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In Reply to: RE: Bryston 2.5B-3 is a winner posted by morricab on August 07, 2016 at 03:51:45
The Rogue Stereo 100 has a purity and clarity in the mid to upper frequencies that is quite special. This unbounded freedom and openness is addicting! Note that I replaced the 12AX7s with Mullards, which helped some, but less than I expected. But yes, it betters the Bryston and Pass in this regard.
You wrote, "However, I think it is somewhat premature to declare the Rogue as anything better than excellent for the money. There are quite a lot of very good tube amps, especially SETs with your high sensitivity speakers". I tend to agree, but that could apply to any opinion or review for any component, since whomever is coming to the conclusion would not have every available amplifier and associated speakers available to make an unequivocal conclusion about anything he or she is hearing. And as you know, relying on aural memory of something that is no longer on hand is tenuous at best.
I mentioned in the Rogue review that I had not heard two other amps which use similar tubes, with the comment, "I have heard neither amp, but continue to be so happy with the sound of the Rogue Stereo 100 that my curiosity about these 3x more expensive products is quite muted." So there's certainly the possibility of being more impressed with these, or other, amps.
However, using the criteria for the rating scale (see link below), I'm just really diggin' the Rogue. Now, drop the level of transparency down a bit, and the Bryston is very impressive, and competitive in its power class below about $10k. As with any component, it might not be the best choice in a certain system, but in my room, it makes music that is enjoyable day after day.
Happy listening!
Follow Ups:
No doubt the Rogue is a fine sounding amp for under $5K, but my point was that it is still clearly designed to fit a relatively low price point. Many more expensive products are using better parts and in some cases better design and would be worth your effort in reviewing those products. I would have thought that rather than muting your interest in more expensive tube amps, this would have increased your appetite to see how much better it can get.
If this relatively inexpensive tube amp can do this then what can more expensive brands/models do?? Since, in your opinion, it rather crushed a very highly regarded SS amp (Pass XA 30.8), then it seems to open a whole new path of awareness for you to journey on.
I moved on from some quite good SS amps quite some time ago and then went from Push/pull tubes to SET and (almost) never looked back. Try a push/pull triode amp like the Antique Sound Lab Cadenza DT. I have found good SET to be the best amplification for reasonable speakers.
Thanks for the suggestion to try a SET amp. I reviewed an ASL amp years ago. Wish it was still on hand. Dennis Had has an interesting stereo SET using KT150s. Lots of options for things to try!
Give KR Audio or Ayon Audio a try...these are two of the best brands for SET that are still on the edge of affordability.
Thanks for the suggestions. What do you think of the Cary CAD-805AE?
Don't know never heard one. They are claimed to be a bit on the warm and golden side of things tonally but that might depend a lot on the speaker load among other things.
I once had a pair of the Cary CAD-572SE monos and those were quite good sounding. Slightly warm but dynamically lively and well controlled bass. Tone was very nice an natural. Resolution was fine but perhaps not ultra. The big Cary might sound similar.
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