Review of AVA's New 400R amp, FET Valve Pre and DAC

[blackraven]

I had the opportunity to do an in home review of the AVA's new 400R power amp and Fet Valve Preamp and Fet Valve DAC-

Here is the link to my reivew on the audio circles forum It is not a technical review.

Review of AVA's New 400R amp, FET Valve Pre and DAC

[frenchmon]

Nice review!

[LeRoy]

I had the opportunity to do an in home review of the AVA's new 400R power amp and Fet Valve Preamp and Fet Valve DAC-

Here is the link to my reivew on the audio circles forum It is not a technical review.

Review of AVA's New 400R amp, FET Valve Pre and DAC

I just read your review. Good job! With regard to the Parasound A21 in use with the V.A. gear did you find that particular combo to be a good/great balance of tubes with SS?

[blackraven]

I just read your review. Good job! With regard to the Parasound A21 in use with the V.A. gear did you find that particular combo to be a good/great balance of tubes with SS?

Yes, the new AVA gear sounded great with the A21 and in fact Bass was slightly deeper with the new DAC and Preamp then with the 400R. My older AVA gear the Ultra II preamp and DAC are hybrid tube gear as well and match well with the A21 but not to the extent that the FET Valve gear does. The FET Valve gear took the A21 to new heights. I truly did not think that the amp could sound that good. The A21 always has a little grain to it, even in the reviews. But that disappeared with the FET Valve gear in the chain.

If I had to choose a piece to buy it would be in this order-

400R, Preamp, DAC.

[bluetrain]

Very nice, congrats.

How bad was A21 in comparison?

[blackraven]

The A21 isn't bad. It just does not have the depth and sound stage that the 400R has. The 400R, really produces a lot of space between instruments and makes compressed recordings sound good. The A21 really shined when paired with the FET Valve Pre and DAC however.

[frenchmon]

The A21 isn't bad. It just does not have the depth and sound stage that the 400R has. The 400R, really produces a lot of space between instruments and makes compressed recordings sound good. The A21 really shined when paired with the FET Valve Pre and DAC however.

Raven...I am now a believer! The 400R is a special amp. If there was a middle man in retail, it would be a $6k amp.