Ayon Triton- Anyone compared to high end seperates

My friend has an Ayon integrated, I will suggest that he answers himself more fully. His impression is that the amp section is better than the pre. Substituting a Magic hybrid for the pre gave an improvement and let him to get a passive which he now uses. He uses an Ayon CD player and a pair of Tyler speakers, either D-1s or D-10s, whichever is the slightly smaller one. He likes the amp very much.

what suprised me most about my Triton was how wide bandwidth this amp is, and also how low of a noise floor for a tube amplifier- I believe the big Austrian (Lundahl I believe) extremely high quality transformers used in the Triton to be a big reason why... and yes, I have replaced SS separates with this (I will not bring up name brands)- it is a truly wonderful high-end integrated amp, and to have the option of a direct pass through being able to also try different outboard preamps makes it a wonderfully flexible product as well.

Hello Jcaudio-

I purchased a Triton Integrated about a year ago when I decided to move away from separates and haven’t looked back. My involvement in the hobby only goes back about 12 years, but in that time I have enjoyed some relatively decent gear. As far as separates are concerned, I’ve cycled through the following: Sim Audio Moon Limited Edition stack (P5-LE, W5-LE, and Moon Eclipse-LE CDP), which lead to a Balanced Audio Technology (BAT) VK-51SE + VK-75SE combination, and then a BAT VK-51SE + VK-250SE combo, and finally a VK-52SE + VK-600SE combo. Whew- a fun but expensive journey…

But through the process, I learned what I like – a full range, detailed presentation WITH a lot of body, layers, and richness. That’s all! I liked the Sim Audio gear, but it was a little sterile. The BAT solid state gear added some of the other dimensions I was looking for. Now the BAT rig with the BAT tube amp – that was a kit I really enjoyed. I tried the BAT VK-600SE solid state amp in an attempt to put some big iron behind Dynaudio speakers. I’m a huge BAT fan, but I definitely missed what tubes (VK-75 SE) contributed to the system. Whether you call it organic richness or call it distortion – I like it. I needed to get back to a tube amp in a simpler system setup – so enter the Triton…

Enough background? Now on to your question – the Triton is an awesome integrated amp, and I think it can hold its own with similarly priced separates (<$10k). In fact, I believe it would compare favorably with separates in the $15k range. I feel like I’m not giving up anything, and have been able to reallocate dollars across my system to improve overall system performance (turntable upgrades, room treatments, cables, ICs, etc.). All of the attributes I look for in a system’s presentation are there, and the synergy between my Sophia 2s and the Triton is fantastic. Like all tube amps, it kicks off some heat, so make sure that having a room heater is not going to be a problem for you. The integrated is built like a tank and has been completely trouble free. Hope this helps, and good luck with your next move.