Best Pure Musical Amplifiers (power not important)

Big B said:
Big change for me was to move up to A Boulder. I was surprised and happy with my Job225.
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I still miss my Job amplifier. The main reason I got rid of mine was that it was only single ended (RCA) inputs and I really wanted to stay with Balanced (XLR) as much as possible. I really wish that Goldmund still offered the Job lineup.
 
I recently made a switch that I had never anticipated, moving from a very good 300B SET to a Rowland model 10 on my Odeon La Bohemes. I made the move thinking that a high-grade SS amp might provide better punch and high frequency response to accommodate my spouse’s deteriorating hearing. You can imagine my surprise when I found the Rowland to be preferable in nearly every way, giving up only a (very) slight edge on female vocals. At low volume levels especially, the Rowland is clearly better.

Curiouser and curiouser yet.
 
Its the added power without clipping , making the difference.

Once you got away from the 300B higher distortion at clipping it made for more dynamics and clearer music reproduction at the same SPL ..!
 
2FarGone said:
I recently made a switch that I had never anticipated, moving from a very good 300B SET to a Rowland model 10 on my Odeon La Bohemes. I made the move thinking that a high-grade SS amp might provide better punch and high frequency response to accommodate my spouse’s deteriorating hearing. You can imagine my surprise when I found the Rowland to be preferable in nearly every way, giving up only a (very) slight edge on female vocals. At low volume levels especially, the Rowland is clearly better.

Curiouser and curiouser yet.
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Rowland makes nice stuff for sure.
 
I auditioned an Orpheus Labs integrated yesterday. I was floored by the sound. Rather than make a swap and add to my rig, I've decided to sell everything and add what I heard yesterday. Canton Ref 7 and Linn turntable. It'll also be a lot easier for my wife to use which is a plus.
 
I really like my Pass Labs XA-100.5s. That being said, they are pretty old, so I'm going to audition, in my system, some Audionet MAXs. I've heard them in a good friend's system and they blew me away.
 
a.wayne said:
Its the added power without clipping , making the difference.

Once you got away from the 300B higher distortion at clipping it made for more dynamics and clearer music reproduction at the same SPL ..!
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While that may well be true, it should also probably be noted that the Rowland had the upgraded power supplies installed, which puts it at nearly twice the retail cost of the KR Audio Antares SET I had been using. My Odeons are 96 dB sensitive, so the 12 wpch output of the Antares seemed more than adequate - I never played it loud enough for clipping to raise its ugly head. It’s actually kind of nice to know that I have a highly capable backup amp sitting in the closet. I do recognize the effortless power contribution the Rowland offers, though. It would be hard to miss for anyone with a trained ear.

Realistically, especially on vinyl the Antares created an amazingly holographic sound field. Had it not been for my wife’s hearing issues, I never would’ve gone looking for an alternative. It just amazed me that after having an all tube system with which I was quite enamored, changing to a sand amp left me quite happy. I never expected that to happen.

For reference, the rest of the system is a Von Gaylord LAD-L2 6SN7 based preamp, a PS Audio Directstream DAC, the La Bohemes obviously and a pair of SVS SB-4000 subs. The analogue side is an EAT C-Major with an Ortofon Quintet Blue MC cart into an Icon PS 1 MK 2 tube phono stage. The entire wiring loom is Synergistic Research, nearly all with active noise shielding, and the critical stuff is Tesla Precision Reference. I’m still looking for one more set of the Teslas for the phono stage. Right now I’m running Looking Glass at that location. It’s still damn good.

That Rowland is definitely better than I expected. I thought that I’d be making a sacrifice, but it turned out not to be the case..
 
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