Best tube integrated--Cary SLI-80, or?

I absolutely love my Cary. I have also been playing with NOS tubes (with great advice from Kevin at Upscale Audio and other Cary owners from this site.) The Cary has several advantages including a headphone jack driven off of the output of the amp. I have a pair of Senheiser 600's that I had not been using very much until I plugged them into the Cary. The sound is some of the best I have ever heard. There are quite a few Cary SLI-80 owners on this board that can also answer any questions you have!

another vote for the Cary. a GREAT amp. Yeah, tube collecting is kind of addictive huh? As a matter of fact, I just got two more pair in the mail this afternoon- some Amperex 7308's, and some RTC (French) E188CC's, which I just plugged in. I think I'm all set with pre tubes for a while... With the integrated, it's nice to just have to wory about one good pair of interconnects. I picked up a used pair of HT Pro silwayII's for a good price a couple weeks ago here at Audiogon. Krocdoc is right about there being several sli80 owners around here. I've gained some useful info re: tubes & wires etc. via the dialogues. Soon I'm going to do a serious comparison of all my 6922 type tubes in my amp. I've wound up with quite a few- Tunsram, Ediswan, Mullard, Seimens, Amperex, RTC... Good luck making your decision, have fun.

Jay, please take the time to post your thoughts on the 6922's. I think there are a bunch of us that would appreciate your comments. Thanks.

It is good to see all of the great feedback on the SLI-80. I am looking to buy a Cary integrated, but I was leaning towards an SEI 300. I have not heard the SLI-80, but have seen all the great reviews. Has anyone heard both? Does the SLI-80 have the ultra-liquid 3D soundstage of the 300B. Any input is appreciated.

I can't speak for the SLI80, but I owned the predecesser, the SLA80 power amp. The whole design might be different and I might be deaf, but I can tell you that in no way could you mistake this thing for a single ended triode design. The SLA 80 was a very "competent" 80 watt tube amp, but lacked the magic of single ended sound or even the magic of EL84 push pull sound. I like Cary the company, but feel that their best efforts result in SE amps.