Thoughts on the First Watt SIT Amps

Dave_72, Mdeblanc was asking about FW SIT amps not the J2.

cobra213 "I’m going to make it a point to hear the SIT-1 monoblocks with a DHT preamp in front of it. I have listened to DHT preamps and have heard the SIT-2, but have not heard the two sequenced together. I’ll give Srajan benefit of doubt, and I do believe the adjustable bias monoblocks will get closer to being musically convincing than the SIT-2 regardless of what’s in front of it."

"I still want to hear SIT-1s driven by a DHT preamp, to hear whether Srajan’s postulate about the leap in results is true for me. But this was one step further in gaining experience with these amps."

213cobra, much time has gone on, yet has anyone followed up on Srajan’s example? As I do not believe he would have sold off the remainder of his once treasured DHT power amps in favor of the first watt SIT-1s if not for what the compo had accomplished. 

I have to say my Firstwatt F7 sounds amazing with the Manley Shrimp preamp, into 88db Gallo 3.1s, highly recommended! Listen to Nelson's latest creation if at all possible.

Good day all,

  I have had the First Watt SIT2 since 2013. The amp gets played every day for at least 8 hours. It has been driven with an Audiopax Model 5 (the original and the latest incarnation) and a DIY White Cathode Follower OTL tube pre.

  In every case and with all music it has bested any of my previous amps to include, Mac, Quad, First Watt F1J, F2J and F4, various 300B (SET), Leben CX300XS, Yamamoto 0A-11, and 0-8s, Transcendent SE OTL, and others of lesser fare. Sometimes not by much, but always better.

  The SIT drives a pair of 15" co-axial 100dB speakers in a 15X30 living room and has had many different DAC, CD players and transports, VPI vinyl setup and separate phone pre. As the chain gets better, so does the SIT.

  Quite by accident (because I was feeling lazy) while I was changing the equipment and positions in the rack, I decided to temporarily hook my DAC (Audio GD NFB-7 2015 fed through an AP1/PP (latest edition) from a Mac Mini and JRiver) directly to the SIT using the AP1 volume dither. 

 At low to normal listening levels, I have never heard any amp, at any price present music as well as this combination. The purity is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Whatever is in front of the SIT (given synergistic speakers) is what you are going to hear. If you have a great front end and hi ef speakers, you would need to go a long way to best the SIT amps. 

I returned the SIT-2 and got back my First Watt M2 amp, which was/is really quiet. I was a little bummed-out because the SIT-2 was dead all the same when I first received it is an absolutely fantastic unique sounding amp. The First Watt M2 is really stuffy and has a couple of advantages.