Review of Decware Zen Amp SE84B
Price: $549
Link: www.decware.com

The Zen amp is made by Steve Deckert of Illinois, using a triode circuit with one 6N1P input tube, and a 5Y3WGTA rectifier, and two SV83 power tubes, putting out about 5 watts per channel. The design does seem to be inspired by the Zen principles of simplicity, directness, and integrity. It uses a minimum number of quality parts and the shortest point-to-point layout, in a simple, no-frills symmetrical box design. The footprint is small (6" x 10"), the box is finished in a plain grey enamel finish. It has one set of gold plated phono inputs and a gain control in the back, so it can be used without a preamp. Speaker outputs are 3-way banana jacks on the top rear on either side of the transformer. There is a bias switch (toggle) for the input tube on the front of the top panel; I don't know precisely what it does, but it offers two different and distinct sound signatures.

I've had the amp a couple months now and I am just getting a handle on a way to describe it. It took a little playing around for it to find a home. I've tried it directly from CDP/DAC, with a preamp, with Vandersteen 2Cs, and with Sonus Faber Concertos (with and without a sub). Neither of these speakers have exceptionally high sensitivity recommended for low power amps, so that is a problem. The Vandies, at 86db, proved to be too demanding of the amp; too much clipping too often told me there wasn't a good match here (although when they weren't clipping, the speakers were sounding better than I have heard with my other amps). So I switched to the Concertos, listed at 87db. These were more steady, no clipping; but straight in from the CDP/DAC/ZEN the gain had to be maxed to get a full range sound. At that, most small scale instrumental acoustic music played out very well, but it did not reach satisfying levels with music of greater dynamic range or scale, like orchestral or progressive rock, or recordings with very low gain. So that's when I introduced the preamp: Conrad Johnson PV10A. This pre adds enough gain to make a significant difference, and of course it provides the extra inputs, tape loop, and particularly useful--the phono pre. Though the preamp colors the sound of the amp the slightest bit (it seemed to take on a hint of gold) it didn't seem to interfere in any other way. So now with the CDP/DAC/Preamp/Zen/SF Concertos I had the system I wanted to run.

For comparisons sake, the only other tube amps I've heard for any kind of extended listening were the Conrad Johnson MV55, Cary KT88, and the Jolida 302A (which I also own). In my experience, the Jolida and the CJ have similar sonic characteristics, which could be expected from the use of the EL34s in both. They offer a lot of what is often described as the typical tube sound: warm, bloomy low-mid range, rounded liquid tones, sweet rolled off highs, a lush sound that complements acoustic and vocal music especially well. I found the CJ to be bolder, more robust, more agile, and at the same time a little more refined than the Jolida (I bought the Jolida because I could afford it). My experience with the Cary KT88 left me perplexed. I heard it in a poor listening room with Paradigm Monitor 7s that did not seem to do the amp any justice, so I'm not sure I heard what it really can do. But what I did hear was not like the others; the sounds were glassy and clear, almost brittle, cold and revealing, thin at times. There was some realistic 3-D presence but it felt like sleet--very different from the honey tones of the EL34s.

Anyway, I say this to give a point of reference. The trouble I've had with the Zen amp is figuring out how to describe the sound, but now I can say it doesn't sound like any of those I've described, nor like any typical SS amp. It is not warm and lush unless the music is warm and lush. It's not liquid or glassy, though I might call it pearly as it's not edgy or grainy either. It's not thin sounding, but will reveal thinly recorded music. It has no extraneous mid or low range bloom, but it offers more bass that is tighter, better defined and deeper than all the others. It portrays a wide dynamic range with consistency and refinement, without any obvious or characteristic sonic signature of its own (I guess this too fits well with the principle of zen).

