2. amps-preamps
  3. 1244870415

SET vs ICE vs GAINCLONE vs HYBRID vs other?

I'm looking for amp recommendations. Here's my situation:
I just gave up a nice JAS Array 2.1 int amp using 805's and 300B's. That amp was rated at 45W. I traded it in toward a Wyred 4 Sound ST-500. This amp is very nice.
I have no real complaints although I do notice the slight loss of intimacy and "wetness of sound" compared to the JAS and I feel the Wyred's top end to be slightly soft overall. Still, I'm quite satisfied with the sound and thrilled at not having the expense of tube replacement nor the insane amound of heat 805's put out.

The rest of my system unfolds like this: I run a Consonance Droplet directly into the amp (balanced) using Sunny Cables D1000X. The CDP and an a PS Audio P-600
get connected with Sunny Cables P600 power cords and the amp gets a 6Sons Audio Windigo. I have Porter Ports in the conditioner and the wall outlet. Speakers are custom-
jobbies similar to Legacy Focus using Eton drivers and I just had fellow Audiogonner M VanSloten upgrade the crossovers (thanks to another thread-good call!). I run Anti-cables directly into the speakers and connect them to the crossovers without binding posts. The soundstage is huge but very well focused and resolution is excellent.
Tone is colorful but not quite as rich as with the JAS.

So, my question to you ever-so-wise audio sages is how do I get the best of both amps without adding a preamp and not spending much more money than I can generate selling the Wyred ST-500? I absolutely need to maintain a high level of detail AND I must get excellent (almost) pinpoint imaging. I would also appreciate an extended top end but not too bright. My speakers are quite efficient. The 45W JAS almost was enough (efficiency in the mid 90db/1w).

I was considering gainclones such as the Patek or Audio Zone AMP1 or hybrids such as Pathos' Classic One MK II/III
or Valve Audio's Predator. I would greatly appreciate comments on the above listed amps especially if you can compare them to the Wyred amps. Thanks so much!
lcherepkai
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,874 posts
 
When you read some audio history, you find that there is nothing new under the sun as far as amplifiers circuits. Most were invented and optimized prior to 1954 and most of today’s gains were made with better passive parts.

This statement is not correct; there have been new patents issued on tube amplifier topologies since the 1950s. Also I don't know of any fully differential tube amps or preamps that were built in the 1950s; that is definitely something new (the first such preamps were made in 1989 and the first such amps only a few years earlier).
doron
43 posts
 
To an extent you are right in the sense that OTL's are relatively new. "SET OTL" Hybrids (Buttler MONAD) are somewhat new too and Z-OTL (David Berning) can be referred as such too but this is not reinventing the wheel. It is more like a variation on existing technologies and the funny part is that after all the so-called-advancement in audio, in the last 15 years there seem to be a retro movement to go back to tube technology and analogue sources.
doron
43 posts
 
Lcherepkai,

Speaking about transparency,
I think OTL's and SET are the best I have heard but I will add that to my ears OTL sounded more effortless, extended, linear and SET sounded more lush (concentrated, immediate and textured midrange) and colorful ("expressionistic").
I would say it is almost like watching reality through two sets of transparent glasses but one is tinted so the picture could be rosy.
To each his own. I am SET guy but can appreciate OTL (technically, OTL can likely be better but emotionally it is a matter of taste/preference) and generally speaking to my ears, well implemented, these two topologies are at the top of the audio food chain, all things considered.
More to discover