About 2 years ago,I compared the Ref 150 in my system against the Dag Stereo for a weekend and found them remarkably similar. If the Dag could be tubed, it would be an ARC Ref 150 and vice versa. I was surprised to hear and feel no drop off in bass response other than the slightly warmer and wetter tube response from ARC which sometimes sounded more natural and sometimes not. At my listening levels (between 75 to 90 dbs), neither amp showed any sign of running out of steam. I have since replaced the KT 120s with KT 150s in my Ref 150 and I know the Dag has been updated.
As I generally prefer the sound of tubes and lost most of that feeling with a tubed pre (Ref 40) and the Dag amp, I stuck with my ARC amp. If I ever cross over to the other side, it would be with the Dag. I tested these amps in the system set forth below.
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Wilson Alexia V, ARC Ref 160M MkII,Ref 40,Ref Phono2SE, Shunyata Triton3, Typhon, Sigma PCs, ICs & SCs, Spectral SDR4000SV (w MIT IC), Belcanto PL1, Oppo 205, Marantz 2270 (tuner only):AudioDesk and VPI record cleaners, Furutech Demag & Destat; Stillpoint Apertures, TechDas AF 3S Premium with SAT CF9 and Kuzma 4pt 9" arms, Lyra Atlas Lambda SL, Dynavector XV1-t stereo and XV1-s mono carts, Miyajima mono, Shure V15VxMR,
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