Yes, you have already seen above lead picture here recently. But you certainly haven't read the associated new text. This is because Carsten Bussler didn't try out neither the input for the DS Audio cartridges, which operate with two light sources and light-sensitive resistors, nor the headphone output. I'll make up for that now.

Carsten Bussler, actually the tube specialist within the Hifistatement crew, owned a small Stax headphone model for a long time, but then lost sight of the subject a bit, even though his interest was recently rekindled: He currently has two promising representatives of this type of device at home. Of course, I could have sent him one or two headphones from my collection to use with the KECES preamplifier, but he preferred to concentrate on familiar territory and therefore left this aspect of the test to me, as I have been working with this type of transducer for years and also have a comparison object to hand in the form of the SPL Phonitor x.

However, things are a little different with the photoelectric cartridges from DS Audio: None of us have gathered any experience in this field. In view of the fact that DS Audio has officially published the specifications for the required phono equalizers, and more and more electronics specialists are now offering or at least announcing phono amps for this special type of cartridge system, it's time for Hifistatement to take up this topic too. But more on that later. So, let's stay with the KECES headphone output for now. This is designed as a 4-pin XLR socket, which leads to the assumption that there are two balanced amplifier sections feeding it. On the KECES website, there is no specific statement about the headphone output, only the rather generalized statement that the S4 has a "fully balanced design and a large selection of balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (RCA) inputs and corresponding outputs".

In any case, there is not the slightest problem when connecting the Sendy Audio Peacock  with its balanced cabling to the KECES - on the contrary. The KECES is connected via the balanced Audioquest Dragon to the digital playback gear in the listening room, specifically to Chord Electronics' DAVE. On the record Ruta And Daitya, "Sounds Of Peru: Submerge / Awakening" would be the first track on the almost unheard second side. That's why I'm now skipping the familiar first four files in the digital version. S4 and Peacock do not only reproduce Jack DeJohnette's strikes on the tablas within a virtual room in a precise and dynamic manner, but also, shortly before Keith Jarrett enters on the grand piano, discloses a slight change within the sonic image. Here the sound engineer has just turned up the controls for the second instrument. Fortunately, even such fine details do not distract from the music itself. On "Algeria", Keith Jarrett switches to the flute and the rhythmic drive of these almost archaic instruments doesn't leave me untouched for a second.