Doge 9 listening experience...

Thinman:
I own a pair of Magnepan 3.6 and use a Doge 8 with a Bryston 14B ST. I am thinking of going the Doge 9 route as I absolutely love the Doge 8. You mentioned you did not like the Maggie's / Doge 9 combination. Can you expand on that?

Cheers,

I can't understand the interest in esoteric entities, when so many proven companies are there for your coins? Service, longevity, Support????

Price Stringreen, it's really price. If one has champagne taste and a ......... what do you do? When it comes time to service will be the time that love can turn into anxiety and even worse. But then again maybe these units are very well built and actually represent good value, time will tell. I've been tempted to try but personal principle more than price always wins out. I'd rather support North American companies whenever possible.

The Doge 8 preamplifier I purchased cost me $1399 in U.S. Dollars or about $1800 Canadian. However, it blows away the bryston BP-25 I was using and is much better than other preamps I have used or heard including anything by Sonic Frontiers and the Mcintosh C2500 I was considering. The C2500 price I was quoted was $7500 Cdn. The Doge 8 weighs over 30 pounds, looks great, is very well built and - as many have stated - sounds fantastic for a fraction of the cost of a C2500. In my opinion, the Doge 8 sounds much better.

There are many great amps out there but they are not cheap. VTL, ARC and Lamm make some great tube amps but the cost approaches $20K! Are they that much better that I want to drop that kind of money? I am very impressed with my Doge 8 preamp and I am sure I will be impressed with the Doge 9 amps if I get a chance to buy or listen to them.

And also people always trot out the silly "you'll be sorry when it needs service" comments. In fact any decent tech can work on any brand. There is not much that is groundbreaking in tube devices. Ss on the other hand can be different. Another reason to buy glass not sand.