Hi friends,

new guy here.. been reading for a while now.

little background:

I was introduced to  Zu dirty weekend last year and just fell in love with them... I love base so added Zu undertone sub. I am using peachtree original nova to drive them.. always wanted to try next level up so I pulled a trigger on Zu soul Supreme... Oh my what a huge upgrade.

I need your expert advise on what is the best amp for me. I love the sound of tube.. I always stream music on digital..

Speakers ZU soul Supreme and Dirty weekend
efficiency 101db SS and 97 for DW
impedance 16ohm both
room 15x25

I do like listening little loud. the sub is connected as high level.  amp to speaker and speaker to sub.

my first option was SE84UFO is the 2W enough so I am also considering SE34I.5 or should i look in used market...

I also saw exciting stuff coming in form of 25th anniversary UFO..

budget is ~ 1500.

thanks in advance.
RF

Thanks Lon.

maybe I misunderstood about 25th anniversary UFO. is it not based on SE84UFO 2W?  maybe it will cost 1.5 or 2x the regular.. but 3k is like 3X.

thanks,
RF

Thanks Kevtn8 for your feedback.

I am sold on the speakers for life until I can afford the new Durid6  ;) even then I don't think I can sell my SS .. I even kept the DWs.. such an amazing value.

ZUs are very special.. you either love them or hate them there is no middle ground...

Are you using sub with your setup? if yes are you connecting the same way ?

I am getting very excited about 25th anniversary amp... what are you currently using for amp to power the soul Supremes.

Thanks,
RF

RF, I love my Zu Superflys. Like you, I started with speakers and then picked my amp. Congrats on the Supremes, I am jealous.

I have a Torri III and ordered it with the 8/16 ohm taps. Both sound good but the 16 ohm is just so perfect with the Superfly/Supremes. I am not familiar with any other Decware amp, but like Lon, I find the treble and bass pots indispensable. The bass pots work works very well with the ZU’s finger ports.

My audio buddy has Wilson Sasha II’s ($45.000) with a $40,000 AR 150 watt front end, and our systems our so close in sound, that he kicks himself that he did not go with the Decware/ZU combo. My system has better tone, texture and emotion, his has better range and scale. But, you would think they were voiced by the same builder.  Only difference in the speakers is $40,000. But seriously, the Zu tone is just magical with Decware and the right tube combo. To be fair, the Brimar 5R4GY rectifiers are a big part of the tone in my set-up.

I think any Decware would be great with the Zu Supreme, but I personally would be afraid to give up tube rectification and regulation for the subtle tuning, especially with the midrange tone and texture, and also 16 ohm transformer taps. That is the whole point of the Zu Superflu/Supreme.  They are made to match with 16 ohm tube amps.

BTW, when you can, slowly upgrade to a full Triode Wire Lab loom of cables. Just so perfect together.  

My wife listens so much now to music. When she play Robert Plants new album, especially The track Seasons Song, she cries every time. The emotion is so strong and beautiful.

Nicely said RF. Amen.

Hi RF,

I think you'd be very happy with an SE84UFO with the copper foil Type II caps. I'm using one with speakers much less efficient than yours and it provides plenty of volume. I've found this amp to sound much better if it's fed lots of voltage.

For streaming DAC recommendation, check out the Bluesound Node 2.

RF, regarding DACs, depending on your budget, you might want to check out the TEAC NT-503. If my memory is correct, this is the foundation upon which Steve builds his ZDAC2, which is what he used recently when R&Ding his 25th Anniversary amp.
And, IIRC he was streaming Tidal through it. Add a ZBIT to that DAC and you’re cooking with gas!

Thanks everyone for great feedback.

Dough- I was little afraid that 2w might not be enough for the occasional rock out nights.... thanks for your feedback.  I might search for used UFO to test the water... and eventually use that for ZU dirty weekends and jump on tori for the main system.

