Hi everyone. Ive been taking a break to catch up with my reading( my other lifelong passion, apart from music).
I saw a PM from srramanujam asking for my impressions of The Lyrita s Russian 6C33CB output valve based set amp vs the Cadence VA 1 since he wants to take a decision so , for whatever its worth, here goes.
You may have read that HiFiAshok, Viren, anm, my brother Rohit (Cadence Amayas + VA 1 +Oppo 981 HD ) who is not an audiophile in the conventional sense but loves music, & myself got together one evening with the express purpose of comparing the merits of the 2 amps this being of particular interest to Viren , who has a system of getting people together for listening sessions when he develops something new, to get other points of view. He has done modifications based on such feedback several times, so he was pretty keen on this get together.
Ashok was the host , members would be familiar with his setup detailed in the threadShowcase your Aidio/Video setup -http://www.hifivision.com/my-audio-video-setup/1167-showcase-your-audio-video-setup-here-19.html.
The equipment used for the session was CDP-CEC3300R > Cadence VA 1/ Lyrita 6C33CB SET Amp ( 12 / 15 watts RMS switchable ) > Cadence Arista Mk II Electrostatic/Dynamic Hybrid speakers.
In order to tune ourselves for the session, the host laid on beer/whisky as per choice along with delicious finger food- Mrs Ashok is a very gracious host , all thanks to her for her hospitality & patience.
We heard the follg music, alternately thru the two amps-
Sara Mclachlan, Greg Brown, KD Lang, Kalpana Zokarkar, Music in a Great place ( a recording made in a cathedral in the US by Viren & a friend of his),Pink Floyd The Wall & The Dark Side of the Moon, some tracks from the Manger test disc, some Ghazal music & a selection of hindi film music. Dire Straits & Thriller-MJ.
As would be evident, the variety was fairly wide
Now for the difficult one: which amp was better?
Both the Amps are valve amps in a sense- the VA 1 is a Hybrid PushPull with a solid state Pre Amp stage with EL 34 output valves, while the Lyrita is an all Valve SET design with a switch to allow either a single plate output-12 watts, or a parallel plate output-15 watts.
(Incidentally, a mention has been made somewhere that the VA 1 is NOT a Hybrid Amp but only with a passive volume control & valve output stage.
That is not correct !
I was quite surprised by that comment & cross checked with Mr Ajay Shirke, MD of Cadence who confirmed that it is indeed a Hybrid Amp as stated in their website.)
There can be no sweeping statement either that PushPull Amps are superior or that SET Amps are better- it all depends on how well the design has been implemented & how well quality components have been matched.
Both the Amps have been well designed by designers who care a lot for their art, & are capable of giving long term joy to their owners.
The difference lies in the basic philosophy, with the proponents of SET amps placing an emphasis on the shortness of the signal path & maintaining the integrity of the musical signal as a way of extracting the maximum enjoyment of music.
Both the Amps performed well & both generated a more than adequate SPLs in the big listening room of Ashok.
It was generally agreed that the Lyrita Amp pulled out more low level detail, yielding a better musical texture and was thus more emotionally involving, e.g Dark side of the Moon which we had all heard thousands of times sounded so very moving & mesmerized us all into silence.
This difference is there even with Lyritas earlier PushPull Amps vs their SET designs.
The VA 1 , with its greater reserves of power had the edge in tracks like, for example, Money for Nothing-Dire Straits- with its explosive staccato drumming in the beginning & the waves of electric guitars & pulsating rhythms of the song, & in MJs Billie Jean which has a pervasive background foundation of the double bass. But the musicality of This Girl is Mine shone thru the SET. We noticed this time & again in the selections of music that we played.
In the end, both the owners of the VA 1 spontaneously raised their glasses to Viren, overcoming their ownership bias ,
The 6C33CB SET, at less than half the cost of the VA 1 more than held its own & was proved worthy of audition & consideration by audiophiles evaluating valve amps.
The build & basic quality of both the Amps was very good with the VA 1 better as regards fit & finish.
But when it comes to performance-
Whos better, Nadal or Federer ?
