Berning ZH270 vs 845 SET amp

And that's why they make chocolate AND vanilla ;~)

I can't find universal concurrence that the zh270 reproduces the sound of music like very few others in my experience so it must be a taste issue. Top to bottom extension, clear natural midrange without anything additive or missing like many of the SETs. There is nothing wrong with that if it is your cup of tea.

On the issue of being "fast" what that means to me is that it resolves all the musical information on the recording with natural dynamics intact, no exaggeration of the leading edge. To me the amp is more on the "laid back" side of things not having the immediacy of some other amps I've heard in familiar systems. It doesn't have a character as some amps do but reflects what it is matched with to a greater degree.

It also works with a wide variety of speakers in my experience, certainly not limited to Merlins which it is frequently linked with.

I agree completely with Diamonddude, Airwise and Slowhand. I've had the amp for 5 years and it still makes me :) Thanks You David Berning!

Somewhat off-topic but I had the pleasure of having a friend loan me his berning just prior to my purchase of a shindo montille. The berning is clear, fast and has good power. Another advantage over conventional amps is that the sound can be tailored somewhat with it's feedback control.

That being said, I prefered the shindo in terms of its tone color and vibrancy. It's transparency, surprisingly, rivaled the berning but with the disadvantage of less power.

The shindo replaced a very nice pair of wellborne labs 300b's.

Depending on your speakers, the control of the berning can be a big plus over even a high powered set. Hard to criticize the berning, very versatile.

Pfront- tone color or vibrancy pretty good description of what I thought the Berning lacked. In my case, I believe that the Joule amps provide a bigger or richer harmonic envelope and more emotion. They can be considered a bit slower than the Berning without the proper cabling.

It an effort to help the thread my speakers are Coincident Super E III's. 92 db, 14ohm. So any amp "should" work fine. My concern with the Berning is that people say it does not sound like tubes a littlelifeless and of course some people say the opposite. I am looking for a little concensus.
I like the sounds of tubes. I have a p/p Cary, I just want to move up the ladder a little bit.
I only have one source a Cary 306 SACD.
Thanks
Mike