Thanks,
Jigar

i have a question about the post i copied below.  I am new to HiFi.  I am going to get a decware tube amp.  I want to get one of the lower powered sets, but I am sorting that out right now.  

you mention that you have a copland dac/preamp with high voltage.  What impact does the voltage have on the sound that comes from your se84ufo?  is this a linestage preamp or a preamp with extra gain?  

I want to get a decware set and some high efficiency speakers.  I just want o make sure my set up is full and beefy at low volumes.  I care more about that than how loud it gets. does this higher voltage preamp impact the tone at low volumes?  how do you know if an amp or pream is high voltage?

Thanks for the help!!



I second Pursuitofnow...  I have the SE84UFO with the Type II caps and I am running B&W DM630's with 91dB efficiency in theory, which I question as there is quite a complex crossover in them.  I feed the SE84 with a tube Copland DAC/preamp at quite a high voltage and the outcome is to die for!  

In response to TheTakeOut’s question, I might be using the wrong terminology here, so I apologize if I sound confusing...

Most CD players have a 2V output which should be enough to drive the SE84UFO.  My experience is if you use a source with higher output (and you can do this with a preamp with high gain), the Decware SETs perform better.  

For instance, I run an SE34I.2+ with an iFi Micro Tube 2 at 7.75V buffer mode and I control the volume from the SE34.  That system sounds really full even at low volumes and sound quite fine.

I drive my TABOO mkIII with a ZBIT which is fed from the XLR outputs of my DAC which is 4V, I believe.  When it was fed from the RCA outputs, the amp sounded thinner and the basses were up to my liking.  With the ZBIT in between, its performance has increased significantly.

Coming back to the SE84UFO, the Copland preamp (with extra gain) makes it fuller and beefier even at low volumes...

Hope this is clearer...  Best,

Alper

So is excellent better than great?

Congrats!

Congrats RF.  Excellent combination indeed.  Enjoy!

Thanks everyone.

Yes, Jeff has promised a premium package of coffee in mail... what a class act.

I am really loving the sound.  I am in search for a decent streaming dac. Something that looks good next to the torii iv... I only really need WiFi/Bluetooth so I can pass my iPhone to the amp. Any ideas?

Thanks,
RF

Hi Alper,

Not sure on budget yet... all I really need is a good way to stream from my iPhone to torii.  And hopefully one analog RCA input... not mandatory... Will never do anything else... so all other fancy stuff is useless.

It has to look great  next  to torii

Thanks,
RF

Hi RF,

In my case, I have a few different systems of DAC's.  In one of my systems, I use a Hegel HD30, which is one of the best DAC's I have ever heard.  This can be fed from a router through Ethernet and it sounds amazing.  CD-quality material from TIDAL somehow sounds better than a decent CD transport feeding the digital coaxial input of the Hegel (and please note that Hegel has a proprietary design for that input, which they are very proud of).

The problem with the HD30, though, is its price.  I do not know how much it sells for in North America, but it was already quite expensive in Europe.

In my other systems, I feed my DAC's (a Copland 215 DAC/pre and a Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100) with either my computers (USB output) or Apple TV 3rd generation (TOSLINK).  I can control streaming or my iTunes library both via my iPhone.  The Copland is around $2k and the DacMagic 100 around $200.  

Cheers,

Alper

Thanks DB2!  That is a great price for HD30, I would jump on it!

In the meantime, today, I was looking into some audio interfaces for my recording studio, when I came across a new DAC by RME, a German company known for its recording gear.  I have a sound card by them, RME Fireface 800, and it is one of the best piece of recording equipment out there, not only for home use, but also for professional use.  

Anyway, RME recently came up with ADI-2 DAC:

https://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/adi_2-dac.php?cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjcw%3D%3D&n...

It is out of stock at the moment, but sells for $999 (or $899 for the Demo model which is in stock) at sweetwater.com.

I have not heard this DAC myself, but given the quality and reputation of RME in general, I guess it would be a great DAC.  There is also always the option to return it.

RF,
I believe you wanted bluetooth/streaming capability?  If so, I am not sure if Schiit has any qualified offerings.  

