Pass Labs SIT2 - Anyone heard ?

[Pani]

This is the latest and greatest from the Pass Labs First watt stable. The SIT amps are suppose to be closest to the single ended triode sound without the limitations of the SETs. Srajan has given it a huge thumbs up in his review in the 6moons. Some people have compared it directly to the Kondo amps and have found the SIT to be up there among the best. Has anyone heard it ? I am in the process of buying a power amp and juggling between tube and SS. If it is an SS then the SIT is already giving me sleepless nights without even listening to it. I am looking for user opinions to attest to my confidence on this amp.

 

[cjfrbw]

I have not heard it. It is 10 watts single ended, and 6Moons raved over it.

There are some other SIT (VFET) amps currently being made in push pull higher power configurations, similar to those of yore, in fact, one called a B1 as a tribute to the Yamaha B1, possibly the bet sounding solid state amplifier ever made.

http://www.sibatech.co.jp/maxonic/amp.html

http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/amplifiers/47-transistor/112-digital-do-main.html

I had the Sony TA 5650 for many years before it broke. I have recently acquired the Sony TA 4650 VFET and Yamaha B2 VFET in good operating condition.

Playing the Yamaha B2 with the Manley neo 300b preamplifier through the bass panels of my Analysis Epsilon speakers full range yields a sound that is completely mesmerizing and hypnotic.

Mesmerizing and hypnotic are terms I would never have previously applied to ANY solid state amplifier of any configuration or quality. They are terms I have reserved in my previous experience to well implemented directly heated triode amplifiers and preamps.

I would call the sound from the Yamaha B2 what I might generally expect from an OTL 2A3 push pull type amplifier, only it yields 100 watts per channel (140 into 4 ohms). The sound just folds and unfolds with curtains of interleaving gorgeous tonality until I am completely immersed and lost in the sound. The upper midrange is wonderful.

High quality solid state amplifiers that I have heard might be dynamic, smooth, powerful, clear, focussed, sounding good etc. etc, but not a one of them I have ever heard, class A, Class AB, Class D etc. etc. sounds like a VFET amp, and not a one of them would I call hypnotic.

I would hazard to say the best solid state sound by leaps and bounds would be a VFET or SIT amplifier driven by a directly heated triode preamplifier. The Manley neo 300b preamp, or better yet, the Allnic L5000 DHT are great candidates for preamplifiers for these.

Things being what they are in the peripatetic audiophile world, I doubt very many audiophiles will ever adopt this configuration. Yamaha and Sony actually managed to challenge the tube world in the 1970's.

It makes me think that a lot of the best of audiophilia is in fact forgotten for the waves of newbie trendsetting and epiphanizing.

 

[mep]

It makes me think that a lot of the best of audiophilia is in fact forgotten for the waves of newbie trendsetting and epiphanizing.

You are singing DaveyF's song. I do agree that there are some gems out there that have been thrown on yesteryear's scrap heap. My Krell KRC-HR, KPE Reference phono stage, and the KSA-250 are all electronics that aren't new, but I do think they sound really good.