Well it makes sense to get best of both world, but my humble opinion,i will go for ss amp, and good tube preamp, or good tube cd player.This works for me and i heard a lot of this combinations, i like to ssimplify things, my friend we use do argue about electrostatic and dynamic speaker,the one who own the d speaker they are bias about d are betterthan the e speaker.So what i did bought dynamic speaker, CASE CLOSE, EITHER WAY I WON. FUNNY AH ?,i AM NOT TRYING TO COMPETE JUST TRYING TO BE FUNNY. tO MAke audiohobby more crazy like Sam Tellig. |
Some nice suggestions above. I would add Llano Design Trinity hybrid amp to the list. It offers extra flexibility because you can insert a wide variety of small signal tubes (takes 2) and change the overall "flavor" (and gain) of the amp significantly. Its output stage is MOSFET, which I tend to prefer over bipolars. Llano has an in-home trial offer (you order direct from the factory). I haven't heard the newer Counterpoint (or Aria) amps, but I owned an earlier Counterpoint and was always pleased with the hybrid sound. Really does give some of the liquidity and "presence" of tubes but with SS control of the speakers. Presently I own two Llano Trinity amps, used to actively biamp Maggie MG3.6's. I use the 300W amp with 12AT7 tubes for the bass, and the 200W with 12AX7 or 5751 tubes for the mids/highs. This give me the "tuning" of the amps as I mentioned above. Still, I'd love to try a Lamm someday..... |
Unison Research Unico for $1295 msrp. Review at: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/unisonresearch/unico.htmlAnother contender could be the Pathos Logos for $3995 msrp. Review at: http://www.ukd.co.uk/revs2.htm#logo |
The PS Audio HCA-2 is called a "Hybrid Class A" by manufacturer, but I am pretty sure it is not "hybrid" in terms of a tube stage (usually input) and a ss output, like Counterpoint, NYAL Moscode, Llano Trinity and some others. I think it may be "hybrid" in terms of traditional analog ss input stage and digital output stage, as the web site mentions JFET input and SDAT output. I am going to compare the Llano to McCormack 0.5 Rev A in my system sometime very soon, as I have a Llano enroute. Will post thoughts with MY system after it arrives. |
Yeah- just checked a review and it calls it a "digital switching" amplifier which has some characteristics of Class D amps and some of Class B amps. That's where, IMO, the "hybrid" comes into their marketing. But its not the same as the "hybrid" that from the context, to which, I believe, the original poster is referring. |
Here is one for your consideration: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~joeras You get a wide bandwith highly linear tube front-end and an unsual solid state output, and yes, the combination works extraordinarily well, if I may say so myself. For vinyl junkies, there is also soon a super high performance Phono Stage - unsual circuitry - available soon. And prices are very reasonable. OK, I have to include disclosure, I am the manufacturer. :-) |
