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The End-Game Solid State Amplifier Master List

Jan 14, 2024 at 8:17 AM Post #136 of 191
Bartok Apex with LCD-4 was the best sound at CanJam London for me.

I'd get divorced if I bought one, but it sounded incredible.
 
Jan 14, 2024 at 10:34 AM Post #137 of 191
Whazzzup said:
Subbed, my list violectric 550 pro in the 5g cad $ range

dcs lina hp amp in the 9 grand range

msb premier hp amp in the 15 g cad range that’s the upper limit

cfa3 Not sure how much.

there are others but must be balanced or at least offer 3 pin xlr in and 4 pin out.
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You can cross the Lina amp from your list. dCS builds great DACs, but the amp is lifeless. I heard it both at a headphone dealer and at High–End in Munich. It leaves me cold and is not engaging at all. They have a long heritage in studio AD conversion. Here, they take the studio mindset too far. Studio and home are different in my view. I want a gripping musical experience.

You might want to look at the Cen.Grand Silver Fox thread. I emotionally enjoyed what I heard in Munich, but I have a big caveat. I only spent half an hour with the amp. It might be too forward for long listening sessions.
 
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Jan 14, 2024 at 10:54 AM Post #138 of 191
musicrocks said:
You can cross the Lina amp from your list. dCS builds great DACs, but the amp is lifeless. I heard it both at a headphone dealer and at High–End in Munich. It leaves me cold and is not engaging at all. They have a long heritage in studio AD conversion. Here, they take the studio mindset too far. Studio and home are different in my view. I want a gripping musical experience.

You might want to look at the Cen.Grand Silver Fox thread. I emotionally enjoyed what I heard in Munich, but I have a big caveat. I only spent half an hour with the amp. It might be too forward for long listening sessions.
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Thx, I really liked your suggestion for cayin audio tubes amp and liked wa33 as well, but just to much furnace, and tube intimidation for me. A s/s amp that can handle any hp with some euphonics are what I’m considering. Well researching. Msb interests me cause it opens the msb dac premier up as a future consideration. But $ so consider everything…..
 
Jan 14, 2024 at 11:03 AM Post #139 of 191
Whazzzup said:
Thx, I really liked your suggestion for cayin audio tubes amp and liked wa33 as well, but just to much furnace, and tube intimidation for me. A s/s amp that can handle any hp with some euphonics are what I’m considering. Well researching. Msb interests me cause it opens the msb dac premier up as a future consideration. But $ so consider everything…..
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Thank you. 🙂

Yes, I understand. Tube rolling is new for me and the research is daunting. This letter and number soup... 😳

The Silver Fox is what I would call euphonic, without exaggerated richness. The developer seems to be into music.

MSB is a top brand with real intellectual property behind the products, like dCS. You gotta try...
 
Jan 14, 2024 at 4:21 PM Post #140 of 191
Jan 14, 2024 at 5:26 PM Post #141 of 191
dynavit said:
My endgame is a Paltauf ESD : https://paltauf.com/index.php/kopfhoererverstaerker/khv-esd
If you don't use electrostates I would recommand https://paltauf.com/index.php/kopfhoererverstaerker/hpa-100
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Your absolutely right - I have just bought an HPA-100 SP and it is simply lovely !!
Further tuned with a NOS Siemens CCa/E88CC it got even more enjoyable and drives my DCA Stealth perfectly and with ease.
Now I'm on a search for a matching DAC bringing my HP system on the next level ...
 
Jan 14, 2024 at 6:01 PM Post #142 of 191
musicrocks said:
You might want to look at the Cen.Grand Silver Fox thread. I emotionally enjoyed what I heard in Munich, but I have a big caveat. I only spent half an hour with the amp. It might be too forward for long listening sessions.
Click to expand...

musicrocks said:
The Silver Fox is what I would call euphonic, without exaggerated richness. The developer seems to be into music.
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For what it's worth, I have been listening to the Silver Fox for months now at home, with mostly my Susvara and my Abyss 1266 TC. That means I have enjoyed hours and hours of long listening sessions on this rig, and the Silver Fox is, of course, fully broken in. It is paired with my Sonnet Audio Pasithea, and on this system, I find your "big Caveat" about the system to be really unnecessary. "Euphonic, without exaggerated richness," may come closer to what I experience everyday, but I shall also add that notes from the Silver Fox are full-bodied, and yet it remains very detailed and airy up top as well, and has good staging and imaging, not to mention a rather spacious and layered presentation.

