This the best amp I have ever owned! And I have owned to many to count: including the top of the line Krells, PASS Labs, Ayon, Response Audio modded (Teflon capped) Hurricanes, four other versions of the Hurricanes, a CARY SLI80 F1, Dared 300b mono blocks, a Airtight 300B (with WE 300bs), etc...
The Purer 3.3SE was made in at least three versions - the very best ones were the earlier version with those incredibly sweet Toshiba MOSFETs (Wow!) and 6922 pre tube. The later version with the Hitachi outputs was too dry for me, and lacked the sweetness of the MOSFET version. Same goes for the last version (and current) with the 12ax7 tubed pre and Sanken outputs, very dry sounding.
I have two of these - one I bought on Audiogon from a guy who got it from Pacific (the 120V) version and a 110V from CattyLink. I can not hear a difference between these two.
Very Important - to get these amps sounding their best you HAVE to ditch the stock Chinese pre-tubes. I went through a year of tube rolling, and settled on the Siemens CCa (very expensive) and the EVEN better Vintage 1987 6H23N Russian Rockets (with saucer getter, these are quite reasonable in price.
With these tubes this amazing integrated is taken to a whole other level. Run it in A2 mode = Class A up to 30 watts then crosses over to A/B - very, very sweet sound! (I used a watt counter and it really is Class A - the current at idle doubles when run in this mode versus A1).
A good power cord is a necessity, I like the Synergistic Research X2. Other tweeks SR gold/silver fuses and good isolation - I use the SR MIGs to good effect.
With a little tweeking this amp is world class - at it's price Ridiculous. I directly compared it to my then reference the Response modded ASL Hurricanes($10K) driven by a Conrad Johnson ACT2 pre (16K), SR Apex ICs ($3K) in between. The 'Canes had $1000 of NOS tubes, special stands, etc...
This amp was quieter, sweeter, more dynamic - and had an amazing tight bottom end - like no tube amp I have ever had displayed. Rock solid to 20Hz (On my Talon Firebirds).
But it was the 300b richness and sweetness in the mid range that sold me. I am very picking about etchy, fatiguing sound (Krell!!!). With these amps in both my systems now for 4 yrs, never - even on the worst recordings have I had to turn off the music. Sound stage is wide and deep, with a holographic imaging. Realistic Dynamics. Rock solid build and reliability (tube amps -Ugg!!!). Hit the power button, wait for the safety relay to click and enjoy the listen bliss.
I have a headphone system (for late night listening) - a pr of Senn HD800 (Warren Audio cable) and a tricked out (new caps) Woo Audio WA6SE (tube rolled to perfection), custom ICs = a very nice headphone system. Very, very sweet, detailed sound.
The Bada 3.3SE with Reference 3A speakers - crushes it!
I am looking for 3rd one of these to try some cap rolling, silver wiring, Harris Diode, Precision Resistors, etc...Just to see if I can't take it up a notch.
I would also like to try the NEW Bada 3.8MK (uses the same Toshiba MOSFETs) with a different pre configuration and more power. CattyLink has them for $1145 deliver - insanely low price!!
Funny - I have never seen a formal Audio Mag review of these -SAD!!
