ARC VSI 60 vs Cary SLI 80 or BAT 300xse

04-17-15: Goldprintaudio
I would hope that the VSI75 would sound a little better then the Cary.....ITS TWICE THE PRICE! $9000 versus $4500
Goldprintaudio

Well you would hope but that isn't always the case unfortunately.

Just an update since this thread came back to life. I ended up having the Cary, ARC and BAT all in house for about 2 months. In the end I settled with the ARC VSI-60. I think system dependent, they are all great amps. The ARC was just the best match for the Vandersteen Treo speakers. In the end it took a change of speakers and amp to achieve what I was looking for.

What did you think of the BAT? I'm just curious. I'm not saying you made a bad choice or anything like that.

I would think the ARC would be the best choice for Vandersteen speakers. Since Vandersteen can be a bit darker sounding, and Cary and BAT can also be darker sounding, the resolution of the ARC would probably work out best to balance the system.
Enjoy the music.

I have personally owned the cary sli-80 and loved it to death. I had a chance to listen to the new reference 75 from ARC. Which is a power amp version of the ARC VSI 60 or very similar. I personally preferred my sli-80 over the reference 75 which I believed sounds worse then my sli-80 in triode mode. I say try playing with some kt-120 tubes in your little cary. It just might be as comparable or sound better even before you spend money on the ARC VSI 60. Im also sure the sli-80 would be able to run with kt-150 tubes! Though check with cary before purchasing them.