The switch on the front offers two settings with distinctly different sounds. In the front setting, there is lower output, but the images are more distinct and the primary tonal and timbrel characteristics are full and true. There seems to be a lot of resolution in this setting and more space between the tones. It works particularly well with solo instruments and small acoustic ensembles. It portrays an involving intimate and rich musical experience. Switching to the back position adds secondary, harmonic material, more detail around the notes and a more contiguous soundstage. The images blend together more and there seems to be altogether more sound. I can compare the difference to focusing a lens on a camera. The front setting has a deep field, but a short range of focus, so only the primary subjects are highlighted from a muted background (thus enhancing the depth and quality of the subjects). The back setting expands the range of focus, bringing more elements up front and a clearer relation between the main images and the background.

I haven't decided which setting I prefer; I like both of them for different reasons, and I like having both of them--like having two amps for the price of one! I'm finding though that the front setting works best with audiophile quality recordings and seems to place more attention on the musician's performance, while the rear setting brings out more of the total sound of the performance. This difference is most apparent with vocals which come forward, apart from the instrumentation with the amp switch in the forward setting. So this is definitely the setting for those vocalists like Diana Krall, Holly Cole, and Loreena McKennitt. Enya on the other hand with her multiple layers of voices and choral groups seem to be best served with the rear setting.

Now more on the music: The harps in the Harpestry album seem to be sitting in my living room well away from the speakers, and the strings are clearly spaced across the soundstage. The overtones hang in the air and meld together like liquid. Electronic music with syncopated percussive sounds (Suzanne Ciani's Hotel Luna) take on a 3-D presence throughout the room in ways I've never heard here before. There is a cleaner and clearer presentation of densely textured instrumental music, both electronic and acoustic, though it reveals more of the sound editing and processing than I was used to hearing. I'm also hearing more distinct differences among the strings in chamber music. Paganini's Dream, a duet with piano and violin, features rich and resonant tones that seem to breathe on their own. And cello and bass music (David Darling's Eight String Religion and Michael Manring's Unusual Weather LP) is handled with strength, deep sonority, and sensitivity. This is some of my favorite music, so I was even more impressed and pleased when about five weeks into listening I replaced the MITerminator 4 speaker cable with TARA RSC Generation 2. There was an immediate difference: first, the upper mids and highs took on a more lustrous sheen where there should be sheen (cymbals, percussion); but the biggest difference was in the bass. Suddenly there was tight well delineated bass in multiple registers. It was punchy, solid and had real tonality, not just pressure and sound. And it was vinyl that brought this to my attention. Both Manring's LP and the Beatles Eleanor Rigbyprojected some bass and cello sounds that startled me for their depth, color and presence. This made me go out and purchase a record cleaning machine and sent me to the local used record store, as I am rediscovering the value of Lps: this is the best sound of vinyl I've ever had.

So with extended use I was learning that I haven't heard the best of the amp yet, and I get the sense that I am not getting the most out of this system. The amp seems to be sensitive to everything up and down the line, so it reveals the limits of my sources, cables and speakers. While the Concertos are steady and beautifully performing speakers, they seem to want more power to sound their best. They aren't the best match for this amp unless they are used in a smallish room with mostly acoustic music. So I've tested the amp with a few other speakers that I auditioned at a showroom, or happened to have available through a friend. I was able to bring some Paradigm Monitor 9s home. At sensitivity around 92db, they were much less of a load for the amp. There was more ease of presentation of detail and the music seemed to project from the plane of the speaker into the listening room more; I was getting a sense of what can happen with more sensitive speakers, but tonally, the Paradigms couldn't match the Concertos and they colored the sound with a veil that seemed to level out all the dynamic differences in the music.

Likewise, when I auditioned some Tannoy S8s (92db) in a showroom, they projected a lot of sound with a lot of punch, but they muted everything, especially in the mid range. Now this room was about the size of my listening room, but much better set up for sound. And I was using a much better CDPlayer (Wadia--I don't remember what model), so it was a different kind of test for the amp. The guys at this place were very accommodating as I spent a good 2 to 3 hours with the room to myself as they lugged speakers in and out. The best performers were JMLabs Cobalt 820 (91db). Tonally they were a lot like the Concertos, but as towers, they had a deeper more coherent bass making for an apparently broader dynamic range. Their increased sensitivity allowed them to fill the room with a big sound; the amp gain control set at about 10 o'clock. I had some compilation CDs of favorite tests cuts I made myself, so I put them through a good workout of pieces I knew very well. I was impressed, and so were some of the people at the shop who poked their heads into the room occasionally to see what was playing. There in the middle of this room was this little amp the size of a lunch box putting out some respectable sounds. Overall the sound was better than what I was getting at home, but partly because of the Wadia which was smoother and warmer than my Marantz/Music Fidelity DAC. This only confirmed my suspicion that the Zen amp could perform better with better speakers. So I can't wait to try it with something more appropriate for low power tubes, to see what it really can do.

