Mama-mia this VK-55SE is nice. Still not completely broken in, but as I said elsewhere, I was fearful of trying a tube amp and now I wish I'd done it earlier.. As a newbie I like the fact that there's no biasing to do.
I'd never really heard holographic like sound 'til now and there is more 'air' and a greater sense of 'space' between instruments. The mids are more natural sounding and I don't notice any lack of slam compared to the VK-220 or an Ayre amp I had.
After another 100 hours I'm going to replace the (2) stock 6922 tubes- haven't yet removed the cover but imagine they're Sovteks. Also, as the amp only has (2) 6H30's I'm thinking of trying a couple of 6h30-DR tubes.
Art, thanks for your thoughts on the 3i-x and 32se. I still would be very interested in hearing the 32 series, but in no hurry. Another pleasant surprise is how quiet the BAT tube combo is. I'm really liking this.
I'd never really heard holographic like sound 'til now and there is more 'air' and a greater sense of 'space' between instruments. The mids are more natural sounding and I don't notice any lack of slam compared to the VK-220 or an Ayre amp I had.
After another 100 hours I'm going to replace the (2) stock 6922 tubes- haven't yet removed the cover but imagine they're Sovteks. Also, as the amp only has (2) 6H30's I'm thinking of trying a couple of 6h30-DR tubes.
Art, thanks for your thoughts on the 3i-x and 32se. I still would be very interested in hearing the 32 series, but in no hurry. Another pleasant surprise is how quiet the BAT tube combo is. I'm really liking this.