Magic. :)
My Chinese 845s are giving me a tonally beautiful yet vivid and exciting presentation thats just more holographic and beautiful. It may err a bit to the romantic side--not euphic/syrupy like the ST-70 I had but there is a certain magic to the presentation that makes for a more emotional listen.
My Atma-sphere S-30 came back from servicing today, its repaired and 100% and I listened for about four hours after work and it was impressive. Very transparant, dynamic and with some rolled tubes it did a nice job of tone and harmonic foundation--it also had pretty slamming bass. But for all its transparency and detail it doesn't have the magic and musicality I'm being spoiled with and I threw it up for sale on audiocircle. If it doesn't go in a day or two I'll move it here to the gon.
The Alephs are my favorite solid state option for the Souls so far. I described their merits in a prior post and stand by those impressions, but the bigger SET adds a certain reality and enjoyment I prefer to audiophile adjectives.
I've run these things with Class A SS, Class A SS transcunductance, Tripath, Class D, OTL, tube PP and SET. 845 SET is king to my ears. I don't have the vocabulary to convey the magic of the pairing like 213cobra has, but I'm very grateful he guided me this direction.
The amp juggling adventure was fun (and stressful at times), but barring catastrophe I'm done!
The major irony being, I was content with my sound initially, but wanted something cooler for the summer. These 845s make my Rawson amps feel like the cooler summer alternative. Its snowing outside and my damn windows are open 2 feet away from me!