days of active head amps are by and large gone, and sadly, so are the days when an electronics whiz like Robert Morin comes along, developing and marketing quietly unassuming, super high-value offerings to the audiophile market – via his Lounge Audio enterprise. Lounge’s LCR MkIII phono stage, which I reviewed here last year, is such a product. I couldn’t give it high enough praise, especially considering the $300 direct price. This time, we’re looking at the LCR’s new companion, or sister product. The Copla is an active step-up amplifier that retails direct for $270. A bit of review. The LCR is a low-gain phono preamp, suitable for Moving Magnet (iron, permalloy) phono cartridges, as well as high-output Moving Coil types – often referred to as HOMC’s. But let’s say your LCR MkIII has brought you so much analog pleasure (a very plausible scenario!), that you feel the urge to upgrade your cartridge to a low-output Moving Coil (LOMC)? Maybe something like the venerable Denon DL-103, which only puts out 0.3mV – that’s [...]
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