In conclusion, I'm very pleased with the performance of this amp; it's making me listen in a new way to music that I thought I was very familiar with. It is an easy amp to listen to for a long time as it only seems to get sweeter as it warms up. It also is making me look more closely at the rest of my system in order to get the most out of it. As much as I love the SF Concertos (and the sound is really good with them right now), I know that this amp can sound better with more sensitive speakers, so I will be searching for the right match. My limited experience with other tube amps (300B, 2A3, etc) prevents me from making any useful comparisons. I don't know how the Zen compares with other low power SETs, but compared to push-pulls using EL34s and SS amps, it provides a simply different kind of experience--clear refined sound that draws attention to the music more than to itself. While my Jolida 302A seems warm enough to mask the flaws in the rest of my equipment and make anything sound pleasurable, the Zen pushes the rest of my equipment to its limits, revealing the strengths and flaws at once, yet still making for a musical experience.

Major Weakness: low output demands a speaker with high sensitivity and steady load. Not at home with poorly recorded rock and pop music. Plain jane looks (it looks like a kit), though the simplicity and symmetry of the design is unpretentious and appealing in its own way.

Major Strengths: neutral presentation; wide, well delineated dynamic range; strong taut bass with real tonality, if not a lot of boom and slam; pearly mids and highs crisp as mountain air; price.



Associated Equipment

Marantz CC67 CD player > Music Fidelity X-ACT DAC
Project 1.2 turntable w/ Grado Prestige Red cartridge
Conrad-Johnson PV10A preamp w/ phono
Sonus Faber Concerto speakers
Kimber Kable Hero Interconnects
TARA labs RSC Generation 2 speaker cables


Music

Phil Keaggy: Acoustic Sketches (guitar)
Paganini's Dream (violin & piano)
Harpestry (various harps & performers)
Loreena McKennitt: The Visit
Michael Manring: Unusual Weather (LP)
Beatles: Revolver (LP)
Terje Rypdal: After the Rain (LP)
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman (LP)
David Darling: Eight String Religion (acoustic & electric cellos)
Bill Douglas: Deep Peace (woodwinds, keyboards, chorus)
Pink Floyd: Meddle (LP)
Uriah Heep: Salisbury

Jim Kain
Glen Riddle, Pennsylvania

May 7, 1999

none obvious

After years of lusting after a single ended triode tube amp, I found Steve Deckert's site on the web. After reading reviews and pondering, I ordered the original Zen Amp. When the "special edition" was offered, I traded up.
Using a Marantz 4001 disc changer and a pair of Klipsch RB5 speakers, my system is modest but, very musical.
For the first time in 30 years of serious listening, I find myself listening to the music and forgeting about the equipment. I simply cannot believe that anyone makes a better amp for anywhere near even twice the money. I am constantly amazed at the complexity of sonic textures this amp reveals.
If you truly love music and aren't married to inefficient speakers, you owe it to yourself to purchase this amp.
Steve and his staff are truly wonderful and will demonstrate what service actually means, in case you've forgotten.

Similar Products Used:

original Zenamp

PLEASE READ MY PREVIOUS REVIEW FIRST .....
Having owned this amp several weeks now, it still remains the best sounding piece of equipment I've ever heard,(after decades of critical listening) in as much as it displays an absolute absence of existance...it sounds much more like music than a piece of stereo equipment..HOWEVER... I seem to miss what extreme SPLs overcome in their shortcomings. Therefore, I suggest one is not enough..although I listen with very efficient speakers, as inexpensive as these amps are, I feel bridging 2 are the key. For $ 800.00, you'll be thrilled.
If ratings above 5 were available, I'd certainly rate these amps there.They're absolutely astonishing.

