Who makes the highest quality tube amps?


One scale of 1-10, 10 being best designed and constructed technically, personal sound preferences aside, who are the 8s, 9s, and 10s?

VAC, ARC, Atmasphere would seem like likely candidates I can think of. Are they ?

Where does Decware rank? Rogue? How about others?

SOme technical facts to help support any claims is appreciated please.

Durability and reliability matters to me here as much as anything. I would want my tube gear to continue to work as reliably as designed years down the road as well as up front.

THanks.

Thanks.
mapman
I have a VTL Stereo 90 Deluxe Ultra-Linear tube amp that I mate with a Harman Kardon Citation 1 with Focal Diva Utopia Be Speakers. Simply Stunning!!!I find the VTL more holographic, more musical, more transparent, more harmonically textured, a more magical level of refinement and tonally richer than ARC and in addition, VTL exhibits greater Pace, Rhythm, Attack, and Timing (PRAT) which allows me to experience a greater emotional connection to the musical presentation. I am using New Sensor Corp. Genalex KT88 power tubes with (2) NOS Siemens 801S's in the input position and (2) NOS GE's in the phase inverter position.

BTW, I'm taking a Poll on two very influential jazz recording engineers. Please visit my website and vote for your favorite jazz engineer: Rudy Van Gelder or Roy DuNann.

Michael Miguest
http://www.audiocognoscenti.com/blog.html
My Jolida was playing some small Jazz combo music one day and I ran into the room thinking a live band had broken into my house. Turns out, they had, so I had them arrested and taken away.
Some good suggestions, including Tron, just great amps and good support from Graham who makes them. For amps I have used myself and it's a few, I would say Ayon, for sound, build quality and reliability
Jdec,

Class D amps aren't going anywhere.

I've dabbled with adding an additional system built around
high efficiency speakers and a tube amp for awhile and hope
to do that someday.

My Triangle Titus speakers are tube friendly. I could use
them in my current second a/v system with a tube amp. I use
a mhdt Paradisea tube DAC and Tube Audio Design Hibachi 125
monoblocks there currently with an old NAD 7020 run as the
pre-amp.