Ghostship
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Decware Zen Sarah SEWE300B Amplifier Impressions
Ok, with ~600 hours on the Sarah, ~250 with the economy tubes plus WE300Bs, and ~350 with the full Cryotone Bundle with Cryotone 300Bs, I have some impressions. I know some have been waiting a while for this, I appreciate your patience.
Expectations
I have over 50 years experience as a musician, and in the digital age with strictly digital front-end systems, I’ve really lost sound quality. The music I was hearing sucked, and it got to the point that I didn’t even listen much anymore…and that makes life sad. I’ve spent years researching tube amps in combination with a quality digital front-end, and knew there was a way I could regain the sound I was missing.
I narrowed my search down from Hybrid Tube/SS amps, to Push Pulls, to SETs, and from high watt to low watt amps with high efficiency speakers. I heard/auditioned many, including: Decware SETs like the SE84UFO25, Feliks Audio Arioso 300B Integrated Amplifier, Luxman MQ-300 Tube Amplifier, Willsenton R300, BoyuuRange Reisong A50, and the Kondo Audio Note Gakuoh II 300B monoblocks.
The Gakuo II 300B monos where the best amps I’ve ever heard…unfortunately, they’re over $125k. My goal was to come as close to that sound as I could, for a lot less. I didn’t want to jump on the audiophile merry-go-round buying then selling amps because of disappointment; my intent was landing on a one-and-done, forever amp. I decided on the Decware Sarah SEWE300B, convinced that a 300B version of the SE84UFO25 would be perfect for me.
Luckily, I had ordered a different Decware amp and was already on the waiting list when Steve began developing the Sarah. I was #777 when I ordered on August 2nd, 2021, so I changed my order and waited patiently. Six hundred days later I took delivery on March 25th, 2023.
First impressions
The amp was packaged with care and shipped promptly with no issues.
Fit and finish: this amp is top notch. Simply gorgeous.
In preparation for this amp, I took great pains to ensure my system was fleshed out so that it sounded great in my listening room, focusing on tweaking digital source components, cabling, room treatment, modding my preamp, and purchasing speakers designed and modded to uniquely function with SET amps.
I was using a 10W Class A SS amp, and synced all the gain settings for what I felt was “perfect”. Then, I swapped in the Sarah, installed the economy tube set with Chinese 300Bs, powered it on and let it warm up.
The very first time listening with this brand-new amp and brand-new tubes, the initial sound output was lower than I expected. My first thought was “oh no, what did I do?”, thinking I might have screwed up buying an amp with only 7 watts. This was not a concern for very long as both the amp and tubes broke in. I mention this merely because others may experience it too, so, don’t freak out. Volume output increases markedly the more hours on the amp/tubes: my initial fears were long gone after 25 hours, and I was pleased to discover that even at 500 hours the “loudness” continues to increase.
I know Steve claims this amp may have a slight transformer hum with speakers of 100dB and up, but I am happy to report it is dead quiet with my 95dB sensitivity speakers, exhibiting not a bit of hum using the economy tubes with Chinese 300Bs, even with my ears right up against the speakers. When I swapped in the WE300Bs, I did get hum, and this was mitigated by a slight adjustment of the humpot knobs. With the Cryotone tube bundle including their 300Bs, again there was no hum. This tells me with 95dB sensitivity speakers the amp doesn’t hum, but the tubes can.
The moral of the story is: don’t judge this amp until after it, and the tubes, have fully broken in. However, even at 25 hours, this amp is easily better than other amps I’ve heard costing twice as much.
Break-in
Amps and tubes need hours to break in. I recommend giving these tubes 300 hours, and the Sarah 500 hours, before doing any serious critical listening. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds great right out of the box. However, when you have 500 hours on the amp, you will certainly be in OMG territory, and it will continue to get better from there.
