Berning ZH270 vs 845 SET amp


After reading a recent review on Enjoy the Music.com of the Berning ZH270 amp I got the opinion that maybe it was a good substitute for a powerful SET amp. Not having heard or able to hear the Berning amp I wondered what Agoner's thoughts were.
I struggle with the thought of buying a 845 SET in that ultimately I will be disappointed by the typical SET short comings. The Berning amp still being a P/P yet OTL makes me wonder if it could be the best of both worlds.
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks
Mike
128x128brm1

Showing 3 responses by slowhand

I agree with Airwise. The only way anyone will get my ZH270 is to pry it out of my cold dead hands!
I did no like the sound of the Berning going straight into my Sony SCD-1 near as much as I do with my Supratek Cortese preamp. The Berning and the Supratek make for a perfect pair in my system. Both are very musical with great transparency and resolution.
If you like a classic tube sound in your amp, you will not get it from the Berning. To my ears and in my system the ZH270 just sounds right. It is very fast as people have mentioned and it is very dynamic. I feel it is the perfect match for my Supratek Cortese preamp and Gallo speakers. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the feedback settings on the Berning can to some degree give the Berning the tubey sound. I use the normal feedback for my Gallo speakers. This setting provides me with a good solid and powerful bass. If I go to the low feedback setting the bass gets very warm and fat sounding. Personally, I do not like this sound.