Next upgrade, DartZeel or Ayre

Teddy_bear, I think the reason you heard Guarneri Memento sounded close in and syrupy was the speakers were not broken in. I bought my GM new and the sound transformed after 10 hours of play and continue to improve.

Bar81, I never implied I made my decision from that short audition in dealer showroom. Yes, I am in Singapore now and I had the benefit to audition many brands within a few steps from each other. I will return to the dealer once the KX-R is back and hopefully it will create enough positive impression on me to the point I want to borrow them home. But if the sound remained hi-fi sounding, I will turn to Dartzeel instead.

I have no doubt Dartzeel is one of the most musical solid state right now, but I am still concern about the power rating. I know 100wpc is not created equally, but 100wpc is simply not enough for big speakers in a big room.

Search continues, hope the KX-R and Dartzeel will return to the dealers soon.

when it comes to high-end audio, "I" now have "The Latest and The Greatest"- LOL, well who can really claim to know what that is...? anyway, i humbly submit the following:
i recently upgraded my wires to transparent MM2, got an EMM-Lab CDSA cd player, and a mark levinson 326S preamp. i already had mark levinson 33h monoblocks and von schweikert vr9 speakers.
i didn't acquire all this stuff at the same time, of course. but i finally got the wire and the source components hooked up together recently. regarding break in- after a few hours, everything sounded ok to me.
well, actually more than ok. silky smooth, relaxed, no "soundstage"
because everything was simply wide open. as some reviewers like to phrase things- there isn't a "system" anymore, just the music and the room.
my preferences usually run to well-recorded redbook cd's by artists i feel capture the spirit of the music. anyway, i am still totally ignorant regarding some of the premium equipment mentioned above, but i can assure you that your own personal journey trying different components which enhance the music you are really crazy about (for me i have to start with the Baroque Era) can lead to unique combinations that hopefully reflects what YOU like, and what you felt was worth the price of admission.

Well, I made up my mind and went to a completely different direction.

I heard the Ayre combo a few times in dealer, I was not impressed. I don't expect to hear all the qualities in a dealer show room, but I also don't expect them to sound flat or even bad. I am sure they will sound better at my house, but everything sounds better at my house and I don't have time to bring home every piece to try.

I am sure Dartzeel is great too, but Dartzeel is slightly out of my reach financially even in used market.

So instead I went with another great pre amp from Germany to match my phono stage. It shares the same shunt volume control design as Ayre, in fact I believe this manufacture invented this design. It's tube base, so it has more bloom and air. Time will tell if the sound really fits my taste, but I know Ayre is not for me at this point.

Just stop. Glad you're happy; move on.

Semi, care to share a bit more about your new preamp...the name, manufacturer, cost ?

Thanks