Shootout-- Primaluna Dialog HP Integrated/Carver Crimson 275/Elekit 300B


Hey All, 

I'm involved in my own personal shootout between these three amps.  Because I don't have a separate preamp on hand (I'm building one similar to SP14/Don Sachs), I can only accommodate digital across all three units right now.  My Manley Chinook cannot be hooked up to the Carver yet. 

The system will be: 
  • Source -  Tidal -> Roon Nuc Endpoint 
  • DAC - Doge Audio 7 DAC (all tube).  If you'r not familiar with this DAC, you may want to read up on it or watch this : https://youtu.be/DWLXFLcgLy8
  • Loudspeakers - Klipsch Cornwall IV
  • Power -- Torus Tot Power
  • Cabling -- Analysis Plus power/ Chord Single Ended RCAs
[When I get the preamp done, the Vinyl end is: Technics 1200 GAE, Kiseki Purpleheart, Manley Chinook]

I had to try this shootout/personal review because there are simply too few reviews of the Carver 275.  

This is going to be a great ride!  Each one of these amps is impressive in its own right.  I'm eager to learn of differences.  When I'm done I'm going to sell one of the three amps and keep the best two for my needs.  Stay tuned!


128x128jbhiller
@jjss49 , I would think the Carver 275 and the Spatials would mate well. I'm curious about your Harbeths.  I cannot comment on compatibility of the amp because I'm driving the Cornwalls at 100dB sensitivity.  
I was using the carver with Spatial X3s and that sounded very good indeed.

Oz


reporting back -- have now had a full week with the carver crimson 275 tube amp, bought used, with original russian kt120/12at7 drivers and single ge old stock 12ax7 input stage (potentially a prior owner upgrade)

ran the amp driving spatial m3 sapphires, proac d30rs, harbeth c7, old trusty spendor sp1, and against competing (pricier) amps linear tube ref zotl40 (with mullards), and arc ref 75 (running kt120’s), also checked against very sweet solid state pass/first watt f6…

sources are streaming via sonnet morpheus fed direct to amp, and wtl amadeus tt/benz glider sm/ayre p5xe/cj et5...

key findings:

overall an excellent amp, lively/well detailed, powerful presentation/voicing, plenty of oomph but with good, if not great, tact and subtlety as well… tremendous performance and value at 2500-2750 new (not to mention used)

-- treble is fairly extended, refined and quite detailed (for a tube amp, I would say more extension and microdynamics than most p-p tube amps)

-- midrange is lovely, fleshed out but tactile/fast not at all lazy

-- voiced to have a full, forward and fast midbass (reminiscent of top primaluna’s) and very good deep bass - great, and i mean great sense of drive through the bass - so this one does what many lesser tube amps fail at -- which is come across as having tubey goodness but with clarity and some serious ‘cajones’! - something with the trick output transformers used here, working very well with the KT120’s in the design - very impressive!

-- soundstaging is very good - wide tall deep, good edge definition and proper relative scale of piece parts

-- a minor weakness is a slight electronic glare in the treble and on transients (reminiscent of the arc vt100 series)… i think this is the tradeoff in the voicing of a more forward. lively treble than most tube amps (the ying to the yang of the first sub point above i think) - maybe this can be tweaked out with better small signal driver tubes (modern russian and chinese small signal tubes are notorious for this artifact) - i ordered some old stock at7’s - they are incoming - the other nit is a fairly low level power transformer hum (its not my power, no hum with other amps used)...

-- finish and quality is good to very good… pcb board at base of tube sockets a little ‘give-y’, and the stupid rca input jacks are smaller than normal diameter, making most cables seem ‘loose’ - at this price not a major complaint - biasing is fixed/user adjustable (not autobias), holds very steady and is a breeze to do with onboard meter

-- amp is quite small and quite light for a tube amp… this is very much appreciated!

-- main sonic gap to better (and more expensive) tube amps is the slight, subtle hash in the treble and upper mids (still working on that with tube rolling), but the luscious excellent midbass is somewhat compensatory -- zotl has more refined treble a more sophisticated overall velvety sound, if slightly less midbass impact; ref 75 has bigger deeper stage, bloomier mids, both have slightly lower noise floor than the carver

net net i like this amp alot... at its price it is outstanding