Beyond Ayre Pass and Rowland

Ricred1,
You mentioned Absolare and I’m very familiar with their sound. A good friend had the Absolare Passion Signature 845 PSET amplifiers and the Passion Signature Line Stage for 2 years driving his Rockport Altair speakers. He’s had numerous excellent amplifiers, Symphonic Line RG4 mono blocks, YTL 450, VAC Phi 300.1 etc. In my opinion the Absolare Passion is superior to all of the rest (not meant as a put down).

He now uses the Krell FPB 600 mono blocks, he feels they are more suitable for the Altair’s load impedance characteristics. Maybe so on paper and granted the bass region is very good. I do respect his decision , however as far as I am concerned, overall I’ll choose the Absolare for pure naturalness and superb musically emotional engagement.

I’ve heard Ypsilon and they’re excellent but excessively expensive. Larryi mentioned Viva and I would concur. The Viva Aurora amplifier is better sounding in my opinion than any transistor amplifier I can think of if given the appropriate speaker match. When I say better sounding I’m referring to a natural character and realism. As individual listeners we value sonic qualities and prioritize differently undoubtedly.
Charles,

Hi Larryi,
You mentioned the BaLabo a Japanese SS amplifier. I heard them at CES a few years ago and thought that they were quite good sounding. Two other excellent Japanese SS amplifiers I’ve heard are the Technical Brain and Concert Fidelity (driving the Kaiser KaweroClassic speakers). I believe all three of these are exceptionally good sounding SS amplifiers.  I find them more musically involving than say Soulution, Boulder or PASS XS. These sound drier and flatter in comparison if you know what I mean. 
Charles,

Accuphase not as good as the forementioned three Japanese brands?

Charles1dad, if I got it right, you thought that the Ypsilons were overpriced but Absolares were not.
Viva Aurora is all tube, correct? I heard that they are great.

I would put my Boulder 2060 stereo amp against anything.  I have not heard anything better thus far.  Heard constellation and it was good but it was not a direct comparison so it is tough to say.

i compared my Boulder directly to the best Cary (Cary 211fe) and the best classe (m600) over months in my own room on same system at the same time.

i would be hesitant to base opinions on Boulder based on a dealer demo especially when the auditioner has no real grasp or extensive experience with the aforementioned gear.

honestly, how are you going to give a clear impression that the sound you heard was solely due to amp sonics??

i think Boulder ranks among the best, period.  And customer service is great.  Easy to contact and they have a great facility (and brand new too!).