Rega io
The first of our new streaming/ turntable systems takes a repeat Award-winner in the Audiolab streamer and teams it up with a newly crowned champ amp for 2020, along with two products that are unfortunate not to have had What Hi-fi? Awards bestowed on them in the past. The Rega record deck and the Dali speakers are stunning performers in their own right; and, most importantly in this context, they create a synergy with the Award winners here that makes this a system to be reckoned with, for not a whole lot more than £1500. The Audiolab 6000N Play has romped away with our Best Buy trophy for streamers under £500 once again, and with it – also once again – our coveted Product of the Year title. Clearly, this is a superb example of its kind, but it hides its light somewhat under the bushel of its screenless, rather unadorned chassis that gives nothing away of the vast network of talents that lies within.
The foundation of its streaming experience is based on DTS’S Play-fi hi-res, multi-room platform. This means that, when connected to a network through ethernet or its dual-band wi-fi, the 6000N Play can access services such as Spotify Connect, Tidal, Hdtracks, Deezer, Qobuz, Amazon Music, Napster, Tunein, iheartradio and Siriusxm.
It also means it can stream hi-res music files up to 24-bit/192khz from networked servers, thanks to DLNA and UPNP compliance. And it can connect wirelessly with up to 32 other Play-fi-equipped devices for a multi-room set-up.
The Audiolab doesn’t quite knit music strands together as tightly as the 2018-Award-winning Bluesound Node 2i, nor does it have the warmth we were instantly drawn to with its rival, but with greater clarity, openness and a down-themiddle tonal balance, it proves the more insightful and involving listen.
Not everybody is ready to consign their other source components to the bin – and the Audiolab 6000N Play doesn’t ask you to. This is a great, affordable way to implement streaming into your system without compromising sonic quality – and with the added bonus of being able to slip into your hi-fi rack inconspicuously.
Power that keeps a low profile
Talking of inconspicuous – as far as looks go at any rate – allow us to present the new kid on Rega’s amplifier block, the diminutive io. With the arrival of the io, Rega’s unmistakable and unquestionably entertaining signature amplifier sound is now more accessible than ever. It shares much of the character of its more expensive sibling the Brio, with an incredible sense of rhythm, punchy dynamics, agility detail and fun. It is particularly good at capturing the energy of a track, and always manages to maintain the interest in a piece of music.
The right connections
To pack such a performance into this price point, Rega, as with all its amplifiers, sticks with analogue-only connections here. For the purposes of this system, though, it is absolutely ideal. The io sports two line-level inputs and a moving-magnet phono input, so you can hook up a turntable as well as the streamer, and perhaps a CD player.
The turntable we have gone for in this system is a sister product of the io, Rega’s Planar 2. It is somewhat unfortunate as far as Award-winning goes, in that the 2 sits (not surprisingly) between Planars 1 and 3 in the Rega turntable line-up – and we have to draw the Awards battlelines up somewhere, so the Planar 2 slips between the price-break gap. Make no mistake, though: this deck is a hugely talented player, and thoroughly merits its place in this superb system.
It has been amended and adapted over the years, of course – the very first Rega Planar 2 was launched way back in 1976. Indeed the only parts existing from that 44-year-old original are the drive belt and the plastic mouldings for the dust cover lid hinges.
One of the important newer arrivals is Rega’s new RB220 tonearm, which features new ultra-low-friction ball bearings, a stiffer bearing housing and an automatic bias setting, making it virtually plug ’n’ play.
Anyone well versed in Rega decks will no doubt recognise its sonic stamp: balanced and authoritative with impressive scale and natural musicality. It delivers bass lines with punch, its low end earning its wings for handling bass notes with impressive depth and texture. It has agility and momentum higher up the sonic range as well and, while the Rega has the necessary precision and rhythmic know-how to coordinate a complicated arrangement accurately, rendering hard-charging music with drive and enthusiasm.
The ability to tie all the musical strands together and paint them on a precise and spacious canvas seems to come easy to the Rega, and in that aspect its delivery simply works. Importantly, too, the Planar 2 is a proper step up in performance from its more affordable sibling, the Awardwinning RP1 – which is why, of course, it makes its way into this system.
The final piece of our sonic puzzle, the end of the line as far as the delivery of superb sound goes in this system, is a really rather lovely pair of loudspeakers from Dali.
With hindsight, we shouldn’t have been surprised by the quality of the Oberon 1s. Dali has a generally brilliant track record with affordable standmounters. Yet, we still weren’t quite prepared for the sound we heard out of these little boxes.
Weight, size and integration
The tweeter uses a 29mm soft dome, which is claimed to be considerably lighter than that used on most rivals. The larger than normal size (most tweeter domes tend to be 25mm wide) means that it can delve lower in frequency than alternative designs, aiding integration with the mid/bass and generating higher outputs with less excursion.
Much care has been taken with the motor system and managing the sound that comes off the back of the dome so it doesn’t distort the forward output.
Moving down in frequency, the 13cm mid/bass unit uses one of the company’s trademark wood/fibre cones. Dali has long preferred this material for its low weight, rigidity and fine self-damping properties.
Speakers this small are never going to produce loads of bass. That accepted, the laws of physics being what they are, we’re left with a wonderfully articulate performer that marries a bold, forthright nature with the kind of refinement and insight that’s rare at this level.
The Oberon 1s are stunning with vocal-based material, and we marvel at the way they deliver voices in such a solid and expressive way; you’d need to spend closer to four figures to get any better in this respect. There are rivals that dig up as much information, but few deliver it with such a sense of passion.
Tonally, these are nicely judged with a smooth treble that still has plenty of bite and a full-bodied presentation that sounds impressively confident and composed. That controlled attitude remains unchanged, even at higher volume levels where most rivals would start to harden up.
We’re impressed by the way these speakers convey wide-ranging dynamics. They manage to render an expansive and sharply focused soundstage that stays stable regardless of a recording’s complexity. Larger rivals will have more scale and sonic authority, but they won’t be anywhere near as accommodating as these Dalis when it comes to placement or blending into a room. It’s the Oberon 1s’ ability to reveal so much information, but also arrange it in a musically cohesive way that really makes them shine.
That ability sums up the whole system really: this is a discreet, but beautifully formed quartet of kit that, as a team, is mighty hard to beat for sonic ability at this sort of money.