Vinyl
Music in your life is a key part of your well-being and wholeness. Music is our only real artifact, a consistently important part of our over 400,000 years of our being humans. Music from vinyl records has qualities that are realistic, soothing, and therapeutic in nature. It offers more passion than digital processing while creating a better illusion of what the artist intended.
Your turntable, arm, cartridge, and preamp are what we call a MEC, a Mechanical-to-Electrical Convertor, same job as a DAC, that is to reproduce stored music information, but totally in the analog domain.
The Black Swan’s job is to extract the most possible information from the cartridge to offer you the greatest accuracy and passionate rendering of the artist’s work from the record disc.
The Black Swan – a most unique and versatile vinyl preamplifier offering real-time cartridge tuning and superlative sonic rendering of what’s in the groove. AAW designs and builds Audiophile level components for Desktop and full-room Speaker based systems. Our goal is to increase and restore the sonic thrill of your music by rendering it more naturally. If you seek greater resolution, detail, sound-space, and want to restore the fun and thrill into your audio experience, then AAW products are for you.
The Black Swan MM/MC Phono Preamplifier Ruffles Costly Phono Preamp Feathers
Michael Fremer — May 10th, 2025
“Usually less costly phono preamps have either an added closed in warmth that obscures detail or a subtractive cool clatter. Bass can sound soft with plucked notes blending into the surrounding spatial environment. Cymbals can get “crispy” or “hashy”. The Black Swan didn’t err in either direction and on these two versions of the same recording, honestly expressed the timbral differences, while excelling at rhythmic organization and pacing.”
“The reissue improves everything. The ensemble is better located in the studio space. You can better hear Philly Joe’s drums bounce off the studio walls. Why? Background quiet produced by the far superior pressing. Everyone sounds closer to the microphones, Jim Hall’s guitar comps have a nicely liquid feel yet you can catch the percussive quality of pick on string, Evans’s piano sounds more present, Heath’s bass lines are deeper and more fully expressed and especially, Hubbard’s trumpet is more richly textured. Again, The Black Swan’s rendering of these two records was sufficiently nuanced, detailed and transparent to clearly delineate the differences and both plays were enjoyable in their own ways.”
“. . . honestly you’d have to be a total snob to think other than that the $1649 Austin AudioWorks The Black Swan was equally enjoyable, because it was.”
Follow this link to read Michael Fremer of Tracking Angle’s full review of the Black Swan!
An excerpt from the October 2024 issue of Stereophile magazine.
The Black Swan appears in Class A on their 2024 Recommended Components list!
Austin Audio Works Black Swan: $1649 ★
Designed by veteran engineer Barry Thornton—SAE, Parasound, Adcom, and Hegeman (and Jethro Tull!)—the Black Swan has front-panel switches for gain, and resistive and capacitive loading, with different ranges of both offered for moving magnet and moving coil cartridges. There are two MM and one MC inputs and balanced and single-ended outputs. Using Audio Note IQ3 moving magnet cartridges loaded at 50k ohms and 68pf, MT was impressed by how the Black Swan made it possible to hear through the recording to the music. With a Lyra Delos moving coil loaded at 150 ohms, he heard and improved level of transparency and overall detail but the same clear, relaxed sound. “The Black Swan makes it very easy to listen to records for hour after hour without becoming fatigued,” MT wrote; he concluded that “the Black Swan can be optimized for just about any setup while delivering a musical performance that is easy and rewarding to listen to.” (Vol.47 No.8 WWW)
Spin Doctor #15: Austin AudioWorks Black Swan phono preamplifier
Follow the link below to read Michael Trei of Stereophile’s in-depth review of the Black Swan!
THIS ISSUE: A short history of Michael’s ugly hi-fi; a phono preamp that focuses on beauty of music, not beauty of faceplate; a short report from High End Munich.
Barry Thornton is shooting his mouth off again
Barry Thornton, founder of Austin AudioWorks and its chief designer and engineer, is at it again spreading the gospel of Current Carrier Technology and why feedback sucks the life out of music.
Watch for a view into his life-learnings and philosophy of design in the RE-TALES feature by Julie Mullins in the upcoming issue of Stereophile magazine. Look for it in the June 2024 issue.
We’re proud of Marc Phillips’ rave review on Part-Time Audiophile of both The Black AMP and The Black Swan:
“First of all, if you’re the type of audiophile who says, ‘I like these Austin Audio Works components–if only they put it in a big, fancy case,’ then you’re not going to get it … The simple fact is that you’re getting two components that are screaming bargains, and are stand-outs in their respective categories due to their excellence inside of the box, ‘where it counts.’
“Barry Thornton is selling The Black AMP and The Black Swan as fast as he can make them, which is rare for a brand new high end audio company. If you can check out AAW for yourself, then do it. Highly recommended.”
Read the Review…
SECRETS of Home Theater and High Fidelity magazine awards The Black Swan “Best Phono Preamplifier” award for 2023
“The Austin Audio Works Black Swan gave me the best analog playback I have ever had in my system. It presented me with an amazing fidelity of timbre and transparency, and an all-encompassing soundstaging. I realized I could not live without it and bought the review sample. This thing made literally every single album I listened to sound better. And I mean every one. Amazing.”
The Black Amp makes the Part-Time Audiophile 2024 Best Headphone Gear Buyers Guide
“Just like its phono stage brother, the Austin Audio Works The Black Swan, this new headphone amp also provides off-the-charts value–it combines lots of features with minimalist casework. The Black Amp is surprisingly neutral and straightforward in its delivery, especially when compared to tube amps or the majority of inboard headphone amps out there.”
Read more…
Part-Time Audiophile chooses The Black Swan for its 2024 Phono-Preamplifier Buyers Guide
“Tons of features, great sound and a very low price makes the Black Swan one of 2024’s best phono pres for anywhere near its price. The Black Swan has everything in a small package–balanced and unbalanced MC inputs, passive equalization and the ability to adjust loading on the fly. Plus, it sounds dynamic and clear and honest.” Read more of the Part-Time Audiophile Guide…
The Black Series
The Black Swan
Phono Preamplifier
A remarkably high resolution and clarity passive RIAA phono preamplifier offering balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs. Front panel variable cartridge loading and gain adjustments, low noise and high output put top-end features into a low-cost package. – $1,649 (free shipping)
Limited quantities available !
The Black AMP
Headphone Amplifier
Fill your head with astounding sounds. An extraordinary integrated desktop headphone amplifier of amazing resolution and natural presentation. Offering three inputs (one Balanced and two Unbalanced), no-Feedback Class-A, Current Carrier Technology, and Current Drive Output. – $1,849 (free shipping)
Product not found.
We messed up! Our products are handmade in small quantities and we’ve sold out of the Black AMP. We’re making more as quickly as possible and expect to have more units available very soon.
If you’d like us to contact you when it becomes available please let us know, we’ll shoot you an email when we start taking orders (and don’t worry, this won’t add you to any mailing lists!).
The Black Swan
Phono Preamplifier
A remarkably high resolution and clarity passive RIAA phono preamplifier offering balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs. Front panel variable cartridge loading and gain adjustments, low noise and high output put top-end features into a low-cost package. – $1,649 (free shipping)
The Black Swan will be back in stock March 4, 2024, please check back!
The Black AMP
Headphone Amplifier
Fill your head with astounding sounds. An extraordinary integrated desktop headphone amplifier of amazing resolution and natural presentation. Offering three inputs (one Balanced and two Unbalanced), no-Feedback Class-A, Current Carrier Technology, and Current Drive Output. – $1,849 (free shipping)
The Black AMP will be back in stock November, 2024, please check back!