[RestoredSparda]

The latest Stratus costs $4k+ I believe. The cheaper previous versions are no longer being made.

 

[thehutch]

Hello,
how many cost the Stratus actually ?

You should email Donald to find out exact price and lead time, but I think it’s around $4,500 now with AN transformers.

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,
Thanks for the feedback.

Is the Stratus still running on 2A3 tubes?
4500$ is pretty neat but certainly okay.
The AN transformers are certainly an exception.

Thanks for the info to contact him.
Will consider it.

Glad to hear that the amp is Zmf friendly.
Given that there have been new versions, is the V4 still planar capable?
What kind of dacs should the Stratus run on?

 

[genefruit]

Hello,
how many cost the Stratus actually ?

Delete - was beaten to the post with the exact same answer.

 

[RestoredSparda]

Hello,
Thanks for the feedback.

Is the Stratus still running on 2A3 tubes?
4500$ is pretty neat but certainly okay.
The AN transformers are certainly an exception.

Thanks for the info to contact him.
Will consider it.

Glad to hear that the amp is Zmf friendly.
Given that there have been new versions, is the V4 still planar capable?
What kind of dacs should the Stratus run on?

Yes it is still 2A3 power tubes. Many have found most planers do not play very nice with Stratus, but your milage may vary.

DACs will have to be towards your preference. However, personally, Sonic Frontiers vintage dacs and Yggdrasil flavors all play very nicely with Stratus.

 

[Peti]

However, personally, Sonic Frontiers vintage dacs and Yggdrasil flavors all play very nicely with Stratus.

You have great taste, my friend! I'd also add vintage theta dacs from the early 90's.

 

[Tchoupitoulas]

What kind of dacs should the Stratus run on?

I have two DACs which I've used with my v3 Stratus, an Yggdrasil A2 (with a warmer sound signature) and a Gungnir Multibit (more neutral sounding), and both pair well with it depending on the headphones I'm using. With brighter headphones such as the Sennheiser HD 600 and HD 800 SDR, I prefer the warmer tuning of the Yggdrasil. For the Vérité open I find both work well but prefer the resolution, superior staging and positional cues, as well as detail retrieval of the Yggdrasil. For my darker LCD-4 headphones, I prefer the overall sound from the Gungnir as the Yggdrasil makes for an overly warm sound. In other words, the choice of DACs depends on your headphones and preferences. It’s a good idea to think of your entire system as a whole and to find good synergies.

Given that there have been new versions, is the V4 still planar capable?

This is a difficult question to answer. I chose the Stratus precisely because it was designed to drive a wider range of headphones than the Starlett, including planars. Note that Donald North writes the following of the choice of 2A3 tubes for his amp (see here): “Many speciality audiophile headphones including the AKG K1000, Audeze LCD-2 & LCD-3, HiFiMAN HE-5LE, HE-500 & HE-6 are lower efficiency than conventional headphones and require higher gain and power to show their true beauty. The 2A3 is my first choice for powering these challenging headphones with stunning performances.” As @RestoredSparda observed, though, many people dislike the Stratus for planars. I’ve not tried to drive them with my Stratus but I suspect from reading the impressions of others that this amp may not be ideal for driving especially demanding planars, such as the Susvara. Beyond these headphones, I’d suggest that the Stratus can drive some planar headphones exceptionally well, although you should proceed with caution because, as with DACs, your preferences need to be considered carefully, and the synergies between DACs, amps, and specific headphones are important.

I’ll give you couple of examples. I like the LCD-4 from the Stratus (with the Gungnir Multibit DAC) because the amp accentuates qualities I like about these headphones, for instance, the presentation of subtle textures, the timbre of certain instruments (the alto sax sounds wonderful from this setup), and the ability to present fine details. As importantly, if not more so, the Stratus does some things to offset the weaknesses of the LCD-4, such as the staging, which becomes a bit more spacious, open, and 3-dimensional (or “holographic”). By contrast, while the Stratus drives the LCD-2C nicely, it doesn’t really play to the strenghts of those headphones. With the LCD-2C, I’m less interested in tonal fidelity - or accurate timbre for acoustic instruments (I would never use the LCD-2C for jazz, for instance) - and insead I want to have fun and excitement with alternative rock and some electronic music. The LCD-2C are wonderful for electric guitars and for gritty, crunchy, growling textures. They’re also amazing for their macrodynamic strength and their slam, with the right amplifier. The Stratus does well in presenting the textures of electric guitars but, as with many other amps I've paired with the LCD-2c, it doesn’t do justice to these headphones' slam or macrodynamics (for this I love the Schiit Mjolnir 1 amp). In other words, two broadly similar headphones from the same company - as in headphones which are both quite demanding to drive and that both have a darker sound signature, with recessed upper-mids - don’t sound equally as good from the Stratus, at least not for my purposes and tastes.

I’ve been experimenting with different planar headphones with my Stratus. Here are some of my findings. Please note that I compared these headphones from the Stratus with such solid state amps as the Mjolnir 1, Phonitor X, Monoprice Cavalli Liquid Gold X, and the Violectric V281.

