REVIEWS
RHUMBA XPHONO 1.1:
A pitch-perfect review in TONEaudio magazine, here (page 60)
RHUMBA 1.3:
Check out Steve Guttenberg’s fantastic review here
And the outstanding TONEaudio review here
RHUMBA 1.3 EXTREME
A great review of the Rhumba Extreme 1.3 from 2022 in Part-Time Audiophile, here
An “Extremely” good review of the Rhumba 1.3 Extreme in Enjoy the Music.com’s Sep. 2019 issue, right here
A nice little snippet: “….unplugging an Audio Research LS 2 to make room for the Rhumba Extreme . . . . upon connecting everything and giving the unit a measly five minutes to warm up, I already had Eric Clapton Unplugged on the turntable – so I cued it up. The dynamics were immediately noticeably improved. The LS 2 is no slouch when it comes to being punchy, but the Rhumba really made it sound a little flat. The ability for the Rhumba to have a finesse of the micro-dynamics, while having a very powerful and vigorous sound, was the most noticeable (and a little bit shocking) attribute out of the box …. Personally, I absolutely love the ability to easily and safely swap out the tubes. They even provide a pair of tube dampeners. This is really a tube roller’s preamp.”
RHUMBA 1.2
Terry London, staff writer for HomeTheaterReview.com, wrote:
About a year ago, I reviewed the Backert Labs Rhumba 1.1 preamplifier, and found its sonics to perform on a reference level. Yet, it could be purchased at the very reasonable price of $2,995. I just spent two weeks and many hours listening to the 1.1’s successor, the new Rhumba 1.2, and was mightily impressed with what the boys from Backert Labs have come up with for $400 more.
The new 1.2 offered the following virtues: 1) Even more transparency, so micro-details in the music were more easily heard. 2) An overall “kick” and dynamics that added more aliveness to any music that passed through it. 3) A more refined/finished sound, without being analytical in any way. 4) The new chassis on the 1.2 is much more substantial and the finish on it is quite beautiful, my demo piece came in a gorgeous red color, and the 1.2 weighs about seven more pounds because of the new chassis and internal upgrades to the original 1.1.
The Rhumba 1.2 is almost “not there” like a great passive volume control, but with great slam/dynamics. When I put in my different NOS 12AU7 tubes I could easily hear the different flavors/colors/timbres from each great set of tubes because of the very high level of transparency of this excellent line-stage. All this for just $400 more!
-T. London
REVIEWS: RHUMBA 1.1
Positive Feedback – “Sounds like real music … immediately drew you in with its sense of aliveness, openness, detail, and smoothness”
Home Theater Review.com – “the best deal in high end gear for the 21st century”
Comments from Terry “Teajay” London
REVIEWS: RHYTHM 1.1
Part Time Audiophile – “The Rhythm 1.1 is completely quiet, highly resolving, explosively dynamic, and sounds freakin’ amazing. I suppose you could say that I’m a fan.”
New Record Day.com – “You want this. Trust me – you want it bad.”
Home Theater Review.com – “better able to clearly expose micro-details than any other preamplifier I have ever used.””
Winner, Positive Feedback Writer’s Choice Award
Positive Feedback – “One of the most tuneful and engaging preamps I have ever heard.”
6moons.com – “Well done team Backert Labs!”
6moons.com – Backert Labs response
AUDIO FORUMS
Audiogon – “one of the finest tube based linestages, regardless of price”
Audio Asylum – “Backert Labs: this was the room that surprised me the most.”
MORE COVERAGE
2015 Capital Audio Fest – PartTime Audiophile – “clearly and obviously in that Best-In-Show category…”
2015 Capital Audio Fest – EnjoyTheMusic.com – “I sure like the idea of bringing such a good sounding and looking preamp down under $3,000…”
2015 Capital Audio Fest – Stereophile – “Backert Labs promotes itself as, ‘the tube preamp specialist’ and I like that.”
HomeTheaterReview.com – “I lost some of the sonic beauty compared with what I got with the excellent Backert Labs Rhythm 1.1 preamplifier.”
The Absolute Sound – “There is adjustable bias, which is quite unusual for tubed linestages”
AV Showrooms – “Outstanding sound, Backert Labs, Gershman Acoustics, just beautiful”
Audio Traveler – “Suffice it to say that I want to get my hands on one of these”
Positive Feedback – “a rather ingenious trick power supply”
AV Showrooms – Interview with Bob Backert
Part Time Audiophile – those photos, wow
Dagogo – a nice mention of three of our world’s-first technologies
Stereophile – noticed that we eliminated high-value power supply capacitors – yes!
Audiophilia.com (scroll down 1/3 of the page) – “perfect marriage between industrial design and modern style”
Ultra High End Review.com – “6moons.com preferred Backert’s contributions over Nagra’s”