I think the EAR Acute in particular benefits greatly from 2 things. 1. Tube rolling, I found the Amperex US 7308 very good and the Seimens early CCa excellent when compared to tubes provided. Several others I tried did not beat the stock tubes. 2. Vibration isolation and mass loading.
Overall I feel the Acute really sounds excellent with these 2 tweaks. My only criticism is it could have been built a little better but then the price probably would have been a lot higher.
Overall I feel the Acute really sounds excellent with these 2 tweaks. My only criticism is it could have been built a little better but then the price probably would have been a lot higher.