I also recommend feeding it with as much variety as you can, including every type of music, and at all volumes. I didn’t perform an A-B comparison test to confirm this method is better than one with less variety, I can only say I did it and the results are phenomenal.
Although I mentioned above that burn-time increased volume output, break-in also improves every aspect of sound quality…pick your metric, and it will be better after 100 hours, and 250 hours, and 500 hours, and beyond.
One metric that immediately comes to mind is bass response. I mentioned above that I dialed-in my system settings prior to swapping in the amp...this didn’t just include gain settings on the amp and preamp, but the volume, cross-over and phase settings on the subwoofer, too.
Despite the low volume output in the first few hours, by the ~100-hour point with the economy tubes and WE300Bs, I had to adjust the sub settings lower because the bass was clearly more powerful than with the SS amp. Definitely tighter, quicker, and with greater detail, it was also “more”, to the point that I was getting room-boom where I wasn’t before. Although it’s a pain in the @ss having to do the adjustments, it was welcome!
Around 275 hours…I had to adjust the sub lower AGAIN! Then, one more time at around 500 hours. At each point, I could define it as “more better bass”, not simply loudness. As it sits now, my sub’s volume is barely up, and I can honestly say most people wouldn’t need a sub with these speakers, whereas with the SS amp it would be 50/50. Or put another way, the Sarah gives the bass response that most people try to recreate with a sub.
Sound Quality
The basics of soundstage width, depth, height, and extension toward listener are all outstanding. The Sarah produces realistic sound freakishly far beyond the boundaries of the room…many, many times now I have heard things that I thought where being created by people coming from the hallway or alleyway outside (knocking on the door, etc.), but in reality, it was just the amp playing music in mind-blowingly realistic ways.
We’re not just talking about a two-dimensional wall of sound; it is certainly beyond three dimensional. I say “beyond” because, with most good amps two dimensions become three…but then the individual sources within that soundstage are still two dimensional. It’s as if you are hit with a flat plane of sound from within which you can discern flat sounds sources, like looking into a mirror. It’s better than having no separation within the width, depth or height of the stage with lesser amps, but it lacks a level of realism.
Consider a bowl of fruit sitting on a table. It looks real, until you get close, and you realize it’s a picture. So then, you look at an upgraded bowl of fruit sitting on a table, and as you get close it still looks real, until you touch it and you realize it’s plastic and fake. Then finally, you upgrade to a Decware, and when you get close to that bowl of fruit you realize it’s not just real, but perfectly ripe. Meaning, it is a 3D piece of fruit in a 3D bowl of fruit in a 3D room, but it also has the perfect, realistic density and weight. I’m talking about that visceral, bodily sensation when you feel it and say to yourself “I can’t wait to eat this”.
With the Sarah, it's not merely a wall of sound like a 4k TV watching fish under the sea, it’s a wave that lovingly engulfs you like a scuba diver transplanting you under the sea where you’re not only seeing real fish but feeling the current, too. Within this expansive three-dimensional soundstage, each instrument with its musician is a three-dimensional object in three-dimensional space, each with perfect clarity, density, and realism.
Once you arrive at this level of realism, you’re now aware that there is tonality with discernment. By this I mean you don’t just get the sense of listening to a real piano in the room with you, but you distinguish the difference between a Yamaha vs Steinway vs Bosendorfer. I crap you not, I’ve been playing piano since I was 4…the Sarah amazing.
No matter the basic audiophile term, this amplifier excels at it: attack, decay, transients, dynamics, clarity, air, sparkle, analytical, weight, speed, articulation, …you pick the metric, the Sarah will meet and exceed your expectations; it’s the Goldilocks amp.
Most high-quality amps come with trade-offs. For example, they can be extremely analytical, but then with the tendency to be too bright at times and lacking density and color. Here you certainly hear sounds you never heard before, like toe-taps, grunts, lip-smacks and breaths, etc., but unfortunately you can’t help but hear them because the amp draws your attention to these sounds in a distracting way. Even when they are reproduced as a realistic 3d sound source, the amp assigns them the same priority in the soundscape as all the other instruments and vocals, which detracts from the sound quality rather than adds to it. Like listening to a soon-to-be-ex significant other chew.
