"Warm Sounding" Solid State Amplifiers


As a Canadian I am naturally a huge fan of Bryston products but not long ago I switched things up for a NAD C355BEE integrated amp and instantly realized what I had been missing in terms of warmth, sweetness and overall pleasant sound.

I'm interested in moving up from there into some Class A or A/B amps but I don't know of any other warm sounding Solid State amps other than Pass Labs which are out of my price range at the moment.

Tubes are obviously "where it's at" as they would say but the maintenance factor is somewhat of a deterrent for me. Should I just go for an M series NAD amp or is there another intermediate product between that and Pass Labs??
pontifex

Showing 1 response by mikelavigne

you have not really listed a price range. so this might not be a choice for you. but I would suggest trying to listen to a used darTZeel NHB-108.....which can be purchased in the $10k-$13k price range. they are $25k new. 10 years ago I switched from tubed Tenor to darTZeel (I now have the dart 458 monoblocks) since it had the breath-of-life of tubes, that always listenable smooth extended treble, and the low noise and amplifier grip of solid state. read about the darTZeel and you will find legendary swiss build quality, but mostly about it's lack of global feedback and low parts count in the signal path. and it's full bodied sweet midrange and great micro dynamics and lively sound. no grain, or etch, or brightness. just music.

best wishes in finding the right amp and I hope you get a chance to listen to the dart.