My point is, ignore the Audio Note connection, there is no none. And proceed on the basis.
If the kits were actually competitive v finished products by decent brands, tube maps, DACs, then they should come clean and change the name of the company and the names of the products. My point.
It's more complicated than that. I can't speak for SET amps as though I've owned quite a few I'm not the biggest SET fan as the vast majority of them disappoint with real world speakers. I've always ended up coming back to properly-done push-pull.
The AN Kit DACs however are in general very good and strongly resemble in both design and execution the AN products of 10-15 years ago - the topology is pretty much identical and although some of the actual components are different, things like digiboards are more or less identical. AN products have moved on to some extent but it's possible to improve the kit DACs to keep pace with by replacing for example output transformers with higher end ones, stuffing with Black Gates if you can find them, upgrading I/V transformers, and so on, right up to modifying output sections to use directly heated triodes.
I would suggest it's possible to get comparable or even better performance from a modified AN kit DAC than from low or even mid-end factory AN product, indeed I know it's possible having put my own highly modified AN kit DAC against a factory AN 3.1x even as it was some years ago, and coming out on top.
(Now, after four upgrade iterations my 'kit' contains only one part from the original - the digiboard - and has a thoroughly revised power supply section and totally new output stage. It's a really superb performer, though I doubt there are all that many AN kits as highly evolved as mine - if indeed it can still be said to be AN kit-based which is probably debatable - but in terms of approach the lineage is perceptible).
I suppose the question is precisely what you are dealing with - the kits out of the box, competently assembled, are a fraction of the price of factory components. I suppose if that's what you compare then you might be disappointed. But that is most definitely not the only possible end point.
Like I say I have no experience with the SET kits but I assume these are even simpler than a DAC. So whether you'd want to start with a kit that you might end up modifying significantly, or just do a scratch build according to some recipe known to be successful elsewhere, is probably the appropriate question to ask.
amaremusica.com.pl
is the DeForest DHT.
