Primaluna?

I know prima Luna build quality is pretty good, but I could never get past the looks. Just don’t care for the aesthetics.

I like the looks of my Primaluna. Self-effacing but proudly utilitarian and macho. Like something a mad scientist would have softly glowing on a metal shelf.

Happy with my PL Dialogue Four with SED Winged "C" EL34’s. Will be buying NOS signal tubes for it. It’s my first tube power amp and has been great so far. Having compared UL to Triode mode, I greatly prefer Triode. The thing is ridiculously heavy, with most of the weight coming from the transformers. Not the most inspired design aesthetically, but in a dark room all you see are the tubes glowing away. Would have liked XLR input purely out of convenience as my DAC only has balanced output, but not a deal breaker.

At the price I paid, the craftsmanship and quality of components would be hard to match. I saw the video that prompted the PL vs Raven crap show thread, and it was very obvious how much more you get for the money with the PL (not comparing sound, purely based on internals). I am in no way a brand loyalist and only own the PL because I had read positive things about them, it is a good pairing with my speakers, and one was available at a nice price. I would happily own other brands that match or better the performance and value of PL.

@facten indeed, I was just rying to get the OP to say he preferred the sound of the 805 tube rather than LM necessarily being better. Full disclosure: I own a LM805 although I havent powered it up in over a year. Its an arc welder when it comes to heat. Not LM’s fault, its the tube.

Indeed I have compared the PL to the LM in my same room. I did not compare 805’s to the common PL tubes in isolation - not sure what amp allows for that. Just offering another (better) option for the OP that is easy to bias and is in the same bracket.

Yes it puts out a lot heat, but that’s the cost of 48 watts of SET magic.