Amp/Preamp Asylum

Posted by DKL (A) on June 07, 2016 at 17:29:23

In Reply to: RE: BAT VK-300x SE + Thiel 2.4 posted by Luminator on June 06, 2016 at 19:32:07

I owned two BAT's previously, and would have to say they were runners up only to my current Neodio NR600 Signature. I didn't pair the BATs with Thiel speakers, but they did power various offerings from Tyler Acoustics, Joseph Audio, and Merlin. The fondest and possibly most profound experience, oddly enough, was when listening to local FM stations over my MD-102 tuner from Magnum Dynalab. The staging and decay were eerily lifelike.

When I was still in the mode of "auditioning by owning" a series of integrated amps several years ago, I corralled, at various intervals, lightly used versions of the Ayre AX-7e, YBA Passion 100, Coda Continuum Ultra, Electrocompaniet EC-3, Primare I-30, Simaudio I-5, Audio Analogue Puccine SE (real sleeper), Accuphase E-350, Plinius 8150, Cayin 265Ai (Class A), and a few others that obviously didn't leave an impression. The BAT, to my ears and through my system, was easily the most musical, non-fatiguing, and effortless sounding amp of the bunch. These amps were rotated among my separates (Bel Canto SEP-2 and Belles 150 Reference, Muse 160, Conrad Johnson PV-11) for reference purposes. If I hadn't discovered the Neodio, I'd live happily ever after with the BAT. I even preferred the BAT over my one-time combo of Rogue 99 Magnum preamp and Model 88 power amp.