I also have a FET Valve 600R that I bought around the end of last year (so the latest iteration). In my system with Magneplanar 3.7i's, it replaced a Bryston 4B SST2. My first impression when I substituted it for the Bryston was that I had lost some high frequency detail. But as I kept listening, it seemed that what I was hearing sounded more natural than it had. I was fortunate enough to attend a live Sheku Kanneh-Mason concert right around the time that I was comparing the amps. The sense of more life-like sound (for lack of a better term) was very evident on recordings of his cello (I had bought some of his recordings at the concert). A fellow concert-goer, who also happens to play cello, agreed - pointing out to me that the 600R sounded more natural than the 4B SST2 before I made any comment about my impressions. Maybe that equates to the warmth mentioned above but, if it does, it doesn't much diminish their fidelity and certainly doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the music.
In a lesson in system synergy, maybe, another comparison was made by swapping between the Bryston and a Parasound A21 in a system with Magneplanar 1.7i's. Here the high freqeuncy level that had seemed a bit too much with the ribbon tweeter 3.7i's was very agreeable with the quasi-ribbon drivers of the 1.7i's.
As always, your mileage, and your hearing, may vary.
LarryRS
|