Rogue Audio of Pennsylvania offers something precious few hi-fi companies can. Rogue creates audiophile grade electronics right here in the USA, at very competitive prices! The vast majority of Rogue’s competition comes from China- without Rogue’s TLC.
Rogue uses tubes in its designs to achieve a warm, BREATHY sound quality. Rogue emphasizes high level audio performance over feature sets. For example, Rogue doesn’t build DACs or Bluetooth into its integrated amps or preamps because they won’t accept the sonic trade offs. Such features can be bought affordably a la carte if you need them.
Since most of our customers are streaming, it’s logical you’ll buy a Bluesound Node X ($750) to run into your Rogue electronics. Node X also has Bluetooth as a feature. Hence with Node X, you have an affordable streamer with BT option that pushes the edge of the art. There’s no need for Rogue to build in these features.
Integrated Amps
Integrated amps are my favorite electronic category. They represent the best VALUE to drive your speakers. Rogue offers three fabulous integrateds that sound better than what’s coming out of the far east.
Sphinx V3 $1700 (100×2 with remote)
Sphinx is among the best bargains on the audiophile market! What separates the Sphinx from all of its Chinese competitors is its open, airy, NON CONGESTED vocal character. When I use the term vocal here, I mean both the human voice and acoustic instruments.
Sphinx is significantly more pleasant than any number of feature laden integrateds from companies we see advertised prolifically. Let me help untangle this for you.
NAD makes the best sounding Asian built integrateds at $3k on down. Their secret to success is that their amplifier sections are smoother and more dynamic than Yamaha, Denon, Sony etc. We like NAD. Their integrateds are reliable and include DACs, Bluetooth and a partridge in a pear tree.
Yet Sphinx sounds better if you’re a connoisseur of the human voice and acoustic instruments. It’s true that the amp sections are pretty much apples to apples between Sphinx and NAD at similar price points. Where Sphinx wins outright is with superior PREAMP and phono sections.
Think of the amplifier section as the steak and the preamp as the seasoning. Yep, it makes a real difference to pay full attention to the preamp within an integrated.
Sphinx uses a pair of MATCHED 12AU7 tubes in its preamp stage. The tubes not only serve the input source, but are also used in driving the amplifier section of Sphinx. The tubes provide a lively, more spacious sound stage than the other guys. Further, the preamp uses discrete components vs ICs. The benefit of using tubes and discrete components provides a can’t miss advantage.
Consider your favorite singers. On my short list is Joan Armatrading and her self titled album from 1976. The sound of her guitar and voice is always uplifting. “Love And Affection” is in flight to its core. But the sleeper on this album isn’t the HIT song. It’s “Tall In The Saddle.” It’s a devastatingly beautiful, sparse song- with a thousand layers of magic. Played through Sphinx you can hear Joan’s voice SOAR. With the far east electronics, it’s still pretty. You get it. But the full character and effusiveness of her delivery go far deeper with Sphinx.
This… is what getting a great hi-fi is all about. And it has nothing to do with SLAMMA BAMMA. It’s all about the character and emotion from this great singer. You get more of Joan with Sphinx than you will any alternative at the same money.
Toss in that Sphinx has an excellent phono section for you vinyl hounds. It supports MM and low output MC. If you’re a serious record lover you should be running a great MC like an Ortofon Quintet Blue or Black.
The amp section of Sphinx is strong enough to drive all the speakers we sell nicely. You can even drive Maggies, Brystons and Amphions to volumes most people will be happy with.
Sphinx’s headphone section is more than a throw in. It will get bring more oxygen to your headphones than the typically dark perspective of mass produced integrateds.
Now, of course I understand that many customers want to stream cheap. They want to run Spotify or Pandora from their phone, via Bluetooth to their integrated. This requires a BT interface. Having that interface built it- is convenient. But it does add pollution to your pure sources of CD or vinyl. If you must stream cheap, buy any number of BT adapters for $50. But better yet, buy a Node X and stream through it- instead of compressing the music with BT.
What makes Sphinx so special is, it sells for similar $ to the Chinese imports but gives your music a more living, breathing presentation.
Sphinx Magnum $2000 (100×2, With Metal Remote)
Just off the presses is Rogue’s updated Sphinx, dubbed the Sphinx Magnum. At just $300 more than Sphinx v3, of course you should buy the Magnum version. Yet Rogue will continue to make the v3 in case that $300 is the straw the breaks the camel’s back.