Ether 2: the sound here is very good from the Stratus but I found the E2 benefits from an amp that does a better job at providing slam and macrodynamic strength; the E2 tends towards having a softer sound, and can be a bit sleepy, and as such it benefits from being woken up with more power, which gives it more macrodynamic contrast. The Phonitor did this nicely, albeit at the expense of a less engaging sound than the Stratus's. Even so, the tonality of the Ether 2, which is one of its strong suits, was complemented beautifully by the Stratus.

HE1000 v2: I actually found the Stratus to pair very well with these headphones even though the Hifimans are quite hard to drive; I'm not sure I found a solid state amp from my collection that made these HiFiMAN headphones sound any better. I find these headphones to be a bit dry-sounding, and the wetter, warmer presentation afforded by the Stratus helped round out their sound nicely.

RAD-0: these are fairly easy-to-drive headphones and, like the LCD-4, they benefit considerably from the rich textures and holographic staging the Stratus offers them. I’d say the pairing is exceptionally good. The Stratus makes for the best amp I heard for these headphones (although I didn’t have the V281 when I borrowed a generous friend’s RAD-0).

D8000: as with the RAD-0, I found the D8000 to be quite easy to drive (and quite easy to pair successfully with a range of amps). The resolution and the wonderful staging of the Stratus also played to the strengths of these headphones.

All of this is to say that personal preferences, and the purposes to which you'll be putting your headphones (genre of music, etc), matter a great deal. My advice would be to think carefully about which headphones, in particular, you think you may want to pair with a Stratus.

 

[wiaderko]

There is a new tube factory in China. Some of Psvane's engineers left and started Linlai. They are now producing a Acme Supreme competitor in their Elite series. Went to Grant Fidelity website this morning to buy a pair pair of Acme Supremes and ordered them plus a pair of the Linlai Elites too.

Hi Claud, could you put some light on comparison between acme and linlai in the elite version please ? I found only 2 reviews in internet :/. Acme have longer tones for sure.

 

[P+D-MI]

@Tchoupitoulas , this link didn't work for me and I'm really curious to see it- Donald North writes the following of the choice of 2A3 tubes for his amp

 

[Clear Water]

@Tchoupitoulas , this link didn't work for me and I'm really curious to see it- Donald North writes the following of the choice of 2A3 tubes for his amp

Delete the ] at the end of the link and it will work. Just as a point of clarification, this is not a list of which 2A3 Donald prefers; it's his rationale for choosing the 2A3 triode in his design of the Stratus/Stellaris.

 

[Tchoupitoulas]

this link didn't work for me and I'm really curious to see it- Donald North writes the following of the choice of 2A3 tubes for his amp

Thanks for letting me know, it's here on Donald North's website: http://www.dnaudio.com/DNA-Stratus-2A3-headphone-amplifier.html

I fixed the link above; sorry, I must have fumble-typed the ] at the end

 

[P+D-MI]

I misunderstood, I was thinking it was his choice of WHICH 2a3 tube he uses in his amp. I've been to his website. I should have looked closer at the link.

 

[vulup]

I put down a deposit for the Stratus V4 in November since I loved the Starlett and am wondering about DAC options - I currently have a Soekris dac2541 to tide me over and actually like the true-to-life and neutral approach. My goal would be more resolution, speed, better layering and imaging with the same tonality. It has good microdynamics, and I don't find it too thin, like the Soekris predecessors. Macrodynamics could be better, but I would not want a DAC that isn't true to source in that regard.

I'd love to hear of any impressions of the dac2541 with the Stratus, irrespective of version, if someone happens to have tried that combination.

Essentially, in my chain, I keep coming back to the dac2541 for the true-to-life, neutral tuning and linearity it sprinkles into the final result while wondering whether there are options with the same tuning and better technicalities that aren't completely out of budget (I would have grabbed an Empirical Audio Overdrive SX DAC + Ethernet Renderer combination a long time ago if money were no object; added a YouTube video I found below for reference).

 

[helljudgement]

I put down a deposit for the Stratus V4 in November since I loved the Starlett and am wondering about DAC options - I currently have a Soekris dac2541 to tide me over and actually like the neutral approach. My goal would be more resolution, speed, better layering and imaging with the same tonality. It has good microdynamics, and I don't find it too thin, like the Soekris predecessors. Macrodynamics could be better, but I would not want a DAC that isn't true to source in that regard.

I've had the opportunity to try a 2541 a while back on my Starlett so my memory is a bit foggy. But the one thing that stood out to me was the tonality in contrast to my bifrost. It's clean neutral-ish tone and slightly analytical nature makes it a much better match for my Starlett/ZMF combo. Certainly doesn't have the same tonal density as other r2r dacs but is noticeably cleaner sounding. At this price I can hardly fault it due to it's synergy with the Starlett.

Essentially, in my chain, I keep coming back to the dac2541 for the neutral tuning and linearity it sprinkles into the final result while wondering whether there are options with the same tuning and better technicalities that aren't completely out of budget (I would have grabbed an Empirical Audio Overdrive SX DAC + Ethernet Renderer combination a long time ago if money were no object; added a YouTube video I found below for reference).

What is your budget? Dacs I've tried that best soekris in those qualities you've stated cost many times more so it might be better for you to state your budget.

 

[vulup]

What is your budget? Dacs I've tried that best Soekris in those qualities you've stated cost many times more so it might be better for you to state your budget.

Not sure, to be honest. I would consider dropping 2-3x as much if it is the right DAC. That having been said, which ones where you thinking of?