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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
newton
107 posts
 

riche569 -   On another board a Wilson Audio principal mentioned that the Audio Research i50 is a very special (read excellent) match with the SabrinaX.

quattr0
26 posts
 

@newton which principal was this as I tried it for 3 weeks and returned. Didn't have enough meat. Mimas is much better. 

adp
4 posts
 

I own SabrinaX speakers and use VTL tube amp and pre-amp. Have a Ayre CD player w a card to use it's DAC for streaming. I've been listening to high end systems since the early 60s when my dad had BIG Bozak speakers and Marantz tubes. I prefer listening not-loud, but loud enough that my ears start ringing after 2+ hour sessions that take me out of this world. To quote my friend (who owns SashaDAW's w a ConradJohnson amp) my system sounds "F---ing glorious" and I agree. My room is decent sized, but not big - about 15'x16' with a funky ceiling. I auditioned lots of solid state amps and none were remotely close to the VTLs. The amp has a switch in back to toggle between lower and higher power modes. Honestly, I think I could fool experienced listeners with an A-B comparsion, it's hard to differentiate. Surprised these can sound great w/o the power you'd think is necessary. BTW, speaker placement and sound treatments are very important. 

wester17
70 posts
 

For a limited budget, my Wilson dealer recommends the Michi amps (Rotel's high-end amps). The list includes the S5 (500 wpc) and the X5 and X3. I heard the X3 with the Sabrinas last week and it sounded very nice. 

Just to make everyone jealous, I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear the SabrinaX at the Wilson factory last week -- driven by D'Agostino mono blocks, dCS Streamer, and dCS DAC. I've heard many systems and have been to several audio shows, but that was the most spectacular sound I have ever heard. Period! If you have $200k for electronics (wink, wink), I highly recommend this gear!

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