Sasha DAW vs Alexia 2

GSOphile

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A quick update: I switched to 4 ohms output terminals of my amp and and the overall tonal balance is much better now:
But the more I listen to Sashas, the more I think that an amp change is in order. If you had a choice between these 4 wonderful transistor amps for the DAW, what would you pick and why?
Pass Labs XA160.8
D'Agostino Momentum S250 Stereo
Gryphon Antileon Evo Stereo
CH Precision A1.5

Based on what I have read so far, Pass and D’Agostino are more on the warm side, where Gryphon and CH are neutral sounding. Is that true?

From what I read, the Antileon would also definitely be characterized as on the warm side of neutral.
 

microstrip

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Lamm would be my first choice if they had a distributor in Russia. Unfortunately, Vladimir Shushurin (Lamm) is not very fond of his former motherland or maybe the market is very small and he simply is not interested :(

You should do as me - as Lamm do not have a distributor in my country I got two pairs of M1.2REF . if one goes wrong I put the other in service while sending the faulty one back for repair ... :) However I have found that they are extremely reliable, and I am now selling the redundant pair.
 
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exupgh12

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a friend just finished testing his Saash DAW with the following amps: Dagostino momentum, Nagra HD monoblocks, and Nagra Classic monoblocks
all people that had been a presence during testing (which took several weeks) suggested that the Nagra Classic monoblocks sounded the best.
my friend ended up choosing the Nagra Classic over the other amps, the sound he achieves at his home is one of the best I have ever heard (and I have friends that their systems cost so much more than his system).
 
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analyzer

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In my experience if you'll use the Coincident statement linestage (I do have the same preamp, now actually for sale) you must consider also the matter of the matching impedance and gain.
Concident has approx 13-14 db gain and output impedance of 500 ohm; so probably the input impedance of Pass XA and Gryphon antileon (both 20k) is a little bit too low and probably with losing some high frequency possibly.
Furthermore Gryphon is also extremely sensitive (only 0,975 volts for maximum power, an uncommon value more typical for tube power amps).
CH Precision seems the most flexible of the group, since it can vary the gain in steps of 24 db. The input impedance is a medium value of 94 Kohm in balanced mode; sensitivity perfect, 2,2 volts for maximum power. I don't know 1.5 but I listened to monos 1.1 and stereo A.1; both excellent, resolving and neutral.
Unfortunatly I don't know the Dagostino Momentum; the technical specification reveal the totally different approach with 1 megaohm of input impedance, an uncommon value that can match also tube preamps of the past that usually exhibithed high output impedance values.
In the market of similar approach there are only Cello (now disappeared) and Viola labs amplifiers, both designed by Tom Colangelo. I made some long listening with the duo Coincident Statement + Viola Bravo, and they matched superbly.
Good luck with your decision!
my best
Marco
 
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abeidrov

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In my experience if you'll use the Coincident statement linestage (I do have the same preamp, now actually for sale) you must consider also the matter of the matching impedance and gain.
Concident has approx 13-14 db gain and output impedance of 500 ohm; so probably the input impedance of Pass XA and Gryphon antileon (both 20k) is a little bit too low and probably with losing some high frequency possibly.
Furthermore Gryphon is also extremely sensitive (only 0,975 volts for maximum power, an uncommon value more typical for tube power amps).
CH Precision seems the most flexible of the group, since it can vary the gain in steps of 24 db. The input impedance is a medium value of 94 Kohm in balanced mode; sensitivity perfect, 2,2 volts for maximum power. I don't know 1.5 but I listened to monos 1.1 and stereo A.1; both excellent, resolving and neutral.
Unfortunatly I don't know the Dagostino Momentum; the technical specification reveal the totally different approach with 1 megaohm of input impedance, an uncommon value that can match also tube preamps of the past that usually exhibithed high output impedance values.
In the market of similar approach there are only Cello (now disappeared) and Viola labs amplifiers, both designed by Tom Colangelo. I made some long listening with the duo Coincident Statement + Viola Bravo, and they matched superbly.
Good luck with your decision!
my best
Marco
Thanks for sharing your experience. Jay from this YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1RalNTbbkMouvaR0XhKIiA
successfully paired AR REF6 SE Linestage to his Gryphon Colosseum. Now, the AR pre output impedance is 600 ohms Balanced, which is not that much different from 500 ohms of Coincident. We will see.
I will audition the Gryphon Essence pre + amp combination next week. Do you think the AR linestage is superior to Coincident one?
Also, I wonder, if Essence with its specs of 2 x 50W @ 8 ?, 2 x 100W @ 4 ?, 2 x 190W @ 2 ? specs would be enough to drive DAW in my room?
 

analyzer

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Thanks for sharing your experience. Jay from this YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1RalNTbbkMouvaR0XhKIiA
successfully paired AR REF6 SE Linestage to his Gryphon Colosseum. Now, the AR pre output impedance is 600 ohms Balanced, which is not that much different from 500 ohms of Coincident. We will see.
I will audition the Gryphon Essence pre + amp combination next week. Do you think the AR linestage is superior to Coincident one?
Also, I wonder, if Essence with its specs of 2 x 50W @ 8 ?, 2 x 100W @ 4 ?, 2 x 190W @ 2 ? specs would be enough to drive DAW in my room?

