As I explained in the review, you can get better than SET performance from the SIT if you precede it with a single-stage DHT preamp. Those are rare critters but I listed a few models from Coincident, Jeffrey Jackson, Trafomatic and Wavelength. Now you hear a direct-heated triode in an ideal circumstance (no harmonic dilution from a driver tube, no massive turns ratio for the output transformer and the valve is driving a stable amplifier input impedance rather than reactive loudspeaker load), far better than the tube would sound in a multi-stage power amp. This combo of DHT/SIT goes places most SETs can only dream of. No noise. More bandwidth. More control in the bass. More resolution. More linear THD. And, the THD can be strategically shifted.
The SIT by itself doesn't sound like transformer-coupled tube amps at all. It's much more linear and far quicker and more open. If you reference an OTL however it gets much much closer...
The SIT by itself doesn't sound like transformer-coupled tube amps at all. It's much more linear and far quicker and more open. If you reference an OTL however it gets much much closer...