Dartzeel 108 vs Ayre Mr-X

Without knowing the other components involved, most importantly the speakers, Semi's comments are irrelevant. The speaker/amplifier match is critical in opimizing and evaluating either.

Second, the dealer's room is undoubtedly different than Semi's so that must be considered as well. The room is a component.

Ayre is outstanding gear folks; don't let these comments dissuade you from auditioning their amps and preamps. The cd players aren't on the same level however.

I heard the MX-R's at my dealer with the not top of the line Ayre Pre-Amp and the Dynaudio Saphires, and the Ayre C-5Xe CD Player (I was auditioning for a new CD Player, comparing the Ayre to the Esoteric X03SE-I ended up buying the Esoteric) BUT what really caught my eye (actually ear) was the awesome sound of the Ayre Monoblock amps - S W E E T. Great soundstage, inner detail and over all a gorgeous, gorgeous sound. I'm not ready to upgrade my amps (yet) but that audition made me force myself to not buy them. They just sounded soooo good. One of the best (maybe the best) solid state amps I have heard. I was superimpressed by them. I can only imagine how they would sound with their beter preamp.

unless you're commited to the pre, you may want to just go ayre. the nagra is a conversation piece(which is cool), but don't build a team around what could possibly happen in deep right field.

The two amps would have to be compared in the same system for a comparison to be fair, and even at that, one amp would be penalized due to synergy issues -- arguably, the best comparison would be one amp in that amp designer's system of choice versus the other amp in the system of choice of its designer - in other words, "you made it, so show me what you think it can do".

It is fair to say that both amps are outstanding and show their respective designers' disdain for global feedback. Only having heard the darT (I own one), I might expect it to be somewhat more pure sounding on a highly resolving system because it features an unusually simple circuit (it is single-ended and uses only three stages) and each channel uses only one pair of output transistors, whereas the Ayre uses many more output devices, being higher powered and differential balanced. Being roughly twice as powerful, the Ayre may be better on unusually inefficient speakers. The darT punches above its weight class, however, and can do big orchestral on inefficient speakers known to be current-hungry (e.g., the original Salons). I have only spent an hour with an Ayre system, at a dealer six or seven years ago, but I thought it sounded outstanding.

I wish to disagree with something that Raquel stated.

She stated "Being roughly twice as powerful, the Ayre may be better on unusually inefficient speakers. The darTZeel punches above its weight class, however, and can do big orchestral on inefficient speakers known to be current-hungry (e.g., the original Salons)."

I disagree because of an A/B test that my friend and I did at his house. We compared the DarTZeel against the Lamm M2.2 monoblocks (a 220 wpc hybrid design). He is using the Rockport Antares speakers, which has specifications that are rather average, (89.3 sensitivity and an impedance of 4 ohms), although granted, it does have a 13" woofer to drive. Therefore, I do not consider this speaker to be "unusually inefficient".

The Lamm M2.2 drove the speaker, and particularly, the bass driver admirably. The DarTZeel did not come close to matching the bass response of the Lamms. It clearly had run out of power during loud orchestral passages, and particularly using a taiko drum test my friend has (on the Burmeister Sampler No. 3, as I recall). If I were to choose the DarTZeel, I would make sure that I had either a relatively easy speaker to drive (i.e. with a sensitivity of 92 or greater), or a true 8 ohm impedance, (or better yet, both.) Or, if your speakers are not true full range speakers, (i.e. go down flat to 20 hz), the DarTZeel might be a very good choice.

That being said, I really, really liked the sound of the DarTZeel, to the point that I can, and have, stated that it is my favorite solid state amplifier. I thought that the soundstaging, imaging and the mid-range was about as good as any amplifier I have ever heard, including the Lamm M2.2s. (My friend felt the same way, in case you are wondering.)
(FYI, I felt that the Lamm's treble response was slightly better too, (mostly because I felt it had better decay), but only just slightly, and that might be because I am more used to the Lamm's. So that is probably more a matter of taste.)

Those are my two cents worth anyway. YMMV.

FYI, I have not had a chance to audition the Ayre amplifiers as yet, but I do hope to do so, as my local dealer has them.