Rega Brio R Mk II. LAST UNIT (new in a box)

We had the first Brio-R in the country, being the first made for Australia unit prior to stock shipment. Immediately out of the box it impressed as resembling mostly an ingot of solid steel, a real piece of metal audio purity from England.

Terry Bateman has published a very nice piece about how the Brio R design was achieved:

The Ear.Net August 2012 .

The obvious changes from the previous version are the move to a half sized component and the inclusion of a remote.

Remote ... now included and it does the CD Player as well ... it wouldn't kill you to get off the couch to change the volume but I must confess it had sometimes been a dealbreaker with the previous model.

The Brio R definitely proffers a weightier sonic presence than it's predecessor. Mr Gandy cares neither for specifications or for advertising but does quote a conservative 50 watts per channel for this amp...

There is more than that going on though. The amp has more authority and presence fresh out of the box. Really good control and articulation down low and Johnny Cash's baritone tunes come through with depth and power.

You should try the Brio-R with the Sonus Faber Toy bookshelves and Johnny Cash's American III-Solitary Man. Wicked combination.

The first review appeared from the French Magazine Haute Fidelitie written by Dominique Mafrand ...

Here is their conclusion ... in French ... they think it's brilliant ... it got five stars for everything.

"Voici un appareil qui ne va laisser personne indifférent. Le Rega Brio-R est un intégré diablement musical à l’éventail de qualités subjectives extrêmement large et proposé à un tarif qui va provoquer une toux compulsive chez les concurrents. En un mot comme en cent, il n’y a à notre connaissance pas de rivaux sérieux prêts à en découdre dans cette tranche de prix. Mieux,les prestations musicales et techniques du Brio-R, qui offre une entrée phono MM de qualité, vont sans aucun doute piétiner les plates-bandes de machines de plus grande envergure. Un best-seller en puissance."

Google translate: "Here is a device that will leave no one indifferent. The Rega Brio integrated-R is a damn musical range of the extremely broad and subjective qualities offered at a price that will cause compulsive coughing among competitors. In a nutshell, to our knowledge there are no serious rivals ready to fight in this price range. Best, musical performances and technical Brio-R, which offers a MM phono input quality will undoubtedly trample the flower beds of larger machines. A bestseller in power. "

And here's a copy of the review by Tone Audio magazine:

Tone Audio 2012.

And here is the link to the official Brio-R website.

Rega Brio-R Integrated Amplifier.

We fear change. The Rega Brio has been one of our best selling amplifiers over the past 5 years. We sold an awful lot of the compact wonder - it was such a sweet amplifier that sounds delightful and was always a go to product in the price range. The past 5 years have brought competition however and it's time for the Brio to reinvent itself. We feared that it couldn't live up to our expectations. We were wrong.

The new Brio 2017 is a pure delight. That same smooth character we loved in the previous iteration is still here, but there also seems to be a bit more grip and control. There's now an additional power supply for the output and line stages, and this translates into more space and a bit more detail, but without pushing it towards brightness or fatigue. The new case work also looks more modern, a bit sleeker and more polished and also brings a new headphone output. Still no digital anything, so no DAC or bluetooth built in, but a class leading MM phono stage is still packed in.

We're already quite taken by this one, and we're pretty sure you will be to when you have a listen.