Vincent Audio SV-500 Arriving Today


So I have a Vincent Audio SV-500 arriving today.

Pretty excited and not sure what I am going to experience (something good I hope of course!)
They will be connected to Martin Logan Motion 40’s, Questyle CMA400i DAC and Denon dp-300f TT with a Ortofon 2M Blue, Hi Res music from my HTPC (DSD and other Flac Files).

Since the Vincent does not have a phono stage for now, I will need to use the built in phono in the Denon.

And I will be comparing to my current source, a Denon AVR-5700.Perhaps not as much power as the Denon but am hoping that I am going to like.
I think the following will happen:
- I absolutely love it and stay with it- I don’t see a big difference from the Denon and return it- I don’t like the sound of a Hybrid Amp and return it and get a SS Amp (maybe a Yamy AS1100 or 2100)- I like it very much and get curious about the SV-237MK and so exchange for that
Got roughly 30 days to figure it out.
We’ll see....
128x128jay73
I don't have any experience with this particular model but I have had their SP-331 hybrid amplifier for over three years and been very happy with its performance and reliability. It took several hours for the new unit to settle.
Another happy camper with a Vincent SP-331 amp. Sounds very natural, organic and slightly warm paired with a Schiit Freya and Vandersteen 2Cs. I'll be VERY surprised if you don't love it.

Tom
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....
Considering that it's a hybrid amp, I'm surprised that you don't hear more of a difference, for better or worse. I guess give it a little time.
@jay73                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Some Amps can take a long time to run in, so as suggested give it some time.

Personally don't know your Denon, but appears it may be a good one.    

Of course there's always the question of System matching/synergy, Cables etc. to be considered.