Replace a Rogue Tempest with Cayin CS845A, Ayon Triton 2, Unison Research, or Mastersound?


For the past seven years, I've been running a Rogue Audio Tempest with my Lawrence Audio Violins. I haven't been fully satisfied with the combination, and so I'm thinking about making a change. I'd like to keep the speakers and ditch the amp or possibly use it on occasion instead of on a regular basis. The Tempest has a number of merits but I just found it to be not that exciting or lush. I use it exclusively in triode as the ultralinear doesn't really sound that good to me. I mostly listen to jazz but sometimes some rock and classical music via radio. Locally, it seems I can get a used Ayon Triton 2 for a very good price. The Cayin CS845A runs a few hundred more new, and I've been curious for a long time to try 845 tubes and possibly a 300B amp. For a couple thousand more, some new mid-level Unison Research integrateds are available. For a bit more than that, we have the Mastersound. I should also add there's a used Jadis I-88 available for about double the Ayon. I'm not likely to go that high since it will take me some time to save up for it and I suspect it will be gone anyway by the time I might be ready to buy it. I guess what I would say is that I'm looking for a more lush, fuller, vibrant sound than what I'm getting with the Rogue, something that would allow the Violins to sing a bit more and fill the room with a bit more of a glorious sound. Should I go with a SET or would it be better to have a more all-around tube amp with a better sound? If anyone with experience with the aforementioned amps would like to chime in with their advice and experience, I would welcome it. Thank you.
washline

Showing 1 response by audition__audio

The best affordable SET amplifier that I have ever heard was a 32B amp made by Mastersound. For the most part I am not a fan of SETs and find them overly euphonic and very quick to run out of gas even with efficient speakers. These characteristics became very apparent when comparing 3 different 300B SETs with the Atma-sphere 60s using several pairs of speakers including some DeVore O/96s.