Zu Soul Superfly

After a lot of shopping around and asking for opinions, I've decided to buy myself a set of Atma-Sphere M-60s that I found a great deal on locally. They would generally be way out of my price range, but discounted they seemed like a wonderful bargain for a set of Zu Superfly speakers. Even though they are 60 wpc, I feel that OTL amps will make very nicely with the 16 ohm impedance of the Superflys.

Now I'm just worried that I will probably need to buy a good pre-amp since both Zu speakers and M-60 will both be extremely revealing. I was hoping to use the pre-amp function in my Perfectwave Dac (+bridge), but the digital volume control might not do the system justice. Any opinions?

Well, since today was a federal holiday and I didn't have to work, I made it up to Ogden to pick up the Superflys. They've been unboxed and hooked up, and right now I'm working on placement. I should have pictures up in a day or two, after I get the room cleaned up.

I took my 6-year-old with me to pick them up and to let him see the Zu factory. He loves tools and enjoyed seeing how the speakers were made. Kristian gave us the tour and pointed out a lot of the new products that are set to be released in the near future. I can't give specifics, but there are some really cool products set to be released. I would definitely suggest that anyone interested in buying speakers before the end of the year keep a close eye on their website.

Monsieurguzel,

I had the Atma-sphere S-30 for awhile, and I didn't like it direct from source. I was auditioning the W4S DAC-2 with the digital volume control at the time.The highs were a bit clunky, a bit harsh and unrefined. I tried it both balanced and single ended, didn't make a difference.

With the Red Wine Audio Isabella preamp in the mix things got a lot better.

As I understand, the W4S DAC-2 has a very good output stage, likely comparable to the Perfectwave DAC.

As in most things, no doubt your mileage will vary.

Wilson

Thanks for the feedback Wilson. I also spoke to a local dealer who told me it probably would be an issue running straight from the Perfectwave dac since it would be a little too harsh. Anyhow, I guess I gotta go looking for a good pre-amp for the setup now :) Anybody how any more suggestions about good pre-amps for atma-spheres?

-Alex

For anyone wanting to avoid tubes and power the Superflys with SS, I'm borrowing a friends Aleph clones while my tube amp is under the weather and its driving these speakers extremely well. Significantly more alive and enjoyable then the Firstwatt F1 or F1J I used previously.