In other words, for my purposes, the Fox sings, and is as liquid and silky smooth as they come. Just adding my two cents to these data points.
 
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Jan 14, 2024 at 7:20 PM Post #143 of 191
sahmen said:
For what it's worth, I have been listening to the Silver Fox for months now at home, with mostly my Susvara and my Abyss 1266 TC. That means I have enjoyed hours and hours of long listening sessions on this rig, and the Silver Fox is, of course, fully broken in. It is paired with my Sonnet Audio Pasithea, and on this system, I find your "big Caveat" about the system to be really unnecessary. "Euphonic, without exaggerated richness," may come closer to what I experience everyday, but I shall also add that notes from the Silver Fox are full-bodied, and yet it remains very detailed and airy up top as well, and has good staging and imaging, not to mention a rather spacious and layered presentation.

In other words, for my purposes, the Fox sings, and is as liquid and silky smooth as they come. Just adding my two cents to these data points.
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See, this is the thing here on head-fi. People get offended far too easily when it comes to their treasured systems. And now I am taking offence. You have no reference point whatsoever on what constitutes ‘forward’ in my ears. So the caveat stands from my side.
 
Jan 14, 2024 at 8:22 PM Post #145 of 191
musicrocks said:
See, this is the thing here on head-fi. People get offended far too easily when it comes to their treasured systems. And now I am taking offence. You have no reference point whatsoever on what constitutes ‘forward’ in my ears. So the caveat stands from my side.
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You're right about a lack of a reference point for what you're calling "too forward for long listening sessions." My response was simply meant to indicate that I have had days and hours of such "long listening sessions" on the Silver Fox without experiencing anything unpleasant in the soundscape. I thought you would find that information useful as a theoretical data point, because from your own admission, you only had half an hour to listen to the unit...

Now that you mention it, I realize I might have misunderstood what you mean by "too forward." Apologies for that, but I'd appreciate a clarification since I still do not know what you mean. At any rate, I generally find such issues with "reference points" to be quite common and frequent in discussions involving audio terminologies, even after the appearance of several useful glossaries, so I personally do not find them too surprising or scandalizing...

What I can tell you for sure is that I took no offense at your earlier statement, as I understood the "big caveat" on the exact terms of the explicitly stated--less than ideal--conditions under which you auditioned the Fox, nor was my response meant to cause any offense... although I realize now that parts of it might have come across as being a little "overcooked," so to speak, and if I might say so myself.

Had i actually taken any offense, you would not even have heard from me at all, since I simply do not respond to any posts that I consider to be really "offensive" here on head-fi, or elsewhere--on other internet forums. That said, I am detecting a potential misunderstanding here involving another common "reference point," and the irony is already bringing a sad smile to my face, so I shall say good bye for now and retire this entire mini-discussion if it's okay with you. Have a pleasant evening, wherever you are.
 
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Jan 15, 2024 at 2:22 PM Post #146 of 191
Folk Singer said:
Your absolutely right - I have just bought an HPA-100 SP and it is simply lovely !!
Further tuned with a NOS Siemens CCa/E88CC it got even more enjoyable and drives my DCA Stealth perfectly and with ease.
Now I'm on a search for a matching DAC bringing my HP system on the next level ...
Click to expand...
Interesting to hear about the HPA/100 SP of which musicalhead wrote a positive review about. What have you used before and which DAC are you looking to replace?
 
Jan 15, 2024 at 2:26 PM Post #147 of 191
akgb said:
I'd also list the Luxman 750u mkII it's a noticeable step up over the OG 750u
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The OG 750u is listed but anyway I could see a mkll on ebay but nothing on the Luxman site or 3 EU retailers I looked up. Is that an existing model? When released? do you have it? Just heard it sometime?
 
Jan 15, 2024 at 4:30 PM Post #149 of 191
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