Most natural & musical amp I've ever heard

Need high sensitivity speakers

The Zen triode amp has been an astounding discovery, confounding many previously held notions about sound and value. In a word it is certainly one of the best amps I have ever heard, and of course a runaway best value. At first I couldn't believe that this dimunitive product could sound so good, but after more extended listening, and the collaboration of some other trusted ears I realized what my ears and heart were telling my brain was true.

I am currently using this amp in a system that is geared to get the best out of low powered amps, while giving up nothing to the megawatt - giant tower approach. The system consists of a full house LInn/ ARO arm/ VdH grasshopper cartridge, Pink Triangle Litural CD, Jadis DP 60 preamp, and most importantly Avantegarde Duo loudspeakers (104 db efficient). This speaker will fill a gigantic room at concert levels with 10 watts, thus really allowing the Zen to show its stuff.

Finding amps for these speakers has been a long journey. The predecessor to the Zen was a custom made 300B push pull with old Acro iron that was the result of a long process of elimination that included some big ARC iron, Musical Reference, custom 300B SE based on a WE 91, etc,etc. My 300B PP is made by a dealer in VA, who has had customers trade in virtually everything on it including all the big transistor stuff, Cary, VTL, ARC, and so on. In a word, many people thought it a fantastic amp, better than nearly all the commercially available stuff.

In order to have a "backup", I ordered the Zen in case the 300B's were down. Upon initial hook up I was quite dissapointed - hum & noise! This is always an issue with sensitive speakers. However the sound was "promising" at that point. Breaking in for a couple of more days and the hum was nearly gone, and the sound improved considerably. After a couple of more days, the amp was quiter than the 300B's and really sounding quite glorious.

I couldn't believe it but I was beginning to feel that in many ways the Zen was better than the custom jobs. The sound was extremely natural, yet with more precision, directiness, and even soundstage than the 300B amps. Bass was great, very tight and defined, despite the seeming small size of the Zen OPT's. Harmonics, low color, width, depth, and tone were all there. In comparision to the 300B amps, the Zen sound was more up front & "direct", but still extremely natural. The 300B added a certain "romanticism" to the sound: "soaring" vocals, and and a bit of "reverb" that had sounded beautiful before, (and still does in many ways), but now sounded a bit "artificial" in comparison to the Zen.

This culiminated in a listening session with my wife (non-audiophile, but with very picky & "quick" ears often common to women), and a friend in the audio business who both professed to greatly prefer the Zen after about 5 minutes of listening!

The Zen is now the "main" amp, and the 300B's are being traded. I believe the Duos have allowed the Zen to show what it is really capable of. As Paul Klipsch once said (or so it goes) "What this country needs is a good 5 watt amp". Now we have it.

Similar Products Used:

ARC Monoblocks
Musical Reference monos
Custom 300B PP monos

Have been listening to the Zen amp for 6 months now and still moved by the rich and detailed sound it produces. The folks at Decware are top-notch with excellent customer service. I have the amp playing on the Gallo Micros in a bedroom system with musical fidelity cd player and audioquest interconnects. I like many others was concerned about the power output and the zen's ability to drive an avg. speaker. although you cannont blast music with these amps, you get a surprisingly high level of volume. More than enough to enjoy the music.

Unlike the previous two, this review is short and sweet. I own Zen triode #101
If you can live with 5 watts and you like the finer things in life without
paying for them.... visit decware.com, and buy this amp.


Cheers!
Grant

Musicality, incredible value

None to my ears .....

I own the SE84C-S version of this amplifier.

As many of those reading this can relate to, I have been pursuing the quest for a satisfying and involving audio system for more than 25 years ..... never with the success I was hoping for.

What a change in mindset this little amplifier has put me through .....

I ran across Steve Deckert's early web ramblings quite a while back (when he was in the early designing stages) and found it interesting, but didn't think much about it after that.

