Design Build Listen The Wand EQ £1,400

There’s always room for a magic box in a roundup and, hailing from Down Under, this one fits the bill rather well

DETAILS

PRODUCT Design Build Listen The Wand EQ

ORIGIN New Zealand

TYPE MM/MC phono preamp

WEIGHT 757g

DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 220 x 45 x 125mm

FEATURES

MM/MC input

RCA input/output

Separate PSU

DISTRIBUTOR VAL HiFi

Wand is principally the name of Design Build Listen’s matching tonearm that, appropriately enough, sits on the company’s Wand turntable. Even so, the subliminal undertone is magic and that goes for the matching phono preamp as well. The EQ part of the moniker refers to ‘Emotional Quotient’ – as in that hidden within the microgrooves of a vinyl record, waiting to be maximised, through assiduous design and fine-tuning, by The Wand EQ. What more could one reasonably ask of a phono preamp?

And that’s really the point this bijou box is setting out to make. Battleship build and eye-watering price tags are all very well, but when it comes right down to it, a small wooden box with the right smarts and focus will get the job done just as well while being much kinder on resources and – more importantly– the wallet.