Hi everybody,
I have now rolled three SET 300B amplifiers with some of the best NOS tubes available, along with the Triode Lab 2A3s-MK2, and have come to the conclusion, based of course on my personal preferences, that I have heard nothing better on the DI's then the 2A3 amplifier being driven by the Micro-ZOTL. If you other guys that love the LTA Micro-ZOTL driving the DI's directly heard this combo I have a hunch you would be totally enchanted, indeed! You get all of what the Micro-ZOTL has to offer with more beautiful tonality/timbres and the best 3D meat on the bone imaging but it never sounds like great HiFi, it sounds like real music. It draws you into the emotion of the music and lets you more often suspend the experience that you are listening to a stereo system. I made one change upstream with putting a pair of NOS Brimar (6060) yellow T decal 12AT7 in the Micro-ZOTL, and the change was a shift to a higher level across the total spectrum. The SET 300B amplifiers were all great sounding too, however, they just did not sound as natural to me as the 2A3 amp.
I wish the individuals who are experienced with high power SS amplifiers on the DI's could spend some time with a SET amplifier, they might find it very hard to go back to their SS gear.
Instead of writing individual reviews on these different amps for hometheaterreview, I'm going to write a feature piece detailing the history of SET amps/tubes (and how each amp sounded on the DI's) and why historically they could only be used with horn or single driver speakers (which I never liked with a very few exceptions), until Eric's break through allowed these "Flea amps" to create magic with a full range multi-driver box speaker.
I have one more experiment to run and that is to get a 45 SET in-house to finish out this fun ride with the DI's.