The verdict lies ( & should lie ) in the ears of the listener, there can be no absolutes.
I saw a PM from srramanujam asking for my impressions of The Lyrita s Russian 6C33CB output valve based set amp vs the Cadence VA 1 since he wants to take a decision so , for whatever its worth, here goes.
You may have read that HiFiAshok, Viren, anm, my brother Rohit (Cadence Amayas + VA 1 +Oppo 981 HD ) who is not an audiophile in the conventional sense but loves music, & myself got together one evening with the express purpose of comparing the merits of the 2 amps this being of particular interest to Viren , who has a system of getting people together for listening sessions when he develops something new, to get other points of view. He has done modifications based on such feedback several times, so he was pretty keen on this get together.
Ashok was the host , members would be familiar with his setup detailed in the threadShowcase your Aidio/Video setup -http://www.hifivision.com/my-audio-video-setup/1167-showcase-your-audio-video-setup-here-19.html.
The equipment used for the session was CDP-CEC3300R > Cadence VA 1/ Lyrita 6C33CB SET Amp ( 12 / 15 watts RMS switchable ) > Cadence Arista Mk II Electrostatic/Dynamic Hybrid speakers.
In order to tune ourselves for the session, the host laid on beer/whisky as per choice along with delicious finger food- Mrs Ashok is a very gracious host , all thanks to her for her hospitality & patience.
We heard the follg music, alternately thru the two amps-
Sara Mclachlan, Greg Brown, KD Lang, Kalpana Zokarkar, Music in a Great place ( a recording made in a cathedral in the US by Viren & a friend of his),Pink Floyd The Wall & The Dark Side of the Moon, some tracks from the Manger test disc, some Ghazal music & a selection of hindi film music. Dire Straits & Thriller-MJ.
As would be evident, the variety was fairly wide
Now for the difficult one: which amp was better?
Both the Amps are valve amps in a sense- the VA 1 is a Hybrid PushPull with a solid state Pre Amp stage with EL 34 output valves, while the Lyrita is an all Valve SET design with a switch to allow either a single plate output-12 watts, or a parallel plate output-15 watts.
(Incidentally, a mention has been made somewhere that the VA 1 is NOT a Hybrid Amp but only with a passive volume control & valve output stage.
That is not correct !
I was quite surprised by that comment & cross checked with Mr Ajay Shirke, MD of Cadence who confirmed that it is indeed a Hybrid Amp as stated in their website.)
There can be no sweeping statement either that PushPull Amps are superior or that SET Amps are better- it all depends on how well the design has been implemented & how well quality components have been matched.
Both the Amps have been well designed by designers who care a lot for their art, & are capable of giving long term joy to their owners.
The difference lies in the basic philosophy, with the proponents of SET amps placing an emphasis on the shortness of the signal path & maintaining the integrity of the musical signal as a way of extracting the maximum enjoyment of music.
Both the Amps performed well & both generated a more than adequate SPLs in the big listening room of Ashok.
It was generally agreed that the Lyrita Amp pulled out more low level detail, yielding a better musical texture and was thus more emotionally involving, e.g Dark side of the Moon which we had all heard thousands of times sounded so very moving & mesmerized us all into silence.
This difference is there even with Lyritas earlier PushPull Amps vs their SET designs.
The VA 1 , with its greater reserves of power had the edge in tracks like, for example, Money for Nothing-Dire Straits- with its explosive staccato drumming in the beginning & the waves of electric guitars & pulsating rhythms of the song, & in MJs Billie Jean which has a pervasive background foundation of the double bass. But the musicality of This Girl is Mine shone thru the SET. We noticed this time & again in the selections of music that we played.
In the end, both the owners of the VA 1 spontaneously raised their glasses to Viren, overcoming their ownership bias ,
The 6C33CB SET, at less than half the cost of the VA 1 more than held its own & was proved worthy of audition & consideration by audiophiles evaluating valve amps.
The build & basic quality of both the Amps was very good with the VA 1 better as regards fit & finish.
But when it comes to performance-
Whos better, Nadal or Federer ?
The verdict lies ( & should lie ) in the ears of the listener, there can be no absolutes.