I don’t know about you, but I like to look at hifi too. Between you and me, I also enjoy the feel.
Look, I know that sounds weird if you come from the cloistered school of hifi thought that shuns pleasure of any kind. But that’s the great thing about a hobby—it’s yours to explore in whatever manner you choose.
I fairly recently reviewed Fern & Roby’s Amp No. 2 about which I said:
If you care about what your hifi gear is made from, how it’s made, where it’s made, who made it, what it looks like, how it feels to live with, and how it sounds, Fern & Roby’s Amp No. 2 offers a very compelling and complete package.
The system in use at Axpona 2025 featured the new—I want to look & touch—Fern & Roby turntable that uses a Technics SP10r motor in their custom Richlite and walnut plinth which was paired with a 12” SME M2-12 tonearm—“but we can mount just about any arm to this platform and make a two arm unit as well”—and a Miyajima Carbon cartridge all of which went through a ModWright PH 9.0X phono preamp. On the digital side, the very capable Weiss Helios DAC was fed a clean network stream thanks to a number of products from Network Acoustics. Incidentally, I use their Muon Pro Ethernet filter in my system because it works (don’t tell the 1s & 0s crowd, but there’s analog in hifi too).
As I’ve come to expect from Christopher Hildebrand and Fern & Roby, listening to this system was like talking to an old friend—all easy flow and endlessly engaging. During my visit, Phoebe Bridgers’ debut album Stranger in the Alps was spinning, a record I own, adding to the old friend feel. Nice. I also picked and streamed the opening track, “Here Is Someone,” from Japanese Breakfast’s latest For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) and its sweeping dreaminess filled the room with its expansive billowing loveliness.
The system:
Technics SP-10R and SME M2 12″ Tonearm with Fern & Roby Richlite and Walnut Plinth: $22,500
Miyajima Carbon Cartridge: $2999
ModWright Instruments PH 9.0X Phono Preamplifier: from $4700
Weiss Helios DAC: $21,995
Fern & Roby Raven II Loudspeakers: $5950/pair
Fern & Roby Isolating Speaker Stands: $1650/pair
Fern & Roby Rack #1: $5950
Network Acoustics Muon Pro Streaming System: $2620
Network Acoustics Tempus Ethernet Switch: $4650
Network Acoustics Eno2 Streaming System: $1610
Network Acoustics Origin 5v PSU + DC Cable: $2100
Fern & Roby Iso Brass Record Weight: $375
Fern & Roby 3” Isolation Feet: $495
Fern & Roby 2” Isolation Feet: $325
Cables from Black Cat Cable