2. amps-preamps
  3. 125784-371

Beyond Ayre Pass and Rowland

What would it be? Transistor or Hybrid. This is a general discussion.
I heard that Gryphon and Ypsilon qualify but I didn't audition either. Lamm hybrid does too, I believe.
inna

Showing 6 responses by larryi

larryi
1,972 posts
 
If you are looking for exceptional gear that is exotic, i.e., not the more "common" brands that you mentioned, there are plenty of candidates, not necessarily better, because there are so many factors involved.  I personally would love to hear the solid state gear by BaLabo (Bridge Audio Labs, a Japanese manufacturer); I know someone who has heard a lot of exotic stuff and thought that their gear was very nice for solid state.  I have heard DarTZeel gear that sounded very good in the solid state camp.  At MUCH lower price, I like the First Watt gear made by Nelson Pass when used with suitable speakers (high efficiency, high impedance speakers); I like it more than I do Pass Lab gear.

For the other side, I like Audio Note (both UK and Japan), Viva, Shindo and Ypsilon (hybrid).  I own an Audio Note (uk) Kageki and a Viva fono (phonostage).  I currently run a different amp in my system and a preamp made by the same designer.  That designer/builder is Aldo D'Urso (Italy).  This is, to me, exceptional gear, but, it is pretty much custom-made and not at all easy to find.  I also like the Epifania linestage (I still own one) made by Fred Voltz of Emotive Audio, but, I don't think he still builds gear. 

I have heard Constellation, Soulution and Devailet, FM Acoustics, etc., but not in my own system and none of these really perked up my ears and made me interested.  
larryi
1,972 posts
 

Charles1dad,

Wow, you certainly have heard a lot of the gear I wish I could audition.  Also, we pretty much agree on the sound of a lot of brands of gear.  I too have heard the Viva and Trenner and Friedl combinations and they sound very good.

My own personal focus is on low-powered tube gear that is pretty much only suitable for speakers with efficiencies close to 100 db/w.  At the Washington DC CapitalAudiofest, I heard a single channel (mono display) amp built by Aldo D'Urso (the builder of my amp and preamp) that utilizes the 217 output tube.  This is one of the best amps I've ever heard.  I don't know how it compares to the another amazing amp I heard, the Western Electric 59B (meshplate 252 tube), but, it was MUCH cheaper in price.

Any chance that you have heard David Berning's 211/845 ZOTL flagship amp?  His other ZOTL amps are a bit lean sounding for my taste, but, they are still certainly contenders where a little bit more power is needed than the stuff I play with.

I know we are listing crazy expensive stuff here, but, there should be a place to mention more down to earth gear that sounds great, like Wyetech (tube) and First Watt (solid state) gear. 

larryi
1,972 posts
 

Charles1dad,

I am like you, mostly in the low-powered camp.  I own three tube amps, the most powerful being the Audio Note Kageki, which is rated at 6.5 watts per channel.  My current favorite is a 5 watt pushpull amp that runs the 349 tube.  If I had the need for more power, the first place I would be looking is at OTL amps (or quasi OTL amps, like the Berning); I find their liveliness quite compelling.

I too have heard very nice setups with the kind of electronics I usually don't like, so I agree that matching is more important than particular choices and types.  I have heard nice setups using Momentum amps, for example, and a system with Spectral gear that, while not precisely my taste, I could at least understand the appeal (there are lots of expensive systems I heard where I had no clue as to what anyone liked about them).

larryi
1,972 posts
 
Since we are discussing what might be among the very best amps, has anyone heard the Engstrom Lars tube amp?  That beast is WAY too big and EXPENSIVE for me to ever consider, but, I do wonder how it sounds.  I have never seen it myself.  Personally, I like at least the idea of all out assaults on making a great 20 watt amp.
larryi
1,972 posts
 
My personal reaction to most of the better solid state gear-Soulution, Constellation, MBL, etc., is that they sound very good and do not have the bad qualities ascribed to solid state (grainy, harsh).  While I cannot point out anything obviously wrong with the sound, for reasons I cannot really pinpoint, I tend to lose interest while listening to most solid state gear while better tube gear somehow tends to pull me into the music and performance more fully.  The fact that there are some more obvious "flaws" to tube gear performance (not as tight bass, tonal coloration, sometimes dynamic compression or murky quality at high volume) becomes quite irrelevant.  The overall experience, to me, is better with good tube gear.

On the other side of the coin, a lot of higher powered tube gear have qualities that seem more obvious flaws that I don't like at all--some are brittle and harsh ("glassy" sound) and are surprisingly lean in tonal balance (given the reputation of tubes) which seems to strip acoustic instruments of their body and rich harmonic structure.  If I required a lot of power and an OTL amp was not the answer (not enough power or speaker impedance is too low or too variable), I would probably end up with solid state.

Within the lower powered tube camp, I hardly think that SET is the only way to go for truly great midrange or any other quality.  I have heard quite a few great pushpull amps.  I picked the one I currently run in my system primarily because it gets the midrange so "right" and the Audio Note Kageki that I also own that the pushpull amp replaced is no slouch in that area.  My pushpull amp, which is essentially a re-built Western Electric 133A, puts out about 5.5 watts per channel (built in Italy by Aldo D'Urso who makes custom gear built to one's needs, personal specifications--tube type, transformer or capacitor coupled inputs, etc).

As for German solid state gear, I like the Burmester amp (I really liked their top end CD player) and I also like Symphonic amps.
larryi
1,972 posts
 

Inna,

What do you mean by youtube auditioning?  I hope you don't seriously mean that you have attempted to discern what stuff sounds like by the audio portion of a youtube posting.  At best, youtube tells you something about what the gear looks like and nothing more.

I would never do a review of restaurants by licking their menu, even if that probably tells me more about the food than youtube can tell you about the sound of gear.

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