The Sarah definitely exhibits clarity and analytical sounds, too, but she does so Perfectly – all the 3d and realism, but more importantly, sounds unheard before are put into proper context rather than shouting for your attention. Now, rather than being a distraction, you experience the musicians’ and singers’ true expression of their art, adding the final touch of realism as if they were performing there for you in person.
I’ve heard the argument between those who remark about “hearing what the performer intended” versus “that can’t possibly be recreated”, and I can say this: Study up on classical music terms, then get a Sarah. Here’s a handful to get you started:
• Allegro (Italian: 'lively'). Meaning the music should be played cheerfully. Upbeat and brisk.
• Capriccio. (Italian: 'caprice'). A lively piece of music, usually free in its form and short.
• Coloratura (Italian: 'colouring'). A type of decoration, usually in singing that is ornate and richly ornamented.
• Diminuendo (Italian: Literally 'diminishing'). A dynamic instruction meaning to gradually play quieter.
• Espressivo (Italian: 'expressive'). An instruction meaning that a passage should be played with expression, or expressively.
• Forte (Italian: 'strong'). A dynamic instruction meaning the music should be played loudly. The instruction appears as either: 'f' loud; 'ff' fortissimo, meaning very loud; or 'fff' very loud.
• Giocoso (Italian: 'playful', 'cheerful'). Meaning the piece should be played in a cheerful or playful way.
• Glissando. From the French 'glisser', meaning to slide. An instruction to slide between a group of notes. On the piano, for example, the performer runs a finger down or up the keyboard.
• Humoresque. A piece of music with a humorous feel.
• Legato (Italian: 'joined'). An instruction indicating that a sequence of notes should be played smoothly, or joined up, as opposed to disconnected.
• Leggiero (Italian: 'lightly'). An instruction meaning to play lightly and without force.
• Legno (Italian: 'wood'). An instruction for string players, usually written as 'col legno' (with the wood). This indicates that the string player should use the wooden side of the bow to hit the strings with.
• Mezzo (Italian: 'half'). The term can be used in a number of contexts. Mezzo-forte / mezzo-piano are dynamic instructions meaning 'half-loud' and 'half-soft' respectively.
• Poco a poco (Italian: 'little by little'). A term that can preface and instruction meaning to follow it 'little by little'. For example, 'poco a poco crescendo', meaning, getting louder gradually, little by little.
• Sforzando. Play with sudden and marked emphasis.
• Tremolo (Italian: 'trembling'). The quick repetition of a single note, usually used in string playing.
• Vibrato. An expressive technique used on various instruments, created by vibrating the sound.
So you see, musicians and singers most certainly create with “intent” (albeit much of the modern synthesized music may lack these nuances). Thus, our ability to recreate their performance should certainly be able to convey their intent, as well. Unfortunately, many systems cannot. They simply lack the sufficient Dynamics (perceived difference between quiet and loud), Transients, PRaT (pace, rhythm and timing), Articulation, Clarity, Black Background, etc. Adding a Sarah to your system will fix that; you will feel an emotional connection to the performers, guaranteed.
Yet another thing the Sarah excels at is low-volume listening. With many amps, you have to crank up the volume in order for them to sound “right” and, as you turn the volume down, all the air is let out of that balloon and the sound quality loses shape and realism…like walking out of an elevator.
But with the Sarah, every volume level is perfection. Yes, you can crank it, but you don’t have to in order to obtain a SQ sweet spot. As you lower the volume to “night listening” levels, you retain every bit of realism and detail, as if the musicians are still playing in the room but are now just playing quieter…the density and clarity remains.
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Sarah 300B Impressions (Read 6803 times)
