Okay, part 2. Sorry for the delay. Holidays and moving into a new home have been taking up all my time lately.
So after the Parasound vs MP experience, I knew I wanted to continue down the path of tube amps. I had PrimaLuna at the top of my list due to the chatter on this forum, but they were a little more $ than I wanted to spend. As you can imagine, there are plenty of options out there, especially with the efficiency of the Souls. I won’t go through everything I looked at but let me tell you, that rabbit hole is massive and deep as can be.
The more research I did, the more I felt pointed towards Decware:
- Fully SET design, zero negative feedback, with only 2 resistors and 1 capacitor in the signal path. Felt that goes along with the minimalist design philosophy of the no-crossover Souls.
- Self-biasing and self-balancing, so no maintenance or adjustment needed other than changing tubes as needed.
- Like Zu, Decware is handmade in the US and sold direct, thus no middleman markup, so in theory you’re maximizing value per dollar spent.
- An absolute legion of fans that swear life and limb to the quality of their amps. I believe @Tanqueray referred to them as cult like at one point. Seems pretty accurate from what I’ve seen. Definitely helped my decision to read heaps of testimonials on listening experiences being transformed to greatness.
- Reading the pages of musings on the Decware forums of Steve Deckert himself on the trials and tribulations he goes through in designing these things. It’s very clear these amps are a labor of love for the guy, and every component and design decision is chosen with the highest level of confidence that it’ll result in the best sounding experience possible.
Those are the main reasons at least. So the Decware amp selection process is mostly based on how efficient your speakers are – other than maybe the 25th Anniversary Zen amp which seems to be a whole different beast – you supposedly aren’t gaining a higher level of sonic quality by getting a more expensive amp. Just more wattage. Having the Souls, all I need is an absolute minimum of power, so I went with the SE84UFO2 Zen Triode, and its menacing 2.3 watts of output. I chose both available performance upgrades – type II beeswax coupling caps and the beeswax bypass mod – and I’m a sucker for aesthetics so I also got the custom wood base option and, months later after a conversation with their wood base guy, went with a really sweet looking tiger/curly maple.
I say “months later” because the waiting list for Decware amps is not for the impatient. It took around 4 and a half months to get mine. I was prepared for that though as you can see the real time waiting list and figure out about how long it is at any given time. Also kind of fun to see your name move up the list as the weeks go by and anticipation grows. Anyway, I had plenty of time with the MP-301 while waiting for my amp to arrive, so I really got to let that sound settle in.
Once the Zen amp arrived – holy shit. This is the single biggest upgrade I’ve ever experienced… Even bigger than moving up to the Sutherland Insight and going from $400 bookshelf speakers to the Polk LSiMs. The detail is incredible. Throw every cliché audiophile word out there, this has got it. Music is just more real. You're in the room. It floats and envelops you. What really keeps getting me is the low volume detail. I’ve never had a system where the small details in recordings come out at lower volume levels, but they are there with the Zen. I’m not sure how to explain it other than you have to hear it to believe it.
Is 2.3W of power enough? With the Souls, I don't have to turn the amp up past 25-30% for my usual listening level volume with most recordings. Once I get up to 40% and higher I start worrying about complaints from the neighbors.
And to say the Zu Souls suit this amp is an understatement. Gerrit at Zu confirmed there were a number of Zu customers who were running Decware amps so it would likely be a good match, and it sure is. You can add me to that list.
Unfortunately these photos don’t do the tiger maple any justice whatsoever, but you can sort of see the figuring.
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