Next upgrade, DartZeel or Ayre

Henryhk, I know DartZeel is very very good and super musical for a solid state. but I am a tube addict and I don't think DartZeel can match an all tube system, or am I wrong? I know someone sold off his BAT 75SE to get DartZeel to drive his Evolution Acoustic; I don't know his reason for doing so, maybe for sound, for convenience, or Jonathan talked him into using DartZeel to drive EA since he imports both? what ever the reason, I am just not 100% convinced DartZeel combo can sound as musical as an all tube system and I need someone who moved to DartZeel after owning tubes to hit me on the head and tell me to forget about tubes.

Teddy bear, I know Ayre can sound sterile and cold at times if not fully warm up. I heard the combo in dealer as I mentioned. though very clean and transparent, it sure does not have the last bit of air, organic midrange, and delicacy of tube setup.

seems like I am convincing myself to stay with tubes. yes and no. I know something take tubes to create but solid state has closed the gap in recent years. just wondering if the gap is small enough and time is now to pull the trigger.

Why don't you just do a home demo of the Ayre combo?

I have had the Ayre MX-R monoblocks for almost 2 years...and love them. Having only listened to the DarZeel set up in a pass by listen...they were nice but didn't attract me enough to pay serious attention...but I am sure they are excellent. My thoughts are monoblocks next to speakers is an excellent way to go...as to pre amps I have wandered through a few....VTL is excellent but suspect that the KX-R is coming home...

Bar81, the reason I haven't borrowed the Ayre home is I am on oversea assignment and I did not bring my main system with me. Therefore even if my local dealer loan me the power amp, I won't be able to appreciate all of its strength in my current system.

That being said, I did visit my local dealer today hoping to hear both KX-R and MX-R. I wasn't that lucky, KX-R was out on loan and won't be back till 4 weeks later. I did hear MX-R in two different systems and one of them was very high resolution which consisted of Ayre CDP, Spectral 30, and Avalon ISIS. All I can say is the system sounded totally hi-fi to my ears. It did have great dynamic, great extension, great transparency, and great details, but it did not capture my soul, far from it.

Not sure if it was the Spectral or Avalon, but I suspected it was the Spectral more as I did hear Avalon ISIS driven by Hovland before with great emotion. I will return in a few weeks to hear the KX-R, but at this point I am not expecting miracle.

Semi, i have only heard the Ayre amps at shows and dealers; never in my system. they are very good. i don't really feel i can comment on exactly how they compare to the dart without some sort of head to head.

i do have lots of experience with the darTZeel in my room on Kharmas, Von Schweikerts, and now the Evolution MM3's. my previous amps were the Tenor OTL and Tenor hybrids. the darTZeel were the first solid state amp i heard that did not sound anything like solid state; and seem to have a sense of that tube-like 'breath of life' that the Tenors had; but with the linearity of solid state. the darts also have a micro-dynamic life which is alive sounding. yes; they also do bass slam and exceptional bass articulation assuming your speakers are reasonable loads. one area where tube lovers are typically very sensitive is how tubes do the high frequencies. the dart is very sweet in the highs and yet has more extension. one thing that stood out to me was the extremely low noise floor of the dart.

if you read the white paper on the dart website you will get a better idea on Herve's approach to using no global negative feedback and the use of very few output devices. also; the dart has an ability to turn off DC offset for even more transparency. it is no accident the dart is such a natural sounding 'sweet' solid state amp.

i have lots of visitors to my room, many of which are tube lovers. most of these people comment on how 'non-solid state' that the darts sound. they don't miss tubes in my system.

there is no one perfect amp for everyone and every system context. i have heard many excellent solid state amps.

OTOH i prefer the darTZeel to any amp i have heard and there are no solid state amps that would be alternatives for me in my system. my next choices would be the new Tenor Hybrids, maybe the Lamm ML2.1's, or maybe the AN Kegon's......anyway, you get the idea.

regarding the dart pre; it's in the very top class of preamps and i love it. the phono stage is as good as i have heard. i love the way it works and it's flexibility. the proprietary 'zeel' internnects between the dart pre and amp are very inexpensive and are equal or better to the very best interconnects. battery power, as done by darTZeel, is ideal for a preamp.

overall; darTZeel fit and finish is as good as it gets.

good luck with your choice.