Anyone with Aric Audio experience?

Silverfoxvtx1800: "I am a tube guy also, going through the ups and downs with tubes,you never know what’s going on when you turn the tube amp on..For playing around, tubes can be fun but for serious music listening solid state is the way to go. You don’t have to replace tubes and SS goes for decades…if you want a solid state that sounds close to a tube amp the First Watt amps made by Nelson Pass is the way to go…you will never have a problem… tubes are for fun,solid state for serious listening!"

My experience is different as well.  My Aric Super KT amps replaced Pass Labs XA60.8 amps and before that, X260.8 amps.  As much as I liked the Pass amps, the Aric amps have resulted in a new level of emotional connection to the music especially for serious listening.  Plus, they are just as dynamic than the solid-state amps I have owned.  But of course, all of this is speaker & system dependent.

I have Primaluna,Decware,and Dennis Had amps,they all have a nice sound but tubes do go bad and get noisy….when I heard the First Watt Sit-3 that was it for me and still is…..I put my tube amps on at times but always end up with the First Watt..especially with my Klipsch speakers…don’t have to worry about tubes loosing there grunt…I went down that NOS tube rabbit hole it’s nice to be done with that…

+1 @ozzy62 I've never had a tube go bad in the 30+ years I've been using them.Yes it happens occasionally I'm sure but never to me.I stick with reputable vendors and never buy from random eBay sellers.

  It's personal preference not that one is inferior to the other.

Not sure why this thread devolved into the tired turf war between tubes and SS. Both can be great sounding; both can need repair: such is life.

And now back to the OP’s question. Nearly a year ago, I bought one of Aric’s Transcend Push-Pull amps with a few upgrades--Jupiter caps, Edcor transformers, a TDK volume pot rather than the stock Alps, cherry wood base. Aric even installed amber LEDs at my request and talked me out of other upgrades that would have raised the cost but not necessarily the sound quality. He’s a good guy and a straight-shooter.

The Transcend PP is really a terrific amp -- great sounding, quiet, beautiful, and extremely versatile. You can run EL34, KT88, KT120, or my preference, KT150 tubes; and you can switch between triode and ultralinear modes. This gives you power-range options between (IIRC) 35-65 watts, pure Class A. I think it sounds better than the VAC 300.1a I owned for 4 years, albeit with far less power, and has a palpable SET-like suppleness (even in UL) that is not often characteristic of push-pull tube amps, but without sacrificing top or bottom extension. For context, I also run a 2A3 SET, 300B SET, a couple of push-pull Class A/B amps, and a couple of high-grade Class A solid state amps with various speaker combinations. The Aric is less expensive than most of them but not outclassed by any. It’s a keeper.

@wrm57  A very nice writeup. Thanks!