The Magnum primarily features parts upgrades that easily justify the $300 price hike:
*Improved linear power supply that features high speed diodes, larger output coupling caps of higher storage capacity
*PRP resistors in the tube preamp stage and phono stage
*Cardas binding posts for speaker connections
*JJ Gold Pin tubes from the Slovak Republic, which are warmer sounding and more open on top than the JJ non gold pin tubes used in v3.
Sphinx Magnum also comes with a much more solid metal remote, whereas v3 comes with the plastic Skeleton remote. This is a nice upgrade for sure.
Magnum’s sonic advantage is in a more extended, airy top end without adding any bite. The phono section is a distinct cut above as well.
I give kudos to Rogue Audio for improving its Sphinx v3, which was already the best sounding sub $2k integrated out there.
Pharaoh 2 $4000 (250×2 With Remote)
P2 is a nice step up from Sphinx in that it has enough muscle to drive ANY speakers well. Sphinx will do well with some “consideration” on your part vis a vis speaker matching. With P2 you can just buy the speakers you like, regardless of their demands. You can’t do better than Brystons and Maggies. P2 is at home with either.
As part of its architecture P2 has a much more substantial power supply than Sphinx. It weighs 41 lbs compared to Sphinx’s 30. P2 features a much larger transformer, filter caps and of course amplifier than Sphinx.
P2 also uses a pair of MATCHED 12 AU7 tubes. Matched, by the way, means that Rogue tests hundreds of tubes and matches them by precise volume output. Most companies that employ tubes just grab a couple of the same model and away they go. Well, tubes have different personalities. It’s a blessing and a curse of glass bottles. You certainly want to make sure your tubes have identical output. Rogue insures that.
P2 has a refined MM/MC phono section and headphone amp.
P2 has a balanced input as well, in case you have a magnificent source with XLR output.
You can really appreciate P2’s air, space and power through speakers that can reveal these characteristics. Bryston speakers out of Canada, and Magnepans out of Minnesota, are particularly strong mates. Either of these brands with mundane electronics cannot rise to the occasion as they can with P2. Brystons can deliver bass weight and impact well beyond flimsier Asian imports. Driven by P2, the Brystons can throw cinder blocks around your room while providing lovely vocal content. If you use generic imports to drive the Brystons, you might wonder if their bass capability is anything special. P2 will show you, it is!
By the way, the Chinese competitors with Euro brand names clip at about half the power they claim they have.
Cronus Magnum 3 $3500 (100×2 With Remote)
CM3 is a full bore, tube preamp and power amp on a single chassis. Obviously CM3 doesn’t have Pharaoh’s power. But if you want the full enchilada of what glowing filaments bring to the party, CM3 is for you.
CM3 uses five tubes in the preamp section (two 12AX7, three 12 AU7). It uses four KT88s in the amplifier section. This nine tube combo will warm up your music and is a fine match for the right speakers.
The topic of “the right speakers” is something we have to discuss. Please stop in or call to go down this path. While Pharaoh will drive ANYTHING, we pick our spots with CM3. Suffice to say, you pick CM3 for its golden hue instead of vice grip bass control.
CM3 does have Rogue’s outstanding phono section that supports MM & MC. It has a fine headphone amp. The amp section allows you to choose between triode and ultralinear modes. While CM3 offers a burnished sound quality, I’m definitely a Pharaoh 2 kinda guy.
Power Amps
Dragon $4000 (300×2)
Dragon is a stand alone stereo power amp with 300×2. It’s a touch stronger than P2 above for use in separates form. Dragon uses a pair of 12AU7 tubes. The tubes aren’t used just in the input as virtually all hybrid competitors are. Rogue has its own TubeD design where the tubes are also used in driving the amp section as well.
If your system needs a strong punch but sounds a touch harsh now, please consider changing your power amp to a Dragon to get rid of the grain. Or better yet, just replace both with a Pharaoh 2.
Dragon MonoBlocks $6000 (300w per monoblock)
The Dragon MonoBlocks are more refined than the Dragon stereo amp. With beefier power supplies and some important superior parts, the Dragon MonoBlocks are very special and take your demanding speakers to a more dynamic level of performance.
Preamps
Of course all these preamps feature tubes!
RP1 $1800
RP1 uses a pair of 12AU7s to bring tube flavor to your system at low price point.
RP5v2 $4000
RP5 brings a much fuller, warmer, amber color to your music. Its power supply and component choice is beyond RP1 and it uses a quad set of 12AU7s tubes instead of just a pair. RP5 is as far as most of us would ever need to go.
RP7 $5000
But of course some of us don’t know where to stop! RP7 uses the same tube array as RP5v2 but surrounds them with a cut above component choice. It features balanced operation as well.