Next upgrade, DartZeel or Ayre

Have not heard the DartZeel. My current set up include SF Memento, Ayre MXR and Wadia 581 SE and they sound magical. The Ayre mono amps are very special. I also heard Ayre MX-R and Ayre K1xe driven by Nagra player on Guarneri Memento and they also sound spectacular. In fact, Ayre equipment does match great with SF speakers.

Lucky boy, Guarneri/Ayre sounds closed in, syrupy even.

Teddy_bear, I think the reason you heard Guarneri Memento sounded close in and syrupy was the speakers were not broken in. I bought my GM new and the sound transformed after 10 hours of play and continue to improve.

Bar81, I never implied I made my decision from that short audition in dealer showroom. Yes, I am in Singapore now and I had the benefit to audition many brands within a few steps from each other. I will return to the dealer once the KX-R is back and hopefully it will create enough positive impression on me to the point I want to borrow them home. But if the sound remained hi-fi sounding, I will turn to Dartzeel instead.

I have no doubt Dartzeel is one of the most musical solid state right now, but I am still concern about the power rating. I know 100wpc is not created equally, but 100wpc is simply not enough for big speakers in a big room.

Search continues, hope the KX-R and Dartzeel will return to the dealers soon.

when it comes to high-end audio, "I" now have "The Latest and The Greatest"- LOL, well who can really claim to know what that is...? anyway, i humbly submit the following:
i recently upgraded my wires to transparent MM2, got an EMM-Lab CDSA cd player, and a mark levinson 326S preamp. i already had mark levinson 33h monoblocks and von schweikert vr9 speakers.
i didn't acquire all this stuff at the same time, of course. but i finally got the wire and the source components hooked up together recently. regarding break in- after a few hours, everything sounded ok to me.
well, actually more than ok. silky smooth, relaxed, no "soundstage"
because everything was simply wide open. as some reviewers like to phrase things- there isn't a "system" anymore, just the music and the room.
my preferences usually run to well-recorded redbook cd's by artists i feel capture the spirit of the music. anyway, i am still totally ignorant regarding some of the premium equipment mentioned above, but i can assure you that your own personal journey trying different components which enhance the music you are really crazy about (for me i have to start with the Baroque Era) can lead to unique combinations that hopefully reflects what YOU like, and what you felt was worth the price of admission.

Well, I made up my mind and went to a completely different direction.

I heard the Ayre combo a few times in dealer, I was not impressed. I don't expect to hear all the qualities in a dealer show room, but I also don't expect them to sound flat or even bad. I am sure they will sound better at my house, but everything sounds better at my house and I don't have time to bring home every piece to try.

I am sure Dartzeel is great too, but Dartzeel is slightly out of my reach financially even in used market.

So instead I went with another great pre amp from Germany to match my phono stage. It shares the same shunt volume control design as Ayre, in fact I believe this manufacture invented this design. It's tube base, so it has more bloom and air. Time will tell if the sound really fits my taste, but I know Ayre is not for me at this point.