[Donald North]

Lots of ways to compare these amps. Without having rolled many tubes through the Aficionado yet, and based only on sound, my personal preference runs in line of ZDS < Aficionado < Stratus < Stellaris.

ZDS is a lower price point than all the others and has its own signature sound: its kind of 'one of these things is not like the others', so I hesitate to put in this line up. I got my first ZD and Stratus simultaneously but the ZD never got time since I much prefered the Stratus sound signature.

Aficionado v. Stratus may be the most interesting comparison for buyers right now. Without having rolled much through the Aficionado, I still prefer the Stratus sound signature. I fnd it more airy, dynamic,fast and exciting overall. Several other listeners I've had over are finding the same. I may dedicate some time to a better comparison this week.



I've only got one of those so I couldn't do head-to-head listening. Probably i should pick up another one and try it out.

The RCA 5U4G is also good to try.

Another interesting comparison would be with the bass-heavy K1000.

 

[Sorrodje]

Thks @ogodei

 

[yage]

My experience with EC amps pretty much lines up with @ogodei.

I listened to the ZDS and EC BA with 300B tubes (not head-to-head in either instance, but in a quiet environment) and came away preferring the Stratus. To my ears, the Stratus sounded more natural and organic. One note - my amp is the latest version.

 

[ogodei]

EML 5U4G and mesh v. solid 2A3 comparisons coming up...

 

[m17xr2b]

What input tube?

 

[ogodei]

Matched super cryo 6N1P-EV Voshods.

Actually last night I started tube rolling in the Aficionado, I think it v. the Stratus is really the match up to consider.

 

[m17xr2b]

All this talk about tubes made me open the stash and roll some single plates which made me wonder, is the Stellaris more or less responsive to rolling than the Stratus? Also I have to agree with Donald, the RCA 5U4G with the top getter is my second favourite and I got it for 10$.

 

[DMck2000]

All this talk about tubes made me open the stash and roll some single plates which made me wonder, is the Stellaris more or less responsive to rolling than the Stratus? Also I have to agree with Donald, the RCA 5U4G with the top getter is my second favourite and I got it for 10$.

Those RCAs are really cheap! I might want to get one to roll out as it’s not much of a loss if I don’t end up liking it. Which vendors would you prefer getting tubes from?

 

[m17xr2b]

I'm from the other side of the pond where tube vendors are few and far between. In my case it's mostly ebay and other local for sale places.

 

[Frihed89]

I am in Denmark. 90% of the "vintage" tubes I have ordered come from the US. The rest I found on EBAY UK, Germany and France.

 

[hpeter]

2a3 mesh looks nice can we have more photos in action ?

 

[m17xr2b]

There's nothing like tube glow at night after you had a hard day at work

 

[hpeter]

THAT GLOW...

 

[m17xr2b]

 

[ogodei]

I bought the purple ones