Vincent Audio SV-500 Arriving Today

Hello Roxy54,
Yes I have the same thoughts and have read most of the reviews and praise. For some reason, Vincent really has been stuck in my head and I know I won't be satisfied until I hear it for myself.

OK, received the amp yesterday and here are my initial impressions so far (after playing some music for a few hours last night).
I liked the build quality front to back.
First: CD that I popped in, Dire Straights Brothers in Arms SACD..Listened to the whole album.

Sounded really good (even though the amp had not really had a chance to break in yet). I felt, maybe in my head, that I could hear more of the music compared to the Denon.
Second: Played a few Vinyl Tracks of Daft Punk, Random Access Memories using my Denon TT with the built in Pre-Amp (first time I tried the built in Pre-Amp) The few tracks that I listened to, sounded really good to me. Did not particularly feel it was much different from the Denon.

Third: Went back to regular CD. George Michael "Turn a Different Corner" and a few tracks from Enya...with these 2 particular CD's...I didn't feel it was much different from the Denon.
Fourth: Played a few DSD Files. Mix between a couple DSD256 Files and Norah Jones DSD64... Still could not feel much difference from the Denon.
So Far, the Vincent definitely sounds good...but not dramatically different from my existing Denon.
Even through my Denon is about 20 years old now and a AVR, it is no slouch as it was top of the line back in it's day and highly regarded.
What I am afraid of is since the Denon is high quality in it's own regard, maybe to really experience a mind blowing or dramatic difference, I would need to move really far up the chain to get that difference.
A difference that would be way out of my budget.
Note this is not a negative towards the Vincent, as it sounds great so far.
I think it's just making me appreciate the Denon all that much more.
But I still have to evaluate for another week or so and then decide if I stay with the Vincent or not.
So many Amps.....So little time....

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
I am going to give as much time as possible but in order to make a decision, it will need to be within a couple of weeks since I have a 30 day window.
I am still learning the different terms like, "Warm Sounding" and what they mean and feel like.
But I think I am starting to get a little sense of it.
One thing that I am going to try to do this weekend is some critical listening.
I am going to pick some particular tracks across CD, Vinyl and DSD and then play them back through the Denon and Vincent.

I downloaded a random App to measure sound levels which I will use to make sure I am listening at approximately the same sound level through both units to try and keep things as fair as possible.
It's going to be a little bit of a hassle connecting/disconnecting speaker cables and what not between the 2 but there is no other way to do it.
I have considered the Yamaha IA's and also the Rotel. I had Rotel in my sights for some time also and heard a Demo at BestBuy of the RA-1572.

If I were to go with Rotel, it would probably be RA-1572.
The only problem with BestBuy's demo is, I can't get a real feel for the Rotel in their sound room.
Their amps go through some type of switchboard or unit and they can only play their own preselected music. You can't bring in your own CD or anything. I don't even know what format or quality their music is.

I actually have a external DAC that I am using.
If I simply play A CD and leave it playing on continues playback (connected from external DAC throuigh analog output), would that suffice as breaking it in?

@timlub ,
Can I ask, why in particular through it's DAC?
Also, if I let a CD play for 24 hours, do I need to keep the volume up or I can just leave it all the way turned down?
I will take a look at the Belles Aria, thanks for the suggestion.

@rickytickytwoT
Thanks for chiming in.
Can I ask, how long have you had it and what equipment are you hooked up to?

Well I have been doing comparison's between the Vincent and Denon since last night (a lot of connecting/disconnecting of speaker cables and source cables, ha).

Listening to both units in Denon Direct Mode and Vincent Tone Defeat modes and used a app from my phone for sound levels, listening around 70db from both units. Wanted to keep things as fair as possible.

Listened to multiple tracks from CD's, Vinyl and HI Res music files from PC.

Now, I am no pro or anything but I did try to listen as critically as possible. Listening for certain instruments in certain songs, many times switching back and forth between very specific parts of the song.

So far I have come to the conclusion that both are about equal, there is just slight difference between the two. Now I know some of you might feel the Vincent should be blowing away the Denon and that perhaps should have been the case if this particular Denon was of lower class.

But as I stated before, this AVR-5700 was top of the line back in its day and highly regarded, winning awards left and right and it weighs a lot.

Now I have a question for you all. The Vincent and Denon I think (could be wrong) are basically class A/B Amps.

The Belles Aria mentioned above, is that Class D?

I have also been curious about the Primare Line and have been to a demo for the I25 which is Class D.

I wonder if maybe Class D would have a more forward/bright presentation?

I  think I am starting to under what you all mean by the Vincent and Denon having a more warm and relaxed feel to it and I am not complaining about that type of sound, I do like it.

I asked this question in another thread but did not get much feedback but do you all think there might be a bid difference between the Primare I22 (older version) and the newer I25?

Thanks for all the feedback so far.

I don't know what I have gotten myself into with this hobby, lol.

@auxinput Thanks for the input. I have read  many reviews from users stating that the Yamaha's sound warm and tube like, have you experienced that?

@bhd72

Hello, 

I completely forgot about this thread.

To answer your question, I did end up staying with the Vincent SV-500.

If you look on my Virtual Systems Page, you will see it there and I also created a Youtube Video on my system.

I have been quite happy with it so far and I am also considering adding a Vincent Amp but that might be a little down the road.

I see that you have some solid experience with Vincent.

I originally really wanted the SV-237MK but as I said, quite satisfied at the moment.

Thanks

@blackbag20

Hi,

I don’t have any major updates. All I can say is that I continue to enjoy this IA and have not had any issues with it.

Sometimes I think about adding a Vincent Amp and using the SV-500 as a Pre-Amp but honestly, for my room and listening situation, I really don’t need all the extra power. If I bought an amp it would only be because I am just itching to get something new.

You can view my System Page to look at pics and on that page, I also have a link to a Youtube Video that I did of my system.

I playback a couple of tracks from LP’s and 1 DSD track.

Sure, through Youtube you will not experience the full potential of the system but at least it can give you some idea if you are really interested in this amp.

Hope that helps a little bit.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks