D'Agostino vs. Ayre

Its probably been close to 20 years now, back when you could actually walk into an audio salon in any major city and listen to a variety of equipment. I remember listening to a pair of B&W 801 Nautilus, a known difficult load at the time, the speaker with the big 15" woofer. I brought a handful of CDs with me and had my amp of choice in the back of my SUV.  I liked what I heard, so I asked if we could listen with my amp. We disconnected a big pair of mono amps and substituted mine. After a listen, the salesman said "That's quite a powerhouse of a little amp there". The amp was a Krell KSA-150. So D'Agostino and I have a little history. Super Stoked to hear the S-250.

The D'Agostino S-250 showed up last night. Finally, after a couple of delays. What a Gorgeous hunk of audio jewellery with a touch of Steampunk. Ayre comparison coming soon.

Congratulations Mr Goodtools. You now have some truly great amps to audition with your Alexias. Not that I want to prejudice your judgement but I suspect I know how the audition will proceed. Happy listening to you. At this stage it's personal preference and you simply can't go wrong. Unless you disagree with my infallible opinion!🎶😎

@tomic601 
Sorry for not responding, but I am in my busy season. I really am a gardener.
 I have don't have the CT Treo's, just the plain vanilla ones (from ctsooner). Moving from my DNA-1 with gold upgrades/RLD-1 to the Atma MA-1/MP-3 was like having a veil lifted. As I told Ralph, neither I nor my partner thought it could get any better, but it did- and quite significantly, and for the better in all manner. Like: Wow!
@Mrgoodtools,
I suspect your D'ag amps will give you as much pleasure as the Atma's.
Maybe a little differently, but in a good way. 
My DNA-1 is at SMc Audio for an upgrade to monoblocks (I bought a second amp). Steve and Pat know what they are up against and are accepting the challenge-Tube vs. SS. I,too, hope to find out.
@khrys , how do you get emoticons? My reply box doesn't offer it.
Bob

I've spent a good portion of the past 5 days listening and swapping the D'Agostino S-250 with Ayre MX-R Twenties in my system. The following is what I hear. 

The associated system is a Berkeley Alpha Reference 2 processor feeding the amps directly or thru an Ayre KX-R Twenty preamp. Interconnects are Audioquest WEL Signature or Synergistic Research Element CTS. Speakers driven are Wilson Alexia's and cables are Synergistic Research Galileo LE.

First let me say the Ayre and D'Agostino amps are more similar than different. They are more similar than Audio Research, Pass Labs, Atma Sphere, Krell, all of which I've heard in my system. So their differences are quite small. That said, they are not the same, but differ throughout their presentation.

In the bass, the D'Agostino amp is both meaty and exercises control in the low frequencies. The Ayre is a little more resonant and wooly. Advantage D'Agostino.

In the essential mids, the Ayre amps give an illusion of speed and clarity. The S-250 is richer and fuller. The Ayre images clearly interact within the speaker plane. The D'Agostino amp engulfs the listening arena. My wife made a solid comment. She said the S-250 is rich without being murky.

In the highs, I thought piano thru the Ayre's was the best solid state treble I'd heard. Until I heard the D'Agostino. Its richness extends into the highs with a purity and wholeness. 

One system concern with the highs. The Wilson speaker does not accentuate the highs and neither does the S-250. Combine that with the Spectacular Galileo LE's which also tip toward darkness, and the highs sounded a little subdued. I substituted a set of 7.9 ohm tweeter resistors for the stock 9 ohm set, which should increase the tweeter output by about .5-.6 db. Perfect. The sparkle in the highs returned with flawless integration with the mids.

When I think Ayre, I think clarity, speed, resolution. When I think D'Agostino, I think musical integration. 

So, the verdict, to me, in my system, is that I prefer the harmonic richness and overall musicality of the D'Agostino S-250. I also found no channel separation issues that would make me wish for mono amplifiers.

One negative of the S-250 being a stereo amplifier, is the lack of space on the rear to accommodate large, thick audiophile cables, interconnects, and a power cord. I made it work, but it wasn't easy.