I owned a Conrad Johnson MV-50 ("carmel colored" but very musical) and an Audio Research VT-100 (retail $4500.00 !!!), so I was thinking that I was "good to go".

I had heard a pair of Golden Tube 300B SET monoblocks in my system ..... but they didn't do a thing for me and I concluded that the whole "SET thing" was a Fig Newton of the imaginations of those owning them ..... ; )

One day, a good friend and fellow music lover drug this "toy like" little amplifier over to my house and despite the fact that my speakers (ProAc Response One SCs) were in no way efficient enough to be powered by the "scrawny" 2 to 5 watts output ..... I was floored.

The next two weeks were spent in total denial ..... there was no way that this sorry little joke of an amplifier was shaming my "well regarded" brand name amplifiers. But it was ..... and in a big way.

Unfortunately, my ability to hear is pretty good, so it was just a matter of time before the inevitable happened and I became a Zen owner ..... and the CJ and the AR went to live with someone else. Sound familiar ? I'll bet it does for a lot of people who have purchased and /or posted reviews of Decware Zen amplifiers.

There are several versions of these amplifiers ..... a standard version, a select version with premium parts and a more powerful pair of monoblocks (in two versions).

If you own an efficient (90 db or better) pair of speakers and listen in a moderate sized room at reasonable levels, either stereo model of this amplifier will put an ear to ear smile on your face. If you have speakers that are not as efficient, a larger room or listen at high volume ..... I would recommend the mono blocks.

The low level detail, three dimensionality of soundstage and harmonic integrity that these amplifiers produce is absolutely breathtaking with a good recording and associated equipment.

If your taste is acoustic instruments and female voice, you will be enjoying your collection of music as if hearing it for the first time. Instruments such as piano are reproduced with all of the complexity intact ..... very tasty.

Happily, there are a good number of speakers that work well with these amplifiers. I own a pair of The Horns (http://www.thehornshoppe.com) and there is a database of suitable speakers on the Decware website.

For about $1500.00, you can buy a "Stan Warren modded" Pioneer 333 CD/DVD player (see the Decware forum), the basic Zen amplifier and a pair of The Horns and have a system that is musical beyond belief.

It's also hard to beat the 30 day return policy.

You can check the product line out at :
http://www.decware.com

I can recommend the Zen amplifiers without reservation.
Five well deserved stars !

Similar Products Used:

Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, Golden Tube, Dynaco, Heath

price, superior sonics

5 watts/channel

i just got this amp yesterday i ordered it in kit form for around $400...and i got it assembled today and it worked perfect the minute i plugged it in and turned it on..I am impressed by the pure beauty and simplicity of the circuit...i kept telling myself "noway will this sound good" as i assembled it...but i was wrong...this little baby grabbed my Klipsch Fortes and took them for a spin like they never had...incredible sonics..lightening fast..best way i can describe the sound is realistic....lifelike..it drives my speakers with ample volume...but they won't slam with it...so i bought another one on ebay for $250 and when it arrives, i will monoblock them... i expect that will let the fortes do some slamming with my MP3 trance cuts...
Bottom line...the reviews on this amp are not exaggerated...this is an incredible little amp and if your speakers are fairly sensitive they will amaze you...

Similar Products Used:

mac-230, Eico Hf-20's,,,HF-81..Scott 299

Musical reproduction, sound stage

Power.

I have owned several tube amplifiers, and listened to many more. I have always enjoyed the 'warmer' sound of tubes, but they have always been far from perfect. Transistor amps have great, clean bass with sharp, harsh highs and mildly unpleasant mids (remember, we are talking affordable amps - I am NOT saying that top of the line transistor amps sound bad, just that ones I can afford sound harsh and unpleasant).

For instance, while a Dynaco ST70 has very clean mid-range and decent high frequency sound, the bass has always sounded bloated and imprecise. The Mk IIIs, have a much cleaner bass, but the tubes are incredibly expensive. My solution in the past has been to bi-amp ST70 systems so the tube amp carried mid and upper end frequencies while a nice, clean transistor amp took care of the bass.