As far as the Sprout, I would not recommend for your purpose as it is an integrated amplifier.  You don’t need an amplifier in front of your Torii.  

Cheers,
Jeff

RF,

I have ZU Omen Def Mk.I-B speakers and Torii MK 3.  I have had this combination for several years and really enjoy the sound.  I also have the CSP2+ integrated in my system.  I have an Auralic Aries Mini (streamer) with an internal HDD connected to my one week old Schiit Gungnir multibit DAC.  I have been out of town working a lot, but the time that I have spent listening to music, I am very, very satisfied.  You can opt for the Aries Mini and use their internal DAC and, when funds are available, purchase an external DAC.  Schiit also makes a Bifrost DAC that has been given really good reviews.  

If you have any Qs, just ask.

Lots of good suggestions everyone.. thanks!

Which combo works best in terms of great DAC for Torii mk IV?

1) blue sound node 2
2) schiit Bifrost multibit and add peachtree Bluetooth adapter.
3) TAEC AI-503

Thanks,
RF

The AI model offers Bluetooth streaming.

I'm a tad late to this thread, as I have only recently gotten my first Decware amp...a used Taboo III that I purchased as a headphone amp primarily, but have been shocked at it's capabilities with my Druid 6s.

I throw this post out simply to accumulate Zu/Decware data points for those coming along behind us looking for feedback and advice on pairings.

I own both Zu Soul Supremes and their new Druid 6s.  These are my 3rd and 4th Zu speakers, and I still own the Unions and Cubes and have then in other systems.  I still own roughly 10-12 amps that I have used with the Soul Supremes, and I have tried 2 amps with the Druid 6s--this Taboo III (as a speaker amp), and my Audion Golden Dreams parallel 300B SET mono amps with cap upgrades, which were the best amp pairing to the Soul Supremes so far in my massive amp journey.

I could write the longest most boring post ever about my experiences, but I wanted to throw this out for this thread.  I'm finding the Taboo III to actually be an even BETTER match with the Druid 6s than the Audions, which are about a $15K+ set of SET amplification, and one that is often touted as one of the most stellar matchups you can pair with the top Zu speakers.  As I said, the Audions beat the rest of the amps in my amp lineup with my Soul Supremes (I can post a link to what I've documented there for anyone interested), so for the Taboo III to beat the Audions on the Druid 6s (which are pretty close in pedigree to the Soul Supremes), is absolutely amazing to me.

I love my Soul Supremes and they will be in my second system once my house move completes in a few weeks.  The Druid 6s are even better in detail and all other aspects of what we love about Zus.  I also am running an Undertone II sub with the main system, and it did all the things you want a sub to do--I never got that benefit from other subs I tried over the years.  A topic for a different thread, but wanted to mention it's in the mix.

In short summary, I'm now trying to determine where Decware can take my Druid 6s even beyond the Taboo III.  I do think it's a system synergy thing, and more expensive SET amplification is not necessarily the answer.  As another data point, the Taboo III did NOT outperform some of my other SET amps on my 16 ohm Altec Valencias, but it certainly seems to be special with the Druid 6s minimally.  I won't get to try it with the Soul Supremes for another month or so to see if it's as stellar there, but I suspect it will be.

I'm strongly considering a 25th Anniversary (1 for starters), and if I think I need it, I would consider a second to run as monos.  I am curious as to the power trade-offs from the 4.6wpc I'm getting from the Taboo III.

Jay, your link doesn't work...

Thanks, that worked...

Hi theTakeOut,

DW are great speakers. Very forgiving on bad recording and also have decent base. It also depend on which driver you have... if you recently bought them you probably got brand new drivers with 12ohm I think.

SS are altogether different league. The radion tweeters are fantastic and produce amazing high with fantastic clarity. On flip side they are not very forgiving... you can hear everything good and bad.  Also if you like base, I would highly recommend undertone it’s a game changer.

I hope this helps...

Which DAC and amp are you currently using?

Thanks,
RF