Is all the hype warranted

I would find it very hard to describe a triode strapped pentode as a SET, but we all have different perceptions.

It’s solid gear and reasonable value. Nothing more, it isn’t going to slay any audio giants. Leben, Shindo, Audio Note....throw a dart at their respective catalogs and you will be rewarded. I like Steve and what Decware does...it’s just a well engineered, well built product.

I had a Decware Torii II on a pair of klipschorns and it was magical. Sold the khorns for a pair of Spatial Audio X3s and the amp fell right on it's face. With a manufacturers claim of 96 db sens., you would think it would have worked. But it didn't. Clipped on any dynamic recordings.

Sensitivity specifications from manufacturers cannot really tell you about how easy or hard it is to drive a speaker.  Most often, supposedly compatible high efficiency speakers fall flat when it comes to real world capability.  But, the opposite can be true too.  You will find a lot of indignant postings on the web about how Audio Note cheats on their rating of their speakers and that they are really only 92 db/w efficient or even less than that.  While this may be true, if you connect their speakers to low-powered amps they will sing beautifully.  My local AN dealer shows off the AN-E speaker with 6.5 wpc Audio Note amplifiers.

When I owned Wilson Sasha 2 speaker, I had to send in my then Audio Research Ref75se for repairs. (really? who knew a blown power tube takes out a resistor? Why would anyone use a fuse anyway? Its so much more convenient to send it off for repairs). 

In a second system I had an Audio Note OTO Phono SE Signature so I thought, why not, see if any sound comes out. Zero expectations an EL84 10-12wpc tube integrated would do anything but perhaps start smoking LOL. Anyway, it was the absolute best, hands down, that the Sasha's had ever sounded tonally in my room. Its about transformers and implementation.

A couple of things happened following this experiment. I sold my Audio Research Ref stack, sold the Sashas and began sliding down into the Audio Note rabbit hole. My main system is now all Audio note, from the wall all the way to the speakers. The last non-Audio Note speakers I owned (Devore Fidelity O/20, which sounded wonderful driven by the OTO SE Silver Signature as well as a 211 Jinro tubed integrated) were displaced by a pair of Audio Note speakers with Alnico magnets.

Decware gear is unapologetically euphonic and with proper speaker matching can be end game for many. With (no OTL) tube gear, its about the transformers, implementation and parts quality. Full stop.