Great, and I must say, civilized discussion here. I'm familiar with the pitfalls of lesser quality silver ICs as I own a couple pair. The Darwins that I recently got don't fall into that "lesser quality" category. Every once in a while someone gets it right. The Darwins do.
I've been a big fan of Mapleshade ribbon ICs until I bought a Marantz SA-15S2b SACD player. The Marantz brought with it boatloads of gravitas coupled with weight. Everything fleshed out but in the end, thickened too much like a porridge that lacked a little water and set too long to cool.
At first it was welcomed but soon it became apparent that from the lower mids to the bass detail lacked cohesion, approaching that "one note bass" effect. I tried an older set of silver ICs and the bloat disappeared but everything took a big step back and became too polite, too reticent.
I took a chance on the Darwin Silver ICs and all the weight returned, but with more detail and that see through quality. The thickening vanished but what remained was hearty and full, tuneful and expressive. Not all recordings benefited from these ICs due to poor mastering and/or recording techniques but what did sound great to begin with is now utterly beguiling.
The only downside to these Darwin Silver ICs is that now, I must go through my CD collection and weed out the poorer recordings and get what I can for them at some CD & Record store as there's no longer any need to try to save them. :-( The Mapleshade ICs imparted a tonal quality that saved poorer recordings but the Darwins are merciless as they seem to impart nothing untoward to the recording.
I've only accrued some 170 hrs or so on the Marantz and not more than 6 hrs on the Darwins so there's still some break in to go and I can see (hear) what an improvement it's made in my system. I'm seriously considering getting another pair for my OPPO before the price increase. In keeping with the tone of this thread, let me just say that this is my experience, my observations, my biases and yours may not mirror mine but there are some well made silver ICs out there that won't break the bank. I also realize that this doesn't exactly cover the question of IC between amp and pre amp but it might apply.
All the best,
Nonoise
