Air Tight ATM-300R or Shindo Cortese 300B

Thanks.

Montille seems to be almost unanimous. An unbeatable value for money!

I also noticed that, at least here on the audiogon, we have more owners of the Cortese F2a than the Cortese 300b.

Best.

. "Shindo amps are more flavor, than better."

That can apply to literally any audio product to one degree or another.  They all will possess some amount of sonic signature and listeners /potential buyers just choose the signature/character they most prefer. 

I definitely appreciate and desire what well implemented 300b amplifiers bring to the table. Now in regard to the Shindo Cortese F2a I can't recall reading anything negative about it. Consistent universal praise over the years. Horses for courses will always ring true.
Charles 

That's interesting that many prefer the Shindo F2A over the 300b version of the Cortese.  I rarely see a 300b version come on the used market but more often see the F2A's so I presumed perhaps the preference was opposite.  I know the F2A has had 3 design iterations over the last 10 years or so.  I'm not sure I've seen many of the newest iteration come on the used market and it certainly is the version that interests me most.  

I even considered the F2a version of Cortese. In the end, I surrendered to my passion for 300b.

And, nowadays, we have many options, both in terms of quality and price, for the 300b.

Taking advantage of Ken Shindo’s passion for wines, I can say that nowadays, for 300b, we can almost be true "sommeliers", taking advantage of each 300b for its "flavour", "texture", "taste" and "harvest".

Sorry for the weak "poetic license"... lol...

Best.

Perhaps slightly off topic and maybe I need to start a different thread but let me pose a quick question on the F2A.   Originally the Cortese F2a was a single 6aw8a tube per F2a tube, and went through an evolutionary change years  later to dual tubes per f2a tube and a few circuit updates. The current model, uses a tube rectifier on top of the chassis and different input/driver tubes altogether and was designed by Takashi Shindo.

Can anyone provide listening impressions between the current and immediately prior version of the F2A amp?  Shindo moved the retail price up by $2,500 during the last version.