Which SS amp has the most tube-like tone and timbre?
- Thread starter caesar
- Start date
I currently own a Sirius D200 which I bought on Ebay about 6 months ago. Sirius was bought by GamuT, it looks just like the Gamut. I have owned alot of amps over the last ten years, SS Jeff Rowland, Krell and Edge. Tubes, Audion, Cary and Yamamoto. After the Sirius, I do not even look at amps anymore. If you listen to a GamuT, I bet you will be surprised.
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Hi,
Do the Gamut amps sound like your Sirius D200? http://www.gamutaudio.com/en-GB/Products/Electronics/Amplifiers.aspx Would the D200i be the same?
Thanks!
LOL! The DartZeel NHB-458 Monoblocks!
In all seriousness though, my choice is the DartZeel NHB-108 (unless of course, you can really afford the 458 mono blocks!).
In all seriousness though, my choice is the DartZeel NHB-108 (unless of course, you can really afford the 458 mono blocks!).
In my limited SS experience, the Valvet A3.5R and Lamm M1.2 Reference. It's why I use them personally and why I ended up carrying them. While I still own tube amps (Lamm ML1.1, BAT VK-150s and a pair of Parallel SE 300B monoblocks) I switched to these as mainstays after seeing one too many B+ fuses blowing. It was just too much excitement for me. My first dalliance with tube like SS was a pair of Pass Aleph 0s. It didn't do it for me. I haven't heard any XAs in my system but given the time passed, I'm sure they've evolved quite a bit by now.
That's interesting. With my Pass amp, I no longer worry about "tube like" sound or "transistor" sound, as it sounds real and that's what I'm after. To me, the Pass sound is like having the the best characteristics of tube and transistor amps in one (two) amp(s).
I agree Steve. The OP needs to anty up the info on system and model of Pass he heard when he says...didn't agree with him. Now that I have Valhalla between amp and speaker...all you hear is the music....
The older VFET amps can come close. Triode like response, natural tone and note decay, huge three dimensional imaging and specific imaging within the sound stage that makes one wonder whether there is a channel imbalance until an equally discrete sound comes from the other side.
They are bit more restrained than tubes, kind of like nuvistors. Also sound fantasitic with headphones. Unfortunately, abandoned in the early 80's due to manufacturing cost, but now resurrected in expensive SIT(VFET) amps by Nelson Pass (5000 smackeroonies for 10 watt single ended SIT) and some boutique Japanese manufactures.
Or, just get an older Yamaha or Sony and have it refurbished.
Have not heard any other solid state device that gets as close to actual tube sound. Other kinds of FET's can sometimes have a tube characteristic or two, but not like VFET.
They are bit more restrained than tubes, kind of like nuvistors. Also sound fantasitic with headphones. Unfortunately, abandoned in the early 80's due to manufacturing cost, but now resurrected in expensive SIT(VFET) amps by Nelson Pass (5000 smackeroonies for 10 watt single ended SIT) and some boutique Japanese manufactures.
Or, just get an older Yamaha or Sony and have it refurbished.
Have not heard any other solid state device that gets as close to actual tube sound. Other kinds of FET's can sometimes have a tube characteristic or two, but not like VFET.
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
+1.. I've had tubes in my system and the Pass XA .5 series is as close as I've heard. I don't want to change.
Hi Joe,
I don't know. I bought it on a lark in an Ebay auction. It had to be 10 years old but all that I had read on the internet led me to believe that Gamut has bought Sirius and had simply rebadged the Sirius into the GamuT D200. Even the nameplate looks the same, color and size, just GamuT instead of Sirius. I guess that would be the MK I. At the time my amp was the Goldmund Stellavox PW1s. They are monoblocks and I liked them so much I had hardly tried another amp for maybe 3 years (Well one, the Yamamoto A-08). But this stereo Sirius box. I sold the PW1s maybe three days later on Audiogon (back when it was good).
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I don't know. I bought it on a lark in an Ebay auction. It had to be 10 years old but all that I had read on the internet led me to believe that Gamut has bought Sirius and had simply rebadged the Sirius into the GamuT D200. Even the nameplate looks the same, color and size, just GamuT instead of Sirius. I guess that would be the MK I. At the time my amp was the Goldmund Stellavox PW1s. They are monoblocks and I liked them so much I had hardly tried another amp for maybe 3 years (Well one, the Yamamoto A-08). But this stereo Sirius box. I sold the PW1s maybe three days later on Audiogon (back when it was good).
D
From what I understand Sirius just changed name to GamuT some years ago. The company and the designer is the same. However the main designer from that time Ole Lund Christensen is no longer with the company. Now it is Ole's partner from that time Lars Goeller who is the main designer.
Moscode something-or-other
Apt-Holman (? sp)
Counterpoint SA220
Hafler DH200
Carver's whatever-it-was, ended up with a tube/SS switch on the back or something like that
All having MOSFET or similar output stages, I think (not sure about the A-H).
And yes I know I'm dating myself...
Apt-Holman (? sp)
Counterpoint SA220
Hafler DH200
Carver's whatever-it-was, ended up with a tube/SS switch on the back or something like that
All having MOSFET or similar output stages, I think (not sure about the A-H).
And yes I know I'm dating myself...
I don't know if anyone has studied the age demographics, but we just might have more old roosters than we have spring chickens on WBF.
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