How does Berning ZH270 compare to Cary Cad211 AE ?

There are well respected members who love their MMs or MXs with the ZH-270 and others the Joules. IMO, having had both amps in my house at the same time, the assessment that Tomryan quoted from (probably) Bobby's partner is right on the money. I found the Berning a tad too lean and the Joule brought greater emotional impact. I would think that a lean cable would not be a good match to the Berning.

Are Cardas Golden Ref and Audience Au24 lean cables?

Nr9

The 2 cables you list are 2 I would highly recommend. I have owned the Au24 speaker cables and have a pair of GR ic's on hand. I am currently using all Stereovox, 600 sei ic's and Stereovox Studio speaker cables. The Studio's are all copper the 600 sei's use silver but have none of the characteristic artifacts that I have heard with other silver cables and the VSM. The highs are exquisite and highlight what the Merlin's are capable of doing.

The Joule is a gem of an amp but the Berning is as well. Having spent a good deal of time with both my assessment is I would love to have both! They do different things. The thing to remember about the Berning is that the term "lean" can be misleading. There are several things that can be done as Musicpre notes including swapping different tubes, wire and cap upgrades. I would never call the Berning lean but when compared to the Joule which is really luscious it might appear that way. Also Joule is quite a step above the Cary products since you get that palpable midrange along with great high frequency extension and air, really notable on massed voices. It is one seductive amp. The downside is that it runs very warm as do all OTL's.

Tomryan:
How does your 890 compare with your Air Tight? Looking for specifics here please! TIA

I have owned both amps, but, not the merlins. Both have their own merits. I have, in fact owned over 35 amps in the past few years(2.5)My suggestion is neither, as my Dodd 120 bettered each, and most others in my most important catagory. Musical. Extended. Detailed. Musical. If you have a chance to get these, jum[ on it. They are very inexpensive.....so most of us audiophools would never consider them. I just received my Lamm ML2's today, so hopefully, they will have some real compitition. It's funy, my tube compliment for the dodd's cost me about the same as the amps, go figure.