This form of bi-amping, however, has created more problems than it solved. While all frequencies are delivered to the speakers more 'cleanly' than with one amp, I found that I was dissatisfied with the overall sound; the sounds were there but they didn't sound very musical.

So, I decided to try single-ended amplifiers. I started by looking at prices and was astonished to find that 8 watts of single-ended, stereo power started at $1,600 and went up from there. In addition, many used tubes that made the KT88s from the Mk IIIs seem cheap by comparison.

Then, I stumbled across a little single-ended amp made by Asusa, the K2003. This is a 4 watt per channel amp that uses three tubes, and all are inexpensive. When I hooked up the K2003, I was soon struck by several impressions:
* it didn't sound like 'only' 4 watts;
* it had stronger and better bass then my ST70, at only 1/10 the power;
* the mids and highs were so sweet and musical that I was truly amazed.
* at $550 list, it was a bargain.

I was sold. THEN, I stumbled across Steve Deckart's website at www.decware.com and started reading his papers about amplifier design. Rechecking the K2003, I found that it used negative feedback and transistor rectification - both big problems according to Steve.

So, I decided to make my own comparison. I ordered a Zen Triode from Steve.

After doing extensive, back-to-back comparisons, I can say that he is right; his Zen amp is almost as far above the K2003 as the K2003 is above an old Dynaco. It is simply amazing. Sounds that have always been there, but muddied, or somehow masked so they weren't noticeable, suddenly stood out and grabbed my attention. A perfect example is a recording that has extensive use of a steel guitar. It sounded great on K2003, but on the Zen, all the odd sounds of a steel guitar were rendered so clearly that it sounded as though it was in the same room with me.

Vocals, especially female vocals, had a new richness and timbre that I didn't think was possible in a mid-priced stereo system such as mine. Acoustical instruments often sounded as though they were live, not recorded.

My only objection is that the power output is so low, that my system now has difficulty reproducing orchestral music. My speakers, at 90db, are simply not efficient enough to do the music justice. This amp should have speaker efficiency of at least 93db to really function well.

My solution: I am going to sell the K2003 and my last ST70, purchase a second Zen Triode, and use one per speaker as monoblocs. Wired this way, they will have more than enough power to deliver any music I want to play.

As an aside, my source is a Rotel RCD-955AX cd-player used as a transport, a California Audio Sigma tube DAC, a Conrad-Johnson PV-2a preamplifier, and my speakers are B&W DM602s.

I give my heartiest recommendation to this amp; it compromises only power, but it delivers fabulous sound at a bargain-basement price, list $550, same as the K2003, and uses tubes that are in current manufacture and are very cheap (the power tubes are only about $7 each, compared to $15 dollars each for ST70 tubes, $65 each for MkIII tubes, and $150 each for 300B tubes used in all the 'best' single-ended amps you can buy.

Have a small budget but want the best sound for your dollar? If you have the speakers for it, this is the amp.

Similar Products Used:

Asusa K2003, Dynaco ST70, Eico ST70, Dynaco Mk III

Sound: airy, open, transparent, yet musical and warm at the same time. It is incredibly fast and accurate too.

For loud music in a large room, you'll need at least 90dB efficient speakers or a second Zen. But that’s really all you’ll need as it is magical even at low or moderate levels and you won’t be jumping to turn up the volume to hear this evasive detail that is totally lost with inferior amps…

Let me start with this: the little amp is all the www.decware.com site and the numerous reviews say it is. Clean, transparent, musical and balanced.

I bought the Zen, revision C, as a kit a couple of weeks back. I put it together over the weekend last week. It was easy enough, but as Steve (the designer of the Zen amp) warns, you’ll need to be able to read the schematic however simple it may be. You’ll need an Ohm-meter and a Volt-meter too (and of course a precise yet powerful solder gun). The kit came with the revision B schematic, revision C parts and a hand-written diagram of the new revision C circuitry in the power supply section. Except that the kit was shipped with the wrong size socket for one of the tubes everything was in perfect shape and securely packaged. The right socket arrived three days later after I e-mailed Steve about it.