I have no experience in the ARC Ref6. I listened many times to ref1-2-3-5 (notSE) only.
Since ARC is a more recent and modern design it's possibly superior. As I can read in the reports on the web is a totally different sound, with a more prominent bass for the REF6 where the Coincident is fast, articulated but a little bit light in the first bass octave.
My choice to sell the Coincident is only due to the limited input options (two) and no remote; getting older I'm going to listen with more relax and pump or lower the volume from the listening chair...
my best
Marco
 
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abeidrov

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3A2EAF92-F79F-4063-BE4C-3D02211B67EB.jpeg I’ve just had 2 days of long listening sessions with these 2 amazing amps. Gryphon was yesterday and CH - today. Gryphon is all about raw power. The base is mind blowing. Can it be too much for my room? Not sure yet. CH is an entirely different beast. When I first connected it in the morning, it sounded exactly like my SET amp: fast with amazing transparency, absolutely tubelike. But no base. 2 hours passed and suddenly base was there:) And what a base! It is not at Gryphon level, but quite close. So far, I am in love with CH. Now I can see how Gian could move from Kondo to CH with no regrets :) Tomorrow I will give Gryphon another try, will see, maybe, my opinion will change again.
 

dan31

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What a wonderful choice between the Gryphon and the CH. With the Aesthetix Io in your system I would bet the CH amp and a CH preamp would be sublime. I really like the Io with fast SS amps.
 
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LL21

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View attachment 67069 I’ve just had 2 days of long listening sessions with these 2 amazing amps. Gryphon was yesterday and CH - today. Gryphon is all about raw power. The base is mind blowing. Can it be too much for my room? Not sure yet. CH is an entirely different beast. When I first connected it in the morning, it sounded exactly like my SET amp: fast with amazing transparency, absolutely tubelike. But no base. 2 hours passed and suddenly base was there:) And what a base! It is not at Gryphon level, but quite close. So far, I am in love with CH. Now I can see how Gian could move from Kondo to CH with no regrets :) Tomorrow I will give Gryphon another try, will see, maybe, my opinion will change again.
That is exactly the description of CH I have heard from a few others (incl 3 owners). A crystalline purity similar to the best that tubes can deliver when driving the right speaker. Look forward to reading more as you spend more time with both. Particularly around your experience with the Gryphon Antileon Evo which I have never heard (only the Antileon original).
 

abeidrov

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Guys, I may have an opportunity to get Mephisto at a good price:) Still plan to audition Momentum Stereo. I my view, it is the only amp that can probably compete with Mephisto, or can it? But Mephisto is probably too much for my system. Really do not know what to do. The desire to own the Mephisto amp is just very strong and difficult to rationalize:eek:.
 

Jpspock

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How better you will give to the daw, how better she will play. Never too much for a Wilson...
 
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abeidrov

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Quick update: I had half a day listening session with Momentum Stereo amplifier and Momentum HD pre yesterday. Very strange result. I think it is the worst my system sounded in the last 3 months. Maybe the Momentum units were not burned in (they were almost new), or my system had not been used for the last 6 days and that was the reason. I have not idea. The sound was hard, no music, just sounds. The base was OK, but the rest... We tried both vinyl and digital, the same result. The guy from D'Agostino blamed my source components (Kuzma Stabi M and Lampi):) I really have no idea what happened yesterday, but I know this is not the way D'Agostino products are supposed to sound with WA.
 

Jpspock

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I had the same experience with the daw and YG Sonja. The problem came from the preamp, really the weakest point from my point of view. When we change and used the nagra preamp hd, it was another story...
 
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abeidrov

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I had the same experience with the daw and YG Sonja. The problem came from the preamp, really the weakest point from my point of view. When we change and used the nagra preamp hd, it was another story...
Interesting, we first tried my preamp. It was bad, then tried Momentum - a little bit better. We tried my preamp again at the very end of the listening session, and it was much better. So most likely, it‘s the warming up / burning in issue of both the system and the amplifier.
 

abeidrov

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Congratulations-Wilson and Gryphon is a great combination.
Plenty of current in Class A that DAWs need/love.
Thank you. It took me 3 hours to find a place for this monster, I had to disconnect all the equipment, move both racks, then connect everything again. I was sweating all over:)

Initial impression: the sound is quite dark with lots of base. It appears to be darker, than with Antileon EVO which I auditioned a couple of weeks ago. It could be burn in issue or my preamp or both. Thinking about Pandora or CH L1...
 
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Down Under

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Thank you. It took me 3 hours to find a place for this monster, I had to disconnect all the equipment, move both racks, then connect everything again. I was sweating all over:)

Initial impression: the sound is quite dark with lots of base. It appears to be darker, than with Antileon EVO which I auditioned a couple of weeks ago. It could be burn in issue or my preamp or both. Thinking about Pandora or CH L1...
Just let it run in for 2 weeks.Hard to be patient I know!
 
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