Joel, thanks for your great post, love to read about actual real-world experience in an impressions thread.
I got the Stratus and the EC Zana Deux at the same time with the intention of shooting them out. I haven't had much actual listening time with the ZD however because the Stratus is just killing it. Current load out is Western Electric 422A grey plate rectifier, Russian 6N1P-EV driver, matched Shuguang Nature Sound 2A3C-T powers. I also have a NOS GEC 5U4G brown base that I've had maybe 5 hours listening time on.
I already loved the HD800s with good solid state amps (Ragnarok, GSX MkII) but the Stratus just makes it that much better. It rounds off the rougher edges while maintaining the detail and speed, adds a touch of warmth without any bloom or muddiness, generally seems to enhance everything without artificially adding too much. Absolutely my current go-to combination. I’m also finding this tube combo has great sound for the HE-6 (balanced) even though Donald thinks the EML meshes might do better. Seems to have plenty of punch for me. My only conflict so far is the Fostex TH900 which seemed too bloomy in the bass using the GEC tube. Need to listen to that some more, it might have been just a one off with the track. (For reference most of my listening is 70s rock & progressive, electronica, dubstep, female vocals.)
My SS amp & most of my headphones are balanced so the balanced outs on the Stratus make it very easy to switch cans back and forth. I enjoy the entire A-B process so that's a huge bonus over the ZD, never mind the power increase which I almost consider a requirement now.
I would have preferred balanced inputs to the Stratus. That would let me A-B amps from the same DAC & output easily. Plus, when you pay for a fully balanced DAC you psychologically just want to use that. Donald makes a good case as to why balanced-in is not required for balanced-out & why simpler is better, but the balanced-in option would be great when you have a DAC with perceived better balanced-output quality. Or just for nutcases with $$. (Donald, I would rather give the cash to you than EML! Is this an available option?)
And all that said: I would never miss out on listening to this amp daily just because I didn’t get my favorite flavor of inputs.
Very interested in rolling with this amp. 6N1Ps & 6BQ7A are dirt cheap so an obvious place to start. Several EBay sellers seem to have smorgasbord packs of old stock available for a cheap fix. 5U4G singletons are somewhat expensive, I am using Dubstep’s 5U4G thread as a guide to get started there obviously. But prices on matched power tubes seem slightly insane (esp. those EMLs!).
The Stratus and ZD are the first tube amps I've owned and I'm clearly still in the honeymoon phase so my comments should be taken with grain of salt. However, took this to the last Chicago meet and it generally got raves from everyone there as well.
