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Wilson Sabrina X ... oh my God! and Jadis... or?

Well, I’ve been a sucker for high efficiency and low powered tube amps, but the other day was visiting a good store and they had several Wilson speakers; the man offered me to sit and relax enjoying the Sabrina X, with a Jadis DA-50s and... BIG MISTAKE! Cannot stop thinking in such beautiful, full, complete, non fatiguing sound, I had 2 hours of pure enjoyment, seriously Didn’t want to leave room.

So here I am sending all my stuff and getting what I really think is the final game? At the end, I’ve never listened to such expensive and fantastic speakers. Fed by the aforementioned Jadis, a Prima Luna DAC and a Innuos Zenith, a shame I couldn’t play some records, but He said He was even better with vinyl reproduction.

I started with Isaac Hayes - Close to You from Black Moses... the voice was spread everywhere the room and just came from the amp, which was in the middle of the rack, just amazing, also played some flamenco, funk, classical, Jazz, Blues, Bossanova, Samba, everything was just spot on and sounded far beyond the speakers, without losing presence in front of me, hard to explain.

Now that I’m in, and pulled the trigger for an Ivory ones, need a proper amp for a few months till my wallet recover or sell the stuff I have.

I have a Goldmund Telos 7, which is beautiful Swiss made small amp, 175wpc Class AB with a fantastic DAC inside. But wondering if going Tube path is the right thing, cause I heard such airiness, full bodied, non fatiguing and relaxed sound with Jadis that was awesome!

Thought about these ones:

-Jadis DA-50S
-Mastersound Duetrenta
-Audio Research GSI75 (someone sells to me at good price)
-VAC Sigma iq170
-EAR Yoshino 834
-Lyric Ti200
-Octave V70 Class A
-Any of RAVEN tube amps?

Solid State: (Thinking from the "most analog sound"):
-Pass Labs INT-60
-Mark Levinson 5805 
-Krell k-300i
-Boulder 866
-Coda (dunno much)
-ModWright (dunno much)
-Moon (dunno much)
-Kinki EX-M1PLUS

Not sure going Class D, although reading lately a lot about GanFet Class D amps like AGD, Java, Gato, Aavik...

I’m going integrated for now and for a few years, if it got a DAC or Phono inside, better, but can live without them inside.

What I don’t want to lose is that 3D, great body sound that valves used to give me, more into musical pure joy than High End nowadays.

Btw, speakers cables were Nordost and Crystal Cable, being the later one maybe more open and higher volume but maybe less controlled if I remember well.

Much appreciated, these Wilson left me in shock.

superelmar
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,842 posts
 

@bdp24   My bad, it was indeed an MF..Musical Fidelity, and not a RM. I like Roger's designs ( a lot better than the MF's), but still think that the Jadis models are, at least to my ears, superior. 

pennfootball71's avatar
pennfootball71
260 posts
 

Axxess Forte is better than all the tubes or midfi pass labs you mentioned here for $5500 that is a giant killer at $5500. It is next gen class D with a fantastic DAC and streamer built in 1

box. You just need to supply an Ethernet cable and get a power cable that is decent from Ansuz like

an X2 or A2.

and yes, you are better off using just an Ansuz power cable

8th-note
376 posts
 

If you use the Sabrina X with a tube amp you will not hear the frequency response the speaker was designed to give. You may like the distorted response you will hear but it is not what Darrel Wilson intended. I would suggest trying the Sabrina with a beefy solid state amp such as a D'Agostino so you can hear the speaker as it is supposed to sound and see if you like that better than the presentation from a tube amp.

Using a tube amp with a speaker that has a demanding impedance curve is introducing a tone control into your system. Assuming that flat frequency response is probably the single most important factor in high end audio, you are defeating the design goals of the speaker you are buying. It would be like putting a Hyundai 4 cyllinder engine into a Mustang GT. Yes, it will run, and maybe you like the way a 4 cyllinder engine feels, but it is not going to give you the performance that Ford intended when they designed the car.

drbay
30 posts
 

This is exactly how I felt when I heard Wilson Sasha DAW few years ago at Axpona. It was really a magical experience. I used to be big fan of B&W 802 with McIntosh gear. When I heard Wilson, everything had changed. A month later, I had a pair with Hegel 590. I am very happy with that combo. Hegel has this incredible black background, also has excellent base control. I am very happy with that combo. Jadis is excellent tube amp, and I know they pair very well with Wilson speakers. I am not so much fan of Prima Luna. They never gave me excitement when I listened to them. I think choice depends on you music choice, you can be very satisfied with Jadis for Jazz and Classical music. For base heavy music there could be some short comings. Hegel 590/600 me better in that sense. 
congratulations on your new Wilsons. 

moto_man
330 posts
 

Congratulations on the Sabrina X's.  I have a pair, powered by a Pass Labs 250.8, with an ARC REF6 and an MSB Discrete DAC.  I think that the sound is phenomenal -- just the way I like it.  I think that the tube pre and a powerful Pass Labs amp is a great combo for the Sabrina X's.

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