Dartzeel CTH8550

B

bobwah

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Sep 20, 2015
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Hi all,
This integrated has been around for a while now. Any owners that would like to share views.
Seems to elicit a love/hate reaction
Would be much appreciated.
Regards
 
I was considering it before switching to Ayre and auditioned it with Magico S1 Mk1 and Wilson Sophia III speakers. The result was that is sounded very nice with the Sophias, but was too thin with the Magicos. The highs are delicate, but unless you have rather high sensitivity or slightly warm colored speakers, the bass might lack some oomph.

The top Dartzeels are rated very highly, but there's a factor two to five price difference between those and the Close-To-Heaven (CTH). Hence I would not concur with Hervé's claim that it gives you 85% performance of the top line equipment for 50% of the cost (8550).

Or, well, if it does, then the top shelve Dartzeels might not deliver the bang for the buck either :).


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Thanks for the reply.

That seems the most common shortcoming (lack of bass slam/impact) mentioned of the CTH.

Having not heard them myself I can't make any judgement.

Thank you for the feedback
 
I listened to the CTH 8550 a few times. During audio shows.
I always found its sound very musical, liquid and with lots of finesse like the best tube amps.
Last time was at a dealer 's shop with 3 different speakers from Verity, Rockport and YGA.
We switched from the Nagra Classic amp to the Dart and then went back to the Nagra.
Not only the Nagra was sounding more refined and musical. It was also much more dynamic than the Dart.
Morality : we cannot judge anything until we can compare it to something else in the same system.
The Dart is a great amp. Until you can put a Nagra Classic next to it. Of course a preamp is needed then. Even with the Melody, the price tag is leveled with the Dart integrated and the sound is still much better with the Nagra.
 
Thanks for the response Jerome.

Just wondering, are you affiliated with those brands in your signature ?
 
"Affiliated" ? Do you mean if I have a financial interest in them ?
No. No interest whatsoever with any audio company.
I am an orthodontist. My income comes only from this activity.
 
Ok. Apologies as I meant no offence.
Just your list of gear was so great that was my first thought.

Ive never heard Nagra gear. It looks excellent but I am looking for a integrated solution and I probably should of said that earlier :D

Regards
 
bobwah said:
Ok. Apologies as I meant no offence.
Just your list of gear was so great that was my first thought.

Ive never heard Nagra gear. It looks excellent but I am looking for a integrated solution and I probably should of said that earlier :D

Regards
Click to expand...

No offense taken ! I was surprised because that is the first time I am being asked the question !
Nagra is releasing a Classic integrated at a price similar to the Dart.
 
Jerome W said:
No offense taken ! I was surprised because that is the first time I am being asked the question !
Nagra is releasing a Classic integrated at a price similar to the Dart.
Click to expand...


Just when I thought id narrowed down my options ;)
 
I have not heard the Diablo, but have heard Gryphons can sound a tad sharp if not treated right. That said, it comes all down to your chain, acoustics and foremost personal taste. So, you need to hear them for yourself. What others hear when the thing sits in your living room does not matter much :).

E.g. once I had a Hegel H300 for a short period of time, but I sold it rather quickly because I found the sound a tad sharp. That said, some experienced reviewers are using it as their reference component.


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bobwah,

I am "affiliated" with darTZeel, to make what you will of my opinion :)

I still think the CTH-8550 is the best integrated amp I've ever heard. It doesn't work equally well with all speakers, and it's not only a question of sensitivity. I'm yet to figure out why some speakers don't mate well with the darTZeel, while others, supposedly harder to drive, work just fine...

Anyway, I'm familiar with most of the other brands mentioned, and I consider the darTZeel above them all, in the speakers I've tried. A friend tried the NHB-108 on his Wilsons, and instead of selling the darTZeel, the sold the Wilsons :)

We currently have the CTH driving YG Sonja 1.3s in a fairly large room, and they do NOT lack bass "ooomph". Can't say the stereo NHB-108 would fare the same, though...

With the Magico Q3s, the NHB-108 was just wonderful, the best setup I've ever had at home (before I joined "the biz").

You might want to consider, depending on your speakers, the new LHC-208 integrated, with DAC+streamer. At $15k, it's quite competitively priced, and will, again, sound better (to my ears) than most of the competition at this price range. I just had it plugged into our Evolution Acoustics MMThree, and it's buttery smooth, lovely, and just as punchy as with the D'Agostino integrated amp!

If you're interested in listening to the darTZeels, let me know if I can help :)


cheers,
alex
 
Hi Alex,
Thanks for your response.

I'm definitely looking at the CTH as I have 2 dacs that I wish to use.

The LHC looks a great little unit and if I was setting up a second system with a eye to keeping things simple I would look at it along with Devialet and a few other all in ones.

Have you tried the Dartzeel with Wilson Benesch speakers by any chance?
 
I've had the Ayre VX-5 in my system, now own the Dartzeel. The Dart has a 3d quality that Ayre lacks IMO. The Dart has a simpler design, which I believe is why.
 
KeithR said:
I've had the Ayre VX-5 in my system, now own the Dartzeel. The Dart has a 3d quality that Ayre lacks IMO. The Dart has a simpler design, which I believe is why.
Click to expand...

That's now unfortunately a little apples and pears.

You really do need the Twenty versions and the appropriate pre also to be able to compare. It's a different ball game. To be fair, the 5 series Twenties pre/ power is more than double the price of the integrated Dart.


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Thanks for your input Keith.

Well judging from this thread there are mixed opinions on the Dart.

Maybe its the colour/price. I think its looks great.
 
bobwah said:
Thanks for your input Keith.

Well judging from this thread there are mixed opinions on the Dart.

Maybe its the colour/price. I think its looks great.
Click to expand...

Hi Bob,

I auditioned the Dart NHB-108 with Raidho D2 and it produced wonderful sound. The sound quality was very organic and musical and almost tube-like in its presentation. Mid-range and treble had a warm and liquid quality with no brightness or edge. Bass was robust but tended to be more rounded and not as tight or fast as my Soulution amps for example. All in all, I enjoyed the bass response and felt it matched well with the general sonic signature of the amp.

Best,
Ken
 
Alpinist said:
Hi Bob,

I auditioned the Dart NHB-108 with Raidho D2 and it produced wonderful sound. The sound quality was very organic and musical and almost tube-like in its presentation. Mid-range and treble had a warm and liquid quality with no brightness or edge. Bass was robust but tended to be more rounded and not as tight or fast as my Soulution amps for example. All in all, I enjoyed the bass response and felt it matched well with the general sonic signature of the amp.

Best,
Ken
Click to expand...

Well, Ken, are you suggesting to assess a 20 KUSD integrated based on a 40 KUSD power amp's performance, just because they are the same brand? The NHB-108 is a totally different beast from the CTH8550.
 
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