I soldered the Zen together with silver (4%) solder from RadioShack ($3 for 1.5 oz, most of it left unused after I finished). I started measuring the voltages according to the online instructions on the site. Well, they were off by as much as 40%. Almost all of them. I traced the circuit, removed most of the parts to measure their values a second time and could not find a problem. I put it back together and the voltages were again off. However the thing played pretty well (I could not hold back and listened to it for a few seconds at this point). I e-mailed Steve about the voltages and he said that the web site is in error, not my measurements. So do not be confused yourself if you get the kit and your voltages are significantly higher than the ones on the site were (as of 6/20/2000 at least); still, it’s better to consult with him first as you may have made an error yourself – the resistors look alike and are easy to put in the wrong place.

This small scare put to rest, I hooked it up to a pair of very cheap, small, old bookshelf speakers with paper tweeters and midrange. I had no high expectations at this point. These had sounded awful with my 8-month-old-new Sony DA333ES receiver. Flat, un-involving and boring. While this Sony receiver is decent and at about $600 street has good power and compares favorably to any other mass-produced receiver in the price range below $1,000, the Zen simply blew it away… I did not believe my ears. The sound was so detailed and full-bodied from these small crappy speakers and they played loud enough on almost all recordings. Unlike the Sony, the Zen's presentation is so much more open and airy. The fatigue I felt when I had the Sony hooked-up to a pair of NHT 1.5 is gone (I sold the NHTs a month back because of this fatiguing sound and later I regretfully figured-out it was the solid-state receiver to blame).

The highs are very articulate and the midrange is magic. The base as much as I can tell from the small speakers, is very full-bodied, deep and controlled. These speakers are not very efficient (sensitivity is not marked on the box but they must be about 88-89db). But the sound level is satisfactory in my room’s 13x26 (I listen on the narrow side from about 10 feet away). The Zen sounds so much better than the Sony and I can hear so much more details in the music.

I knew the details were there as I also listen with my Sennheiser HD600 headphones. These are class A component as rated by Stereophile magazine and reveal everything that’s on the recording. I can hear the same details with the Zen even from these low-definition speakers. I could never hear this clarity and airiness with the Sony even with the much more revealing NHTs. And that only at the cost of excessive “brightness” when hooked-up to the Sony. There is no brightness with the Zen. At the same time the highs seem to go infinitely high (not a sign of roll-off). I had the same feeling about the highs when I listened to a $6,500 Mini Utopia speaker connected to $4,000 dollars worth of amplification with about a $2,000 CD player. While it is hard to say without side-by-side comparison, the Zen seems to do a better job in clarity and liveliness of the presentation than the above "killer" combination. And this is not because of any “introduced distortion” as many argue is the reason tubes sound better than solid state. Violins sound like violins, guitar – like guitar. The percussion on the Charlie Haden and Quartet West’s Haunted Heart is terrific – I can hear the speed of the drums and they sound like real drums, not a bloated “dum-dum”. The base solos are very articulate and all nuances are there too, including the deep notes as well as the movement of the player’s fingers. The piano is clear and alive. In Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, the violins are so clear and transparent. I hear how the bow touches the strings and how the musician breathes or someone makes a noise in the band.

This all said, the only thing you need to consider is the efficiency of your speakers and the loudness you want. With speakers of 88-90 dB efficiency the Zen has all the power needed to play almost any music at levels that are just below what my neighbors would consider intolerable. Only at recordings that are recored at below average level (e.g. quiet throughout) I have to turn up the volume all the way up. Even there I hear no distortion or clipping of any kind. And that’s plenty for me. With slightly more efficient speakers you can even throw a party with it and the music won’t get lost.

This is my first tube piece of gear and I’m pretty sure that the Sony is my last solid-state piece (except for the CD or DVD or whatever comes next as a signal source)…. The Zen is truly amazing. And it beats flat many times more expensive separates. Try it if you consider anything that you’ll use in an environment of moderate listening, or wait for it’s big brother, the Zen mono-blocks if you like to rock the house and you live alone in the country…

Cheers, Mihail.