Comments on Profile Post by caute

is it SS sounding to most of y'all? that's the only mental note I took when I listened to it for maybe one, maybe two tracks at the Schiit Audio Show. can't wait to hear the layering and possible holography i've been reading so much about! —and to compare it to the piety, of course, which is my baseline now for what a good amp should sound like lol

hypothesis is piety will have more slam and more emphatic bass and SW will have better layering, stage, mid clarity & treble smoothness

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it v the Piety. I'm kicking myself for not jumping on this years ago before the price bump, never mind that it's still apparently good value at current MSRP.

oft repeated but not attributable, "if it doesn't get the midrange right, what's the point?"

Piety is badass and frighteninly good for the price/size.. but SW51+ is a legit step up from it. I've had one since it was released and the SW51+ has been a daily driver for me. It does not take extensive A/Bing or a kilobuck upstream gear to hear the difference, either..

..I've got a Pi2AES and ding dong Modi 3 here (not 3E, 3+ or +.. the limp dick, velvet sound AK4490 version is what I have).

SW51+: more nuance, clarity, separation, layering/depth, resolution. Piety will sound colored vs the SW (tube choice can lessen the delta in this particular area), but that's were they could be closest. Timbre correctness is another, but SW is noticeably more pure in this regard..

..SW51+ possesses more 'solid state' strengths and qualities than the dime a dozen gooey, 2H heavy, SET shit out there.. but to my ears, it is no doubt a tube amp through and through. It is not some ''SS amp masquerading as a tube amp' whatsoever. The inner detail, flow, note density, and presentation are that of ~1K-ish tube amps...

..All that being said, there's few, if any, solid state amps I'd take over the Piety under $1000. Piety sounds much bigger than anything its size has any right to. It has a SET-like quality to the way music is connected and flows (not the 'mechanical' quality most SS-amps present sound). Sorry for getting flowery here, but I can't describe this qulaity in good SET amps.. but IYKYK..

I bet both would sound amazing with JAR600B/650B. Those two and the LCD-X 2021 are really the only full size headphones that interest me at this point (ETA stuff, too). Looking forward to your thoughts on it when you get it!

After having a DNA Starlett and a SW51+, I can live with only the SW51+ since it hits like 95% of the sound profile that i am looking for.

To me what SW51+ does very well is clarity and microdynamics and speed. You have to put the right headphones on it though to appreciate what it does so well.

love you all who commented. thank you for the support—for your knowledge and for sharing your thoughts! and to the kind SBAFer who is making this all happen! if there's anything I can do for any of y'all, just say the word go!

Best things about SW51+ is PRat with HD650/HD600 for me. I like the amp bought it 2x but it doesn't have good synergy with Elex and I like Senns better out of Crack.

Really @HotRatSalad? Me and others enjoyed using the Elex with the SW51+ with stock tubes.

@YMO yeah I know that's why I was surprised. Will revisit this today, actually just fired up SW51+ .. Elex is awesome out of Jot 2 and Piety. I dunno maybe it's what we are listening to that makes the difference...

I think the major thing is visceral impact and some slam is lost on sw51+ with Elex. Besides that it's actually not much different than Jot 2, Elex just sounds like elex more than amp influence IMO. HD650 is different where you can really hear the amp you are plugging it into. That probably messed with my mind.

For me the less deathstroking powers of pure SS amps from Jot 2 and Piety would make me smash my head into pumpkins. SS amps even if they are slightly mellow make me want to blow up my head. SW51+ with stock tubes + a darker DAC like RDAC or BF2 OG Card and Elex would be perfect for my needs.

Like I said it really depends on what you listen to. Jot 2 and piety are not your run of the mill 2d sounding sandpaper flat topping style sound signatures.
I use BF2 and with some material both Elex and HD650 seem way to laid back even for me on SW51+

We hear differently, I found Jot 2 to be still mostly 2D with limited 3D space, Piety is no different to that regardless of what music I throw at it.

Also depends on your biases since I'm known to like darker sounding stuff that is balanced out with a more neutralist amp.

Same here for the most part but I don't find piety 2d with HD600 or Elex. Jot 2 isn't 2d at all with either of those cans IMO. HD650 sounded more 2d than those other cans in those SS amps though. 650 best in crack for me followed by SW51+/ Jot 2..
Jot 2 is good SE out with low gain as well for a SS amp.

SW51+ is not a SET - Single Ended Triode. The tubes a pentodes, almost like an EL84. I believe the tube used is equivalent to a EF184. Still, it’s a good amp.

@HotRatSalad do you like jot 2 more than sw51 for 650?

No I prefer SW51+ with HD650, Jot 2 has been my all around amp, was my only SS amp until Piety. Jot2 sounds good with Planars and I like the SE out with HD600 quite a bit. Elex was a surprise with it as well. I've tried to stop cycling through amps ! I only have 4 ATM ...

@Azimuth the pentodes are run triode strapped, so it's still more of a SET than a SEP at least in sound.

Yeah, @famish99, good point. Pentode in Triode mode.