Don’t we know Paul and certain kind of statements well enough to take them temporarily and as a matter of reason 
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I’m not only an OCD audiophile, but a paranoid one as well.
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To be honest I never saw a tube product like that. For me (and it seems also for the developers) there was always an optimal tube (or several similar). Certainly one can always play around to his taste, but it won’t be good throughout then. I more or less saw a tube unit as a whole with the recommended tubes and the advantages of tubes were different than the swapping option for me.
Fair enough - though when you write, “tube product” are you thinking more in terms of a fully analog, Class A tube device, vs. a present-day Class D/tube hybrid such as this? A single AU7 on the front?
This seems a different animal to me than my ARC pre, which I would tend not to mess with, in terms of their recommended tube compliment.
Class D? Meh…
Ooooh…“elitism”*
- speed-racer, responding to badbeef the other day
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Well, then…you know what you have to do…
Why avoid tube roling? There are scores of great NOS tubes available. If they are going to use the 12AU7’s, then there a many NOS tubes available on the market. Manufacturers use current production tubes for consistency in development and and consistency of delivered product.
No, I didn’t differentiate…but I don’t know what might be different in the use of a tube within that Stellar design…I assumed it has a certain technical reason it’s superior to a transistor design at that point (just like in the BHK‘s) and is not implemented to tweak sound or tonality.
Well the sense I have is that putting a single tube on the front end is a bit different than a lot of more majorly tube-based designs. After all, Darren had BHK’s work as a precedent, and BHK is a friend and mentor to Darren.
People seem to roll the PS Vane in his stuff to personal/system positive effect. As someone who was raised Catholic, and often accused of being “catholic” in my tastes, I’m not sure what is to be gained by being so in this context.
Freakishly, tubes can be very linear.
I’m sure it will sound great. If you’re worried about it sounding better than your BHK, get it on trial and send the loser back. Either way, you’ve got an amp that has upgraded/honored your music collection.
It’s all about the music!!!
!
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Another note or two that I’d make is that, with respect to the foundation most Class D amps are built on, they have a tendency to not be particularly concerned about the quality of the device the signal sees at the analog input.
And the difference between a good digital device and a Really Good digital device is the analog stage (assuming it is not purely digital).
Hardly. I have yet to hear a Class D setup that I can listen to for hours on end like I can with Class A or Class A/B. I get headaches with Class D after a while that I never get with Class A or Class A/B. Right up until I get the headache, the higher quality Class D amps sounds great.
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I can’t be the only person here who thrills at adding another thing speed-racer doesn’t like to the list!!! Joy!
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I absolutely feel that.
I certainly can’t say if these will be any different for you in your system. Frankly not sure why Class A/AB fans would even consider them, unless you are a Gear Slut like me, and want to be on the bleedin’ edge. Only one way to find out.
They are different topologies, and have different strengths. Certainly I would miss some things an A amp does. All I can say is that I miss whatever the heck it is that the M1200 Alphas did in my system, despite the fact that I am currently using a Vitus stereo A/B amp that retailed for 2x the retail cost of a Pair of these.
I’ve gotten burned out on swapping/comparing stuff (couldn’t be a Reviewer in good conscience, as I can only sustain that mode for limited periods), but I am going to do some swaps to try to figure out if it is just that I don’t like the Vitus or the ARC pre in my “A” system. or if there is some other unknown affecting things.
Lots of Stuff has changed over the past year, and whatever one’s “reference” is (or references are) has to settle into being that over time…or not, it seems to me. Otherwise, you’re just temporally comparing This and That, which is sorta meaningless in the Grand Scheme of things.
My two cents however, would be that, were I a betting man, I wouldn’t bet against Darren at this point.
It’s not a BHK. Impressive as the M1200 is—and it’s friking impressive—as soon as the BHK lights up you understand the differences. Not to take away from the M1200 because as a standalone amp pair, I still haven’t heard many that come close.
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Again, definitely not a BHK. That said, M1200 is blinking amazing. Mark (aka Bad Beef) has heard it. He knows how good it is.
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These NC1200 units have already produced some very highly regarded amplifiers, with or without tubes, like these. The tech just seems to get better and better.
So whether a dual mono or pair of mono’s, the going rate is going to be $3,000.
I do wonder about a $20,000 phono amp. I don’t doubt the ability of PSA to make one. I was at my dealer recently for a demo and he told me his average turntable set-up sale value was about $40,000, and most manufacturers at that level you are looking at a turntable, tonearm and phono amp combination, and surely at that price point no one is going to buy a phono amp online without a proper demonstration at a dealer with the turntable of choice, especially from a manufacturer that does not make turntables. I hope I’m wrong. I was listening to the Brinkman Edison II tube phono amp ($14,000) with the tube power supply ($5,000), so a total of $19,000, the source being the Brinkman Balance and tonearm and power supply and a Lyra cart and SUT (about $60,000 all told). The whole thing was gob-smacking delicious.
Dude, these are not Hypex units.
Never mind the BHK Phono paragraph.
Just to put Class D in some perspective, a friend of mine got the Levinson Class D amps with the Levinson Flagship Preamp. He was elated initially. Then after close listening for two weeks, he sent them back. My point is, it’s all in the details and I think that Paul and Company have sorted Class D out. I for one would like to hear them against my BHK 300’s. There’s always personal preference and then there’s the sound.
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