Ayre or Rowland Amp?


I am thinking seriously about stepping out of my tubed ARC VT100 MKII amp into something that doesn't require retubing. The Rowland 201s or the Ayre V5xe look interesting from reviews, but I haven't heard either. These will be fed by an ARC LS5MKIII (which I love) and will feed Watt/Puppy 7s.

There don't seem to be that many of either amp 'out there' so info is relatively hard to come by, especially on the newer incarnation of the Ayre.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Bob Wood
128x128woodburger
I have WP7's don't get the 201's get the 501's if you can they just don't have the current to control the mid-bass (on the WP7's only). They are wonderfully smooth, wide/deep soundstage but just didn't have the control of my Lamms (which are 4x the cost however). The 501's provided more of what I liked about the 201s. I use a Rowland Synergy IIi as my preamp.
I own the Ayre V5xe and it is truly a wonderful sounding amplifier. However, I don't think it would be the best amp for the Wilson's. I might would consider something like the Parasound JC1's. They have the grut for those speakers. I think the Ayre would be a little light weight unless you are listening at moderate volumes.
The only way to know for sure is try it.
ICE is a good class D module to start with. It shares with tubes a liquidity and spaciousness. The 201, and 501 sound much the same, according to people who have heard both. The 300 series amps are better sounding, due to their linear power supply.

I am an owner of the new H2O Signature monos. They power my 1 ohm speakers. These are ICE based too. Like the Rowland 300 series, the H2O is built with a robust analog power supply.
I'm not familiar with the Ayre, but I powered my WP7's with a Music reference RM200 tube amp without a problem (actually made magical music just not Lamm magic) So the 92dB 4ohm load WP7's don't require a ton of watts, just quality current.

The JC1's are nice sounding but require serious breakin 1400 hours +. They have tons of current but only 25 watts of Class A bias.

Other conventional Mosfet design should work also quite nicely: Pass Labs, etc..

If you want the bomb to mix with your WP7, get yourself either the M1.1, M1.2, M2.1, or M2.2 be warry as these generate tons of Class A heat and an addiction. (Big VTL tube amps also sound amazing if you want full tubes)

As much as I think Digital/Ice technology is amazing, I think it has a ways to go, and regardless of all the H20 hype use their money back trial to find out what works for you. Don't hold your breath, the H20 has been raved about with conventional speaker (I haven't seen any wilson owners using them on agon or audiocircle to recommendations) If someone wants to bring a pair to Scottsdale,Az to compare, I'll supply the beer!
Being an H2O owner, instead of concluding ICE technology has, "A way
to go," On the contrary, I'm wondering what more amp evolution is
possible.

There is a down side. When one commits to the H2O, or any ICE amp, one has
committed to a total system change, eventually. The ICE amp will take due
note of all deficiencies in your system, and magnify them.

For instance, I changed all my wires to ones well shielded from EMI, and RFI.
It is amazing what pollution gets into your system without you knowing it,
because it is fainter than the provided signal.