The smoothest amp you've heard?

many tube amps are closed in on top, not airy. so they may be butter smooth, but it’s a circuit artifact overlayed over all the music, and not ’the’ music.

what you want is transparent, grain-less and continuous, but still lively and with great textures, timbres and tonal richness. i’d choose darTZeel; both the dart 108 stereo Mk1 and Mk2, and the dart mono blocks. zero global feedback, minimal parts count in the signal path. purity and transparent. no sense of any artifact overlay.....just music. super smooth and amazingly grain-less and extended, airy top end.

darTZeel does not sound like tubes, or solid state.....it sounds like music.

@atmasphere

Ralph, i’m not a spec guy, and have not doubt about what you are saying.

for sure i’ve heard tube amps with noticeably open extended top ends; three come to mind and they are all OTL’s; any Atmasphere i’ve heard :-), my Tenor 75 watt OTL’s back in 2001-2003, and the Berning 211/845 during my in-room demo a few years back.

a friend has some Found Music ’Blade’ tube amps that are very open on top, not sure the topography.

these are the tube amps i’ve heard enough to comment on.

i had the Lamm ML3’s and big VAC’s in my room for 3 months back a couple of years. i’d say each are ’better than average’ as far as tube amps top end extension but not in darTZeel territory, or OTL territory either.