[Listening test] Hagerman Audio Labs Piccolo Zero Headamp

I know a handful of good reviewers who have had the ongoing ambition of writing a review wherein the first word was however. Another elusive ambition is to write an exceptionally short review with no need for equivocation. I am sad to say that I will fail on both counts but I will keep this as short as possible. Equivocations? Well, all I can do is try to keep those to a bare minimum.

Cutting to the chase, the Hagerman Audio Labs is a fantastically good moving-coil headamp. From the upper mids to the very top of the treble are simple beyond reproach. Until you hear this level of delicacy, extension and pure musicality it is simply hard to believe. I decree that the rest of the Piccolo Zero's presentation is just dandy trending toward excellent. But here's the thing: By nature of the product's fantastic design it is intended to feed a moving-magnet phono stage. Now think about this from the reviewer's perspective. Should I feed the Piccolo Zero into either of my near state of the art phono stages? Of course I could, but I don't think that would really do much to convey what this product can do in a system that is in line with its price.

As an aside, I got a very long and friendly email from a reader in Italy. He was busy torturing himself. He wondered if he should stay in the moving-magnet end of the pool or whether it was time to venture into the depths of low or at least lowish output moving coils? Of course, I was likely not helpful, try as I might. You see this reader was an exceptionally careful listener. His system was comprised of thoughtfully chosen gear from the last two decades and even further back. We went back and forth for a while and I even mentioned the Piccolo Zero as being particularly well-suited to his classic HK Citation integrated. In the end, for that reader, going moving-coil didn't quite make sense though of all the readers with whom I have corresponded he and his system were the most well-suited to the Piccolo Zero.

Back to the reviewer's perspective. The Piccolo Zero called for a trip into my office closet where I found two old, dusty integrated amps one made by Rotel and the other made by NAD. Both, obviously, have passable moving-magnet phono stages. Let's be generous and say that each of them (used) are worth a touch less than the cost of the Piccolo Zero new. The partnering seemed fair if not perfect.

From first listen to last I was completely taken by the top end. It was so, so good. Solo violin, solo voice, anything where the full harmonics of the music is captured are nothing short of entrancing through the Piccolo Zero. Overall noise levels are admirably low with a small amount of variation attributable to the slightly noisier phono stage of the old NAD. The Rotel's phono stage is especially well-known to me since it was the heart of my office system for many years. It's always been exceptionally musical and caused me to wonder from time to time what it could do with more high-quality phono gain.

But, now I'm thinking like a consumer. Would I, like my reader in Italy, really invest in a moving-coil and then mate it to the Piccolo Zero and his thirty year old integrated? Or, might I bite the financial bullet and buy a standalone phono stage? It's a tough call. I can imagine small number of listeners with integrated, tube or solid state, or even old preamps (especially tube) that could produce beautiful music with the Piccolo Zero. The thing sounds great, I'm not kidding, but I am struggling with its application for most listeners.

I even struggled with the idea of using the Piccolo Zero with Hagerman's own superb Bugle MC. I mean, the Bugle is fantastic. Yes, the Bugle lacks the sheer elegance of the Piccolo's top octave and a half but does its presentation really take a backseat to the Piccolo across the board? That's a much more difficult call.

Now let's talk about the ergonomics of the Piccolo Zero. They are dodgy. I understand the appeal of putting the connectors (high quality chassis-mounted RCAs to be sure, on the top until you try to use the Piccolo in an actual system. Then, it's an eyesore and a pain in the ass. Yes, I actually took to taping the damn thing down so as to avoid having it go crashing to the floor because my cables were having its way with it. Where does the fault lay? Stiff cables, Ok, but likely as not your cables are equally stiff and unwieldy as the ones I use. By the way, I can and will make the same complaint about the Bugle. It sounds great but it simply refuses to stay put when it's connected to typical cables. Sigh. Where are my old VPI bricks when I need them. Oh right. I'm using them as doorstops in the garage.

Ok, so failed in my career-long quest to start a review with the word however. Sue me. At least let me finish with the overuse of the word if. If you are bound and determined to take the leap from moving-magnet to moving-coil but lack the willingness or funds to buying an acceptable phono pre you will get an amazing amount of musical sophistication from the Piccolo Zero. Will you have a gnawing feeling that you're missing something, that you should have invested more into the shift? Probably. You're an audiophile after all.

I just can't help it. I highly recommend the Piccolo Zero. If you value musical, natural top end analog performance you simply must hear it.

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