Art Audio Carissa vs deHavilland 845 tube amps

Hello,

I do not know where you got your information about the dehavilland 845 amps being "apparently somewhat veiled".
I have heard them in several systems, and in no instance did they ever "veil" the music. They pleasantly resolved details in recordings that I didn't know where there!

I haven't heard the Carissa amps, so I can't comment on those, but I suggest that you take a good listen to the deHavillands.

I spent a few hours listening to the dehavilland 845's with a Hovland preamp, Naim CDS3 CDP, and Von Schweikert VR4jrs a few days ago. I would hardly say they were veiled, although perhaps I could have used their larger GM70's for some music to generate greater volume. I was generally very impressed with the stock tubes, but I understand that some Chinese 845B tubes can dramatically increase the amp's potential: I found the midrange very detailed and a dramatic improvement over the Pass X350.

Tube rolling with the 845B from Shuguang

Ah, my post popped up : ) The question of is the deHavilland "veiled" was an unfortunate one based on reading only a few comments. I have heard many times after this post that they are not veiled at all. I will soon hear one of the deHavilland Ios amps and I'll report back my experience.

I've never heard an Art Audio amp, but the deHavilland 845s I had were lovely, especially with the new Shuguang 845B tubes. I'm not one of those who is thrilled with the 845 sound however, but my local dealer is. When I asked him to sell the deHavillands for me, he took one listen and promptly traded me his Canary preamp for them. He's still thrilled 6 weeks later. They're seriously butch amps, just as bit too romantic and bloomy for me.