As we approach The Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2025 we’ve been blessed to have an array of enticing high-end audio equipment coming through our Reading showroom door, all bringing about some agreeable “oohs” and “aahs” from our team as we got a first chance to feast our eyes and ears on the alluring electronics.

At the back end of 2024, the stunning Naia turntable made its in-store debut, Rega’s current flagship vinyl spinner – “ohh”. Then came the hefty Rega Aura reference moving coil (MC) phono stage, itself a top-tier offering when it comes to Rega’s, or anyone’s, phono preamplifiers. This was closely followed by an audacious Advance Paris A12 integrated amplifier, a behemoth of a unit packing 190W per channel into 8 ohms, while also bringing a plethora of inputs and outputs, a touch of tube flavouring in its pre-amp, oh and fully analogue, visually entrancing, VU meters – “aah”…

As if the above weren’t enough, our sublime sounding Spendor D7.2 floor-standing loudspeakers arrived back with us from a customer home loan, and then – seeming quite the cherry, upon the cherry, upon the cake – we were left tripping over ourselves by the arrival of another full fat, ultra high-end, moving magnet and moving coil (MM/MC) phono stage – the Manley Labs Oasis. This muscular, triode-valve phono preamp possesses a whole host of cartridge loading permutations to seemingly connect up every turntable under the sun – not all at once of course, it’s not that manly ;) – but we certainly found ourselves wondering what the Oasis could do for our very best MM and MC cartridges, for example the Audio Note IQ3 MM, the Hana ML MC or the Rega Aphelion 2 MC and so on...

GOLIATH VS GOLIATH – PREPARING THE BATTLEFIELD

Before getting too far ahead of ourselves, whilst in possession of two colossal phono preamplifier stages circa the £4,000 pricemark, there was one big elephant in our Swallowfield demo room that really needed addressing… How would the Rega Aura and Manley Oasis sonically fare when pitted against each other? Like watching a prime Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield go at it back in the day (and not like viewing a geriatric Mike Tyson and half-his-age Jake Paul play out a testimonial farce) this seemed like a fair fight, only more epic!

Without wasting more time (like that wasted watching the aforementioned farce), we put the wonderfully engineered Rega Naia turntable – complete with Aphelion 2 MC cartridge – through both the Aura and Oasis, then hooked up these special stages to the imposing Advance Paris A12 amplifier, before connecting up the superb Spendor D7.2 speakers. The Chord Company Signature RCA analogue interconnects and Chord Company Epic X speaker cabling were our connections of choice to complete our divine audiophile chain.

ENTER THE AURA – A GLOWING REGA STAGE

With the (phono) stage set, the titanic battle began with the Rega Aura up first. If you would like to know more about the Aura’s specs, you can find them here.

Here and now, we will focus on giving our sonic interpretations… Spinning a vinyl pressing of v2.0 by modern-jazz trio GoGo Penguin, the sound on offer was immediately intricate and insightful. With the Rega Aura in place, there was an organic nature to the presentation that was immediately easy to listen to, it was unfatiguing and the longer the album played the deeper the Aura-based system pulled us into the music, effortlessly and surely.

In the busier passages of the music and when the pace of the piano, percussion and bass playing all picked up, the Rega Aura system held the presentation together without ever becoming shouty or aggressive. The outlines of instruments were drawn beautifully, leading edges of strings and drum strikes were on the softer side, and the while the performance seemed to take place in a big space, there was seemingly lower airiness to the presentation which allowed each performer to be identified neatly and precisely within the soundstage.

Moving to a more obscure, but excellent electronic compilation – Itria Vol. 3 on the Milan based Polifonic label – the rhythmic drive of the Aura-based system came to the fore. The propulsive synth-lines within the opening track had a warm and plummy texture to them, again soft and analogue feeling in their delivery, but not lacking in body, weight or speed. The insight on offer from the Rega Aura driven system made it easy to earlier detect where every electronic warp effect and ambient drone elevation was starting in the mix. Tonally, the presentation from both albums felt organic and believable at all times without overly embellishing any aspects. A strong showing from the Aura… “aah”.

