What's a contender to an Audio Reference 5 SE?

When you prefer a more tube sound, I would use A tube pre amp with a Pass Labs power.

Why?

Because the Pass labs will give you more control, speed, details and more deversity in the middle freq.

When we audition tube amps it is always very easy to hear shortcomings. I always say; I would never choose for shortcomings when I can get a more complete sound.

Audio magazines get money from manufacturers so they can exist. Ever person understands this. But....there is a big but.....

They will not tell you which tools are superior to tools which they also reviewd. This is the thing we don't like. We prefer shootouts of the best students of the class.

I am not here to say which products and brands are inferior. This is not up to me. But in 17 years of time I auditioned hundreds of sets. In many situations the endresults are not that good.

This is based on the fact that they often use inferior products. Beside this they use tools which do not own all the parts of what we call; Total Sound. Incomplete sound is less involving and less exiting.

When you are aware of properties you will understand better how the stage and sound of your set is being build!

I don't know why anyone would expect a balanced perspective from someone who posts nothing but single-ended infomercials!

Though not as trendy or talked about and owned here as those already mentioned, there is always the EAR-Yoshino 912 (the only pre Art Dudley likes in some ways more than his Shindo), or it's little brother the 868.

Quite Taters...I fear the whiff of disgruntled ex dealer doth pervade the airs!

Viz: "I sold AR for over 6 years of time. When I should
sell it again, it would be time to look for another job"

It is a shame when a fellow merely seeking balanced advice and guidance falls foul of those who would seek to use such a thread for their own ends.

A simple Google search throws up several instances where Pass Labs and ARC products are run together in harmony, some instances of folk running both companies products as user alternatives due to the relative strengths and nuances offered.

Some instances where some folk have prefered Pass Labs to ARC and Vice versa, however such a preference would appear to be a close run thing for the most part, and certainly nowhere even close to the skewed rhetoric espoused by Bo1972!

All that aside, this thread is more than merely ARC Vs Pass Labs, as referenced by several respondents recommending a number of excellent high quality viable alternatives offering a 'nuanced' reference level of sound reproduction, which in the end, may well be decided upon as much in terms of the Cost, the Aesthetic, the Practicalities of SS Vs Valve, and arguably the most pertinant point to consider, that of System Impedance and Synergy.

I remember going into different "brick and mortar" dealers and when I asked about a product they didn't carry, if they "bashed it" that was an indication that they had that product taken away from them, or didn't get the product. I would politely listen and then leave. I recall a few years ago there was a JL Audio thread regarding the Fathom subwoofer on another well known forum where the posts from ONE member were always negative. There is an agenda it seems?