DarTZeels for sale


DarTZeel power amplifier and recently the DarTZeel preamplifier are becoming two "cult" units within the world of audiophiles. I suppose there aren't many units sold because of the steep prices. So I wonder why there are a few DarTZeel units for sale in the used market within short period, not only the well known NHB-108 power amplifier but also the less well known and quite rare NHB-18NS preamplifier. Are those DarTZeel owners looking for other "flavour", for example tube amplfiers? Have they bought their DarTZeel unit(s) only for some extended home audition? Have they replaced their speakers with some hard to drive ones that require lots of power (that the DarTZeel could not deliver)?
PS: I've always thought DarTZeel buyers were people who want to keep their amps for life.

Chris
dazzdax
some early adapters on many new brands turn around and sell them once they miss what they had, or desire to move on.
My take on this is the following:

One, anyone who can afford the DarTZeel products has money, and lots of it. (And that is a good thing in my book. And yes, I wish I had more of it too!) People who have lots of money can afford to buy and sell equipment until they get (in their mind) the perfect sound. Or, they can afford to think of the buying and selling (and the auditioning of equipment) as their hobby. Hence one of the reasons why people who can afford to buy DarTZeel equipment can also afford to take the monetary loss when selling them.

Two, the DarTZeel amp (I've never heard the preamp, so I can't comment on that) is a wonderful amp. It has some of the best imaging and soundstaging characteristics that I've ever heard. (The mid-range is fantastic, especially for a solid state amp, and the treble is nearly as good.) However, it is a stereo amp, (rather than being a monoblock design), and it has somewhat limited power (@ 100 wpc), and therefore, it can run out of power driving inefficient speakers. Therefore people have tried it with the hope that it would work for them, and when they found that it didn't quite work, they sold it.

I would not read too much into the selling of even the best equipment. There are always people with lots of money around who like to experiment. Sometimes they buy the different units just to prove to themselves that what they already own is better than anything else out there.

My two cents worth anyway.
Good points Kurt Tank,here's maybe another:
Dartzeel is about to release an intergrated piece for those that might want a smaller footprint and at a lower price.

There are also plans for a monoblock at a higher power rating so these might add to the recent posts.
Azjake
You're both right. If some relatively new and exclusive audio product is being sold at Audiogon as a used item it always give a feeling of uneasiness. It can implicate that the product is flawed or that it's dependability is questionable or that there is bad support from the distributor, and so on (although that might be not the case). It certainly has negative impact on the "image" of a certain product and/or company.

Chris
The answer to your question is quite simple, there are some other Swiss made competitors which outpeforms Dartzeel very easily, that could be the reason why they all want to sell the Dartzeel amplifiers
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