‘It’s an ‘un-edgy’ listen, a product of the phenomenon when you relax into the temperature/tension/power/emotional grip of music with a sense of coherence rather than being distracted by separate sonic strands. A good example is an album called The Summit, a take-no-prisoners live set that pits old masters Manhattan Transfer against new tonsils on the block, Take 6, in a vocal harmony showdown. The flat-out, all-voices-on-deck climax is a searching test challenging the replay system to keep a scrum of powerfully meshed voices and fully lit backing band properly separated, dynamically convincing and tonally believable. Sans Phono Aray, the sound is certainly charged and forceful, capturing the attack and live excitement of the ego-fuelled finale, but it doesn’t forgive the slightly raw edge present in the recording. Reinstating the Phono Aray sheds none of the thrill but smooths that raw edge and brings more warmth and body to the occasion while enhancing the tonal realism of the competing voices.’

The Ear