I purchased a Decware ZLC, haven’t received it yet, but I’m eagerly anticipating. Very nice looking products for sure, overall they seem to be well received too. We’ll see...
Decware: a worthwhile option?
On the surface, Decware seems like an amazing company: American made products, lifetime warranty, dedicated fan base—albeit one that doesn’t seem to leave the Decware forums—and beautiful looking gear.
Upon slightly closer inspection, people seem to buy into or have to buy into the Decware ecosystem. Amp doesn’t output enough? Buy our $600 booster. Or our gain stage, EQ stage, Bass restoration stage. Phono stage. How about a preamp? Spend, spend, Etc., etc.
So are Decware amps in the 2W-6W range actually useable in the real world with speakers of, say, 94dB-96dB efficiency and above? Or do you have to buy all kinds of extra gear from them to actually get up and running and boost your input voltages high enough to get the amp to really sing?
Upon slightly closer inspection, people seem to buy into or have to buy into the Decware ecosystem. Amp doesn’t output enough? Buy our $600 booster. Or our gain stage, EQ stage, Bass restoration stage. Phono stage. How about a preamp? Spend, spend, Etc., etc.
So are Decware amps in the 2W-6W range actually useable in the real world with speakers of, say, 94dB-96dB efficiency and above? Or do you have to buy all kinds of extra gear from them to actually get up and running and boost your input voltages high enough to get the amp to really sing?
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- 18 posts total
Decware gear is well constructed, nice looking and reasonably priced. Whether it is nice sounding would be a matter of personal taste and system matching. In the systems I've heard two of their amps, it was not for me--a bit too anemic and lifeless sounding for my taste. But, I am more accustomed to more expensive tube gear so my points of reference to similarly priced gear is limited. For reasonably priced tube gear, I prefer the Italian Synthesis brand. I would also look for properly reconditioned vintage tube gear. |
In this category, what do folks know or think about Erhard? https://www.erhard-audio.com/Ray.html |
- 18 posts total