D'Agostino vs. Ayre

Enjoy your S-250. It takes little break in to reveal its prodigious capabilities. 

Yes I've had both in my system.
Ayre: incisive, fast, obsessive. Stunning with Vandersteens.
D'Agostino: palpable,organic, transparent. Astonishing with Magicos or YGs. 
Choose your poison. 
There is no antidote. 

Knowing now you are powering Alexias the D’ags are the clear choice over the MXR-20s.
If you want them to sing and dance for their supper then high powered tubes are essential.
VTL Siegfrieds or ARC 750 SEs are the best matches for Alexias I’ve heard so far.
Just heard the Boulder 2160 with Alexias recently which was revelatory so I reserve the right to equiviquate and retract previous musings with unassailable certainty.

Imgoodwithtools I’ll be interested in your comparison. I find the S-250 to have the best treble in the business even over the Momentum 400s. It’s articulate, sweet, textured, refined and transparent while retaining extension, air and precision. Spacial dimensionality is preternatural. And yes I bought one.

Imgoodwithtools I had a similar revelation a while ago that caused me to sell almost all of my existing equipment and convert to "the dark side" as some might feel.

I now use a Synology DS1815+ NAS (32TB) fronting a dCS Vivaldi 2.0 Upsampler, Clock, and DAC which drives my S-250 directly all through Transparent XL Gen V to the YG Sonja 1.2s and I've never looked back. Big fan of Roon and Tidal also. 

The Berkeley Alpha Ref is an amazing unit and certainly one of the best values. I really appreciate MSB's DACs as well.

As before I look forward to your comparisons. You might prefer the MX-Rs on your Alexias but the D'agostino worked magic with my YGs. I wish I had never listened to that Boulder 2160 however🔊🎶

Yes I have heard the Ref V2 but never the original. Obviously I'm a dCS fan but could live with the Berkeley easily. It's clearly in the vanguard of digital evolution. Saw your posts on the digital forum BTW. 

Great great choices of amps for your Alexias. You can hardly go wrong. I stand by my assertion that high powered tubes like VTL  Siegfrieds are preferable with Alexias. The S-400s are adequate but insufficient. The S-250 will outperform anything but expensive high powered glass with your speakers IMHO. 

Congratulations Mr Goodtools. You now have some truly great amps to audition with your Alexias. Not that I want to prejudice your judgement but I suspect I know how the audition will proceed. Happy listening to you. At this stage it's personal preference and you simply can't go wrong. Unless you disagree with my infallible opinion!🎶😎

Great review Mr Tools. I was frankly surprised. I thought you'd prefer the precision and inciveness of the Ayre's vs the organicisity of the the D'ags. Especially on such randomly ported speakers like the  Alexias. With no disrespect but these speakers are compromised derivatives. The Alexxes and Yvettes are Wilson's forward thinking. And great speakers. The Alexia's are the bloated deathnell of the the  Watt/Puppy dynasty. Get some high powered tubes ASAP. 

Yes it will. Unfortunately for Wilson the Yvettes far surpass the Alexias in every category except loudness. 
One can only hope the Alexia 2 is a mini Alexx which is probanbly the best loudspeaker I've ever heard. 
My YG Sonias 1.2 notwithstanding. 

Mr Tools as you've gathered I'm not a fan of the Alexias. I think they are the best of Wilson's previous technologies but I hope I did not come across as disparaging. They are great speakers by any measure and I'd live with them gladly. But the real magic does come out with pairing them with high powered tubes IMHO. That is frequently impractical I realize and I think your choice of the S-250 is more than a superb compromise and likely a definitive alternative. 
Most happy listening to you sir,

khrys

Hey Mr Goodtools. How’s the S-250 working out?
Have you heard the Alexia IIs? Stunning speaker. Seems more designed for SS than the original. 
I still think your current setup should be revelatory.

Good listening to you sir,

K