Aleph Owners and Users...

Oddly enough I own both the vt100m2 and the 100watt pass aleph 2 monoblocks. I never really decided that I liked one better than the other.

The aleph 2's are the clearest and most detailed amplifiers I have ever heard. they sound like they take less away from the recording than any amplifier I have ever heard. They are dead quiet and have an almost tubelike midrange character. The midrange is extremely detailed. My old McCormack DNA1/RevAGold had a very very slight electronic 'haze' compared to the alephs. It was more gutsy sounding though. Spectral amps are in the same league, but a little cooler sounding. Krell amps have a sense of forced detail and metallic tinge by comparison. You can hear detail to a fault with the alephs. You hear things like singer's taking small breaths, brushing their hair, fingering the microphone etc. They are ruthless with bad recordings - most rock albums for example sound a little thin and raggedy with the alephs. Jazz recordings sound superb.

The vt100m2 will give you the inimitable 'tube aliveness' and take away some clarity and detail. It is extremely clear for a tube amp and captures the 'magic' of voice, electric guitar, and wood instruments a little better. More palpable presence. The vt100 has a larger soundstage, but the alephs have a more exact one. You can place a well recorded voice to within a few inches in the room with the alephs, but it's more like a foot or so with the vt100.
I've used my two amps with several different speakers and some were better than other's. Generally the alephs shine with very detailed, less power hungry speakers such as audio physic and magnepan 1.6QR. They don't have the raw power of solid state amps such as the mccormack. The 100w alephs actually have weaker bass than the 100w vt100m2. No question about it. The vt100 is more forgiving of both equipment and media. It sounds great with any speaker. It's really hard to NOT get a great sounding system with the vt100m2.

To summarize, if you're looking for great tube warmth/aliveness with unusual clarity, go with the vt100. If you're looking for amazing detail, clarity and spooky soundstage placement, go for the alephs.

I have heard the 3, the 5, and the 2's on different occasions. They all sounded the same. I think it' s just a power rating difference. The 0, the 3, and the 1.2's are all stereophile class A. I suspect the others being left out was just a limited review space consideration.

Vote for me !

I owned the 0's and 2's and heard the 3's and 1.2's in other systems I know well. They all sounded great. The problem with the whole series of power amps was that at every power level they drew an enormous amount of power from the wall, and produced an enormous amount of heat. By the time I felt I needed the output of the 1.2's, I also felt they ran too hot, drew too much power, and were too heavy--oh, yes, they also had the off-on switch on the back to make it worse and discourage you from turning them off. But the sound quality on every pair was superb and very similar, given their power limitations.

I have an Aleph 4 (100w/ch in one large box) and love it. Its the truest sounding amp I've owned so far. MGottlieb is right, though, they really use a lot of power and generate a lot of heat. Its no surprise, they run "pure class A", no switching power supplies or other gimmicks to achieve "sort of class A". Thats why they sound so good. They are essentially a 2 stage triode design with lots of output transistors in parallel to get 100w (in the case of the Aleph 4). I just bought a small whisper fan and all is well.

I owned the 3 and then got the 2s. Surprisingly the 2s are not that much more powerful than the 3. The bass was fuller, and I could play a bit louder. As far as improvments that's about it. I think that the 3 may edge out the 2s in transparency, the 2s sound a little dark to me compared to the 3. If you can live with 30 watts, then the Aleph 3 has got to be one of the best buys in high end.