INTO AN OASIS – A MORE MANLEY ESCAPE

Manley Oasis Phono Stage (Photo credit: Manley)

Given how polished the performance was with the Rega Aura, it was going to take something quite special from the Manley Oasis if it were to steer clear of any stage freight. But from just a quick glance at Manley Laboratories portfolio, the signs were promising as, despite weighing in at circa £4,000, the Oasis isn’t even the highest offering in Manley’s phono preamplifier range. Those more familiar with Manley will recognise them as a high-end pro-audio equipment manufacturer, but from the very first bar of GoGo Penguin’s v2.0, it was clear that, in the Oasis, the sound-smiths at Manley have some serious hi-fi chops…

Straight out of the gate, our same system with the Manley Oasis in place of the Rega Aura presented with liveness and a room-filling ability. The GoGo Penguin jazz trio performed with high energy and intensity, with each of the instruments drawn with a sharp outline, though not so sharp as to be gnawing or grating. Drum strikes and bass plucks were on the firmer and more palpable side and the overall sense during listening was of a performance powering out in a big space, with plenty of air around each of the performers, though with no lack of spatial imaging within the stage. The Oasis-based system didn’t gently pull us into the recording, from the start we were already a part of it.

Whilst playing the electronic soundscapes residing on Itria Vol. 3 by Polifonic, the individual synth-lines were presented with real bite and delineation via the Manley Oasis, perhaps letting go of a slither of the rhythmic flow within the opening track to, instead, place more emphasis on the texture and form of the synths. All of this was noticeable while the track continued to power through with weight and gusto. There was neutrality on show with the Oasis system, with only a gentle leaning towards warmth but not tipping too far. The high amount of detail on offer made it a sinch to detect all of the shades within the warbling sound effects and there was definitely a sense of zing and expression from the system… An equally strong audition from the Oasis… “ooh”.

AURA OR OASIS? – THE STAGE IS ALL YOURS

Whether like us you “ooh” towards the Oasis or “aah” towards the Aura, it’s very clear that when it comes to class-leading phono stages the Manley Oasis and Rega Aura are both spectacular, high-performance heavyweights, each perhaps owning its side of the same glittering gold coin. Each has its own unique sonic seasoning and individual take on presenting the audio signal. But among many positive attributes, what the Aura and Oasis have in common is their ultra-high ability to resolve and project a musical picture with cohesion, transparency and entirety.

Both phono preamplifiers are built to an exceptionally high standard and come equipped with a wide gamut of capacitive and resistive load settings, ensuring highly precise matching to pretty much any cartridge. It’s almost impossible to pick between these titans… however, aside from the sonic differences that we have shared, the following may help with making a distinction between the two...

Team Oasis…

You might be a “Manley fanley” if you desire a phono preamp that a) is suited to both mm and mc cartridges, b) is tube-based with a nicely judged valve tuning, c) has a clean front fascia with dip-switch adjustment at the rear for cartridge matching, and d) has an input and output that is unbalanced.

Team Aura...

You may be a “Rega beaver” if you desire a phono preamp that a) is suited to mc cartridges only, b) is solid-state with a smooth and even characteristic, c) has adjustment dials on the front fascia for cartridge matching, d) has an unbalanced input and output, and a balanced output, e) has a mono switch for listening to mono recordings via a stereo cartridge.

If you are interested in a high-end, highly revealing phono stage that can wring every last musical drop from your turntable setup, please do give us a call or pop in to see us. Whatever your query, or whatever criteria you may have, we are always delighted to help budding enthusiasts and seasoned audiophiles alike to progress on their hi-fi and home cinema journey.

Thank you for reading.

Rishi, Gareth & Dan – Audio T Reading

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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Rega can be found at the following Audio T stores

Manley can be found at the following Audio T stores

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A BIT ABOUT OUR NEW STORE

Our new Swallowfield store is accessible via the 600 bus route from Reading town centre and is very easy to reach by road with the A33, M3 and M4 all nearby. On arrival you’ll find ample free parking right on our doorstep, and our showroom and demo rooms are all on ground level.

The picturesque surroundings here provide many places to enjoy a countryside walk, a riverside stroll, or a picnic. There are local sites of interest to explore such as the Blackwater River, Wellington Country Park, Siren Craft Brewery and a host of cute village pubs with gardens. So when you come to see us, why not make a fun day of it?

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