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Vincent SV236MK Dry and bright?

I have read so much positives about this hybrid amplifier that I am kind of surprised when I heard it.

I am in the process of creating an affordable system that serves music well and is at least acceptable in audiophile terms. (Just sold my quite more expensive system)

I just added this Vincent amplifier and am surprised by its sound.
It definitely does some things very well for its price point, good detail, quite crisp, and nice flow and pace.

But I find it to sound so damn dry at times, and although it does have some tubelike warmth it also sounds quite bright.
Shifting a lot of music into not enjoyable for me.
I already replaced the stock tubes with Sovtek 12ax7lps, which helped some but not enough.

Does anyone have the same experience with this model?

At the moment I am experimenting with Sonus Faber Liuto monitor and Rega Dac.

I must add the new tubes have only about 20 hours on them and the Rega DAC about 60 hours.
But although I do believe in some break in effects, I have never experienced a system transforming to enjoyable from the other side.
(Not that I can't completely enjoy this system, but you get my point)

I can tame at least the brightness with speaker positioning in this setup, tilting etc.
But only when part of the brilliance of the airiness and stage is gone I succeed. A trait I am not willing to make.
And even than the highs continue to sound dry.

Any experience with this amp would be appreciated!
Thanks in advance.
barto
barto OP
52 posts
 
Okay, thanks everyone it is solved!

Who would have thought....the last suspect I did not completely question.
I tried all power cable combinations but the one that was completely without the HiDiamond.
Tried it on DAC and amp, dryness still there.
Removed it complety and so much fell into place. Here I was thinking the Diamond was so all round it should work in virtually all systems:) Audio has a non-ending learning curve.

I am very glad, this system was burning with potential, and everything is coming out now. A little re-positioning to shift the balance to optimal and I am done for some time.

And man do those Liuto's do away with the old Sonus Faber bias, they sound bold, big and powerful, but still in a controlled way.
Only when you put on some romantic of relaxed music peace their Sonus roots are recognisable.

Thanks to all!
almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Glad the problem appears to have been resolved. It's strange, though, that the HiDiamond power cord apparently had the same effect on the system regardless of whether it was being used with the DAC or with the integrated amp.

Just guessing, but perhaps high frequency noise was being introduced into the DAC as a result of a ground loop between the two components (the power cord would be in that loop regardless of which of the two components it was connected to), which in turn was contributing to jitter at the point of D/A conversion, which in turn could very conceivably manifest itself as dryness and brightness. And that might still be occurring, although to a lesser degree following the power cord substitution.

An interesting experiment might be to temporarily use a cheater plug to defeat the AC safety ground connection on the DAC's power plug, thereby breaking any ground loops involving the DAC, and to try that using both the HiDiamond cord and whatever cord is presently in place. A cheater plug shouldn't be used permanently IMO, for safety reasons, but might shed some light on what is going on, and might reveal the potential for further improvement.

Ground loop issues involving the DAC and the amp would also be sensitive to the characteristics of the interconnects that are connecting them, by the way.

Regards,
-- Al
mjmch2003
243 posts
 
Funny about the power-cable fix, I keep an old, 1M run of PS Audio Xstream Statement SC laying around for exactly this reason.
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