[Inoculator]

I am about to pull the trigger on a Bliss to pair with my May, as I previously used the Serene as my preamp and regret selling it. I have a very nice passive preamp now that I replaced the Serene with, but the Serene just brought some intangibles to my chain that I am finding myself missing. Like some of the life has been sucked out of my system since I sold it. Plus, I found the Serene for headphone usage to be one of the better solid-state headamps I have heard, rivaling my time owning a 3F.

That all being said, I am still a bit hung up on if I will regret going the Bliss over the Serene as I would say 90% of my use case will be as a preamp ahead of my Line Magnetic LM805ia. I really am a two-channel guy these days and my headphones get used seldomly, but whether going for the Bliss or the Serene it will also be replacing my dedicated headamp in my chain and using it for headphone duty. Currently I just have a variety of Sennheisers (580, 600, 650, 800), but I recently installed an Enleum AMP-23r into my living room, which has me thinking about going down the TOTL planar rabbit hole, hence thinking the Bliss may be the way to go for my office/nearfield/reference system.

For those that have owned or own both, any additional insight on the Bliss vs the Serene for two-channel preamp usage? I realize there probably is not much more to say than what has already been covered in this thread, but can't help but check-in one more time before I hit the order button. If possible to comment on the types of differences observed in that 20%-ish preamp usage performance gap people have referenced would be appreciated.

 

[BobWrights]

Wow. That's interesting.
I ordered my Bliss last weekend. Now I wait. Ugh.

I ordered mine three weeks ago. Still eagerly awaiting the email that it has been shipped.

 

[SteveM324]

I ordered mine three weeks ago. Still eagerly awaiting the email that it has been shipped.

I ordered mine before you and I'm still waiting.

 

[SteveM324]

I am about to pull the trigger on a Bliss to pair with my May, as I previously used the Serene as my preamp and regret selling it. I have a very nice passive preamp now that I replaced the Serene with, but the Serene just brought some intangibles to my chain that I am finding myself missing. Like some of the life has been sucked out of my system since I sold it. Plus, I found the Serene for headphone usage to be one of the better solid-state headamps I have heard, rivaling my time owning a 3F.

That all being said, I am still a bit hung up on if I will regret going the Bliss over the Serene as I would say 90% of my use case will be as a preamp ahead of my Line Magnetic LM805ia. I really am a two-channel guy these days and my headphones get used seldomly, but whether going for the Bliss or the Serene it will also be replacing my dedicated headamp in my chain and using it for headphone duty. Currently I just have a variety of Sennheisers (580, 600, 650, 800), but I recently installed an Enleum AMP-23r into my living room, which has me thinking about going down the TOTL planar rabbit hole, hence thinking the Bliss may be the way to go for my office/nearfield/reference system.

For those that have owned or own both, any additional insight on the Bliss vs the Serene for two-channel preamp usage? I realize there probably is not much more to say than what has already been covered in this thread, but can't help but check-in one more time before I hit the order button. If possible to comment on the types of differences observed in that 20%-ish preamp usage performance gap people have referenced would be appreciated.

I was in the same boat as you. I'm mainly a 2 channel speaker guy that also happens to have a lot of headphones and headphone amps. I have 2 speaker based systems with headphone amps integrated into each system. I have a Serene KTE preamp in one of the systems and I love it. In my system, the Serene outperformed 2 much more expensive preamps, the McIntosh C2600 and Linear Tube Audio Microzotl Reference preamp. I liked the Serene so much that I ordered another one for my 2nd system.

In the mean time I changed my speaker amp in the 2nd system to a low power and low gain First Watt F7 to drive my Klipsch Cornwall IV speakers. I tried my Serene with the FW F7 and it sounded great with my Holo May KTE DAC. However, when I play records, I found that I was almost maxing out the volume control to get my system to play really loud. The Serene only has +6dB of gain and I was within 2 or 3 clicks of maxing it out while playing vinyl. Digital playback was no problem with the high balanced output of the May KTE. After this trial, I decided to change my order from the Serene KTE to the Bliss KTE because it has 6dB more gain. I may be giving up a little performance as a preamp but that is no longer a priority because my current tube preamp sounds great with my new F7 amp. I also have an Enleum 23R that I was using to drive the Klipsch CWIV and it did a great job but I like the F7 even better. So now I'm just waiting for the Bliss to arrive.

If I like the Bliss more than my current tube preamp, then I could sell it, If I like the Bliss better than the 23R I may sell it too. If neither occurs, I'll still have another great headphone amp to choose from when I listen to headphones.

 

[orrman]

current tube preamp sounds great

is that a WA23 or something else?

 

[SteveM324]

is that a WA23 or something else?

My WA23 is in my other system. I haven't tried the WA23 as a preamp in the 2nd system. I did try it in the main system as a preamp and it was very good but I slightly prefer the Serene KTE. I liked the WA23 as a preamp better than the LTA Microzotl Reference preamp that I returned and the McIntosh C2600 that I sold a few months ago. If I try the WA23 as preamp in my 2nd system I would have to get adapters because its preamp output is XLR and my First Watt F7 only has RCA inputs. My other tube preamp is an Audio By Van Alstine FET Valve CF with NOS Mullard and Brimar tubes.

 

[FOUNDERZERO]

I ordered mine three weeks ago. Still eagerly awaiting the email that it has been shipped.

It'll be five weeks for me tomorrow. I'm expecting a shipping notification either this week or next.

 

[Relaxasaurus]

I need to sell some stuff before I order one of these puppies. Taking into account all the comments above regarding wait times I should do it soon though- I have a feeling sales are going to pop once @GoldenOne completes his review.

 

[devilboy]

I may have missed it on the website but the bliss is class A, correct? And if so, how many watts is it in class A to?

 

[obzilla]

 

[devilboy]

Yes, I know it's 12 watts into 32 ohms and probably six watts into 64 which is close to the Susvara but my question was is it class A.

 

[obzilla]

Yes, I know it's 12 watts into 32 ohms and probably six watts into 64 which is close to the Susvara but my question was is it class A.

Sorry, misread you. I can't gleam from the site either, no mention of class there, was sure I had read somewhere that it was.

 

[devilboy]

Sorry, misread you. I can't gleam from the site either, no mention of class there, was sure I had read somewhere that it was.

No worries. I'm reading on other forums that people are stating that it is class A. Full class A at 12 watts into 32 ohms.
Jesus!

 

[OneEyedHito]

No worries. I'm reading on other forums that people are stating that it is class A. Full class A at 12 watts into 32 ohms.
Jesus!

It is all Class A

 

[obzilla]

No worries. I'm reading on other forums that people are stating that it is class A. Full class A at 12 watts into 32 ohms.
Jesus!

yeah, spicy AF