Again, So? I have heard Vitus many times now and the result is that I don't find the sound very appealing. I don't need a compare for this. I have heard wonderful and also somewhat boring demonstrations with Kondo...mostly wonderful. Jadis has also been a mixed bag and the only one I have found to sound consistently good is the relatively affordable Defy 7 in various versions. The JA30 is also good. I haven't heard one of their SETs (but the 300B measurements in Stereophile make even a SET lover cringe) but would love to hear the 845 model someday.
End game pre amp + amp upgrade
- Thread starter Hieukm
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Again, So? I have heard Vitus many times now and the result is that I don't find the sound very appealing. I don't need a compare for this. I have heard wonderful and also somewhat boring demonstrations with Kondo...mostly wonderful. Jadis has also been a mixed bag and the only one I have found to sound consistently good is the relatively affordable Defy 7 in various versions. The JA30 is also good. I haven't heard one of their SETs (but the 300B measurements in Stereophile make even a SET lover cringe) but would love to hear the 845 model someday.
My honest opinion? None of these will give you a real feeling when listening to music...only a real feeling in your back when you try to lift them back out of your system disappointed...
Sorry to insist but IMHO we still know too little about the other parts of your system and preferences to be of any help. All we are writing are the usual manifestations of love and hate of our members towards equipment. Not all 99 dB speakers are created equal, and source can not be ignored in this thread. In order to have the deepest and widest sound stage you have to own the proper speaker in a 20 m2 room - I had great sound in a similar size room with big speakers, but the deepest and widest sound stage was created with monitor type speakers, such as B&WSS25 or Sonus Faber Amator.
one advantage of 'zeel' is the relative absence of interconnect echo's, which translate into precision in the soundstage when doing full orchestral. the harder I push things the more what I hear is unique in my experience.
like many things, at modest listening levels with simple music lots of approaches are sufficient, but when stressed, the optimal approaches separate themselves.
just my opinion and based on my experience and reading about Herve's thoughts on this subject.
It seems Dartzeel is the overwhelming favourite here. I would love to hear any Boulder or FM or Gryphon owner to share more.
Hello Hieukm
As a Boulder owner i can honestly say
1) the jump from merely excellent to state of the art is significant. My system now operates in a realm i did not know existed
2)i have never heard any brand perform as well as the big Boulder.
However the only other contenders i feel drawn towards, which by repute, also exhibit magical musicality, would be the hybrid Tenor 350m hp monos and the SET Wavac 833's. Which is topical, as I'm currently weighing up whether to upgrade to Boulder 2160 or one of the two mentioned above. These are truly for the music lovers
I have Cessaro Qian Long field coil speaker. The rest of the system is simple. Digital streamig only. Chord Dave + Blu2. Theone music server coming. Soulution 5 series electronics. Kuro, Argento and Furutech dps-4 cables. All tripoint grounding boxes. Custom isolation transformer and power conditioner.
SS amps used on horns seem to be dart, FM, and Vitus. Adyc moved from Aries cerat set amps to Dartzeel for his AC horns. So maybe you can rotate those three to check which you will find best. Dartzeel and Vitus should be easier to demo. FM you will need to find an used pair. So is the assumption correct that you have ruled out valves?
Yes tube is out of the question at the moment because my listening habit and room condition. My speaker is not horn though. Adyc move definately spiked my interest for Dart. Demoing is tough at my location as dealer is not that helpful.
I have compared Vitus Masterpiece pre with Boulder 2110 and Wavac pr-t1 in my system, driving Boulder 2060.
Vitus was relatively sterile, very unappealing, complete absence of musicality.
Boulder was awesome, a real contender that i could live with, and extended highs above and bass below my reference points. Which as a confessed bass freak, should have been decisive.
And yet, and here I'm in agreement with others who prefer a valve pre amp and ss power amp, the tone and musicality of the Wavac was unsurpassed.
In the next fortnight i have a dealer bringing the Vitus Masterpiece monoblocks here, i will report back, but I'm not holding my breath.
In conclusion, you really do need to hear a 2100 series power amp from Boulder. They are simply head and shoulders beyond anything else i have experienced; such exquisite delicacy combined with awesome power in the service of absolute musicality
Although I have no detailed information on your speakers, field coil speakers create their efficiency using very strong magnetic fields in the speaker gaps - very different from typical horns. Probably Cessaro uses solid state electronics to control the coil current.
I was interested in this subject some time ago - I remember that some people felt that field coil speaker sounded musical on the warm side - but probably because they were traditionally used with mellow tubes! How would you briefly describe their sound?
I agree that boulder has more highs and bass than Vitus and power especially for focal, and in a large room. However, for Cessaro in a small room both will sound powerful. I prefer flow and tone of Vitus on classical, but there we can have different preferences
They sound wonderfully warm with great tone density and very detailed and fast. It suits my most listening genre in vocal and classical. Due to my small size room, coherence is not ideal but it really draws me into the music. Listening to orchestra is a pleasure due to a very large wide sound stage with excellent 3D image. Although the latter part was also contributed by other tweaks as well
Any thoughts on the Nagra HD pre + amp combination? The build for the amp looks not up to par compare to other heavy weight. It seems the tone and resolution is top notch.
Totally disagree.
Had both Nagra HD amps and Soulution 511's on Magicos.......The HD amps are wider, deeper and more delicate. Bass is unbelievably detailed. Resolution is outstanding. Highly recommended
Totally disagree.
Had both Nagra HD amps and Soulution 511's on Magicos.......The HD amps are wider, deeper and more delicate. Bass is unbelievably detailed. Resolution is outstanding. Highly recommended
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