DarTZeel Preamp

Frank:

You make good points. And I don't want to argue, either. I was just being facetious. Guess my humor needs a little work. You're right: There is WAY too much arguing and dick swinging in this hobby. It makes my stomach churn. As for my calling Jeff's comments irresponsible, again I may worded things too strongly, but IMO the X-2 is NOT the best match for the DarTZeel. Maybe our concepts of "great" sound differs. The DarTZeel may be 100w, but for some reason I can't explain, it doesn't sound as good with really tough loads, which the Wilson definitely is in the bass. I heard another friend's Grand Slamms paired with the 2.1s, and, at least with the music I'm used to listening to (rock), it just didn't have the slam and balls I wanted. Others may have different expectations, and that's fine, but for me, the combo just didn't do it. But, that's my OPINION. I did hear the M1.2s that you have (I think) paired with the Kharma 3.2s, and even though it essentially is a solid state amp, it still does have a tube, which influences the sound. If not, why would Vladimir put it in there? Anyway, I liked the sound alot, but something (I'm not quite sure what; I have to flush the cannabis from my brain) just didn't click with me. I didn't mean to start a war with you with my words. I thought that Jeff's matching of the Dart was a little suspicious because of the Dart's quirky speaker-matching characteristics--and I stand by that--but I don't want this to turn nasty. There's more than enough of that on these forums. Let's just say, we agree to disagree about certain things. I will watch my words a little more carefully from now on, but in the heat of the moment, sometimes things don't come out as you quite intended. I'm sure you're not immune to that, either. Ellice loved the exhibit. Makes my impending purchase of the Dart preamp a little easier. Did you make it to the inaugural meeting of the SE Michigan Audio Club (or whatever it's called)? I'd like to make it to the next one. Maybe we'll see each other there. No hard feelings?

No hard feelings? NO WAY you 2-bit ingor . . . just kidding. ;-) My whole point has been that there should be no hard feelings and I never felt this was nasty because it has all been JUST opinion, which is why I am of the "opinion" that since it is all "opinion" we should not need to condemn another's "opinion."

AFAIC, the fact that we all buy different gear is proof we DO hear differently and have different opinions so I never take offense to someone else not liking my stuff.

I didn't get to the first meeting as I was on vacation but I may host the next one. We will see. I hope to see you there.

Frank

Fmpnd: The comment of "utterly ridiculous" is extremely valid since "Soundstage" had an agenda and lied to me. There was a promise to listen to the amplifier after 30 days of hard break-in, which was not even close to being done, as well as removing "DC compensation", which, again was not done. Both Jeff Fritz and Marc Michelson had assured me that these requests would be honored and I was lied to by them. As a matter of fact, Mike Malinowski, of 6 Moons, recieved the amplifier directly from Jeff Fritz and acknowledged in his review that after about two weeks or so of his extensive use of the product that he heard a dramatic change in the amplifier. He happened to use the same speakers as Fritz.

When Marc begged for Soundstage to review the amplifier, I told him I was not interested because of his strong ties to LAMM and Jeff's to Boulder. I should have followed my instincts. Jeff is as slimy as I have ever read. Totally unprofessional and an out and out liar.

As a reviewer, shouldn't you write for something other than that rag? I do not know why you would pick such a magazine. You should be able to write for almost anyone...Soundstage? Please.

Hooper: I absolutely disagree with you about there being a mismatch with the Wilson Alexandria. The darTZeel drives them incredibly well. Please read:

http://6moons.com/audioreviews/dartzeel/108.html

Mike Malinowski had the same exact amplifier that Jeff Friz used for his review. His experience was totally different, and I know why. Mr. Malinowski states, "Break-in: The 108 needs break-in. Let me rephrase that. It requires a metric ton of break-in. My break-in procedure is very simple. Place product in the equipment chain, listen for a short time, leave it running and leave for days. Come back, listen and repeat the process until the sound stops changing. My unit was not new. It was a review sample forwarded from another industry reviewer. For this piece, it took 2.5 weeks of continuous playing in addition to whatever the previous reviewer had put on it to arrive at sonic stability. It would have been an unforgivable mistake to evaluate this amp before then."

I refered to this in my response to Frank in my previous reply. I do not mean to be reduntant or even reduntant.

Frank; i hope all is well with you.

no amp is perfect to all ears or in all systems. and all the amps discussed in this thread are very good.

regarding Mr. Fritz's review of the darTZeel NHB-108; Mr. Fritz did not say that the darTZeel was not a good amp, but that for it's price it was not competitive with two other references that he has on his speakers; that it was not 'special' enough sounding and lacked dynamics.

i had two issues with Mr. Fritz's conclusions.

1. Soundstage asked the darTZeel importer for an amp to review. at that time all the demos were loaned out but the importer did have a brand new one that he could send along.....but.....it would require a 30 DAY BREAKIN for it to sound correct. Soundstage agreed to spend the time for that breakin....as they were anxious to get the darTZeel amp.

in the past all the darTZeel amps were burned in for 30 days at the factory...and no additional breakin was required. when the importer ordered 30 of the things at once the factory was not able to burn all these in at once and so the importer agreed to pass on the info to darTZeel owners. the importer had been careful to only send out broken in darts for demo.

2. the older draTZeel amps had no automatic DC compensation. it needed to be adjusted by hand once put into a system. with the new run of amps (with a 'B' designation in their serial number) the amps do have automatic DC compensation. unfortunately, the amps don't sound nearly as good when this auto circut is engaged. there is a jumper that allows you to turn off DC compensation.

the importer asked Soundstage to call him ONCE BREAKIN WAS COMPLETE to get instructions about turning off the DC compensation.

i have had 5 different darTZeels in my room....one of the orginals and 4 of the new version. i have broken in 4 new darTZeel's and turned of the DC compensation in each. the performance is really dramatically different in terms of refinement, noisefloor, and textural nuance when the DC compensation is turned off. at 30 days the amp 'gets its legs' in terms dynamic grip and low frequency weight.

Mr. Fritz had the darTZeel for 2 weeks and did not play it continuously. he never checked back with the importer for information. he was not impressed....which is understandable. i had the same initial experience with the dart. i listened to a new dart for about a week and then went back to my Tenor Hybrids. a month later i tried the darTzeel again.....only this time i kept using it. the improvement was not gradual....all of a sudden at about 30 days the thing stood up and came alive. i called the importer and then he told me to defeat the DC auto compensation.

the amp was a different animal.

Jeff Fritz wrote what he heard; no one questions that. but, what he heard was not what the darTZeel amp is about.

the same amp that had gone to Mr. Fritz next went to Mike Malinowski of Stereo Times. Mike also has X-2's. Mike loved the darTZeel, wrote a review, and bought the damn thing.

the darTzeel amp is not perfect, and not for everyone. but it is very special.

and then we get to the dart preamp.....WOW!