Congrats on the Aeris! I own a pair and have been very happy with them for a few years now.
I can share my experiences and if they are of some help to you, great. I have tried a pair of JC1s, Veritas, an XA25, a 150.8, and finally a Gyphon Diablo 300 on the Aeris, so I can offer some thoughts.
JC1s sounded pretty good on the high bias setting. Even though the bass is powered by the internal amps to my ears it seems like that output and sound is still influenced by the amps, so with the JC1s the bottom end was big and bold and driving the speakers to high volume wasn't a problem. The high end also sounded pretty good. If there was a gap, so to speak, these were a little noisy in the midrange. But that is being very picky. Perhaps the newer JC1s
The Veritas had unbelievable speed - so fast that they actually made the music seem a little artificial to my ears. Dead quiet, but everything had a "high tech" sheen to it. I tried different cables but to no avail. This wasn't a good match.
I wanted to like the XA25 as everyone seems to love it, and depending on the music format it might have been able to stay, but once I moved away from acoustic or folk type stuff to heavier rock, or larger scale music in general, the sound collapsed and it sounded like I was running out of gas with any kind of volume.
The 150.8 was very close to the JC1s in terms of overall sound. The JC1s had a little more oomph and boogie factor, the 150.8 had a sweeter tone overall. Bass was great either way. The 150.8 might have had a little more rounded sound, the JC1s maybe a little deeper overall.
The amp that has stayed on the rack is the Diablo 300. It seems to combine the best features of the other amps. It has fantastic drive - you don't run out of gas. It has musical and deep bass. It has a clean top end - maybe not as sweet as some of the others, but also not rigid or artificial. IMO, the Gryphon delivers pretty everything except that last 2% of tube midrange magic some of the best tube amps provide.
Overall, I think the Aeris like having more power than the efficiency rating would seem to dictate. I have found great success with upgrading the power supply running the Wavelet, and even then upgrading the power cable running to the upgraded power supply. Before jumping amps, my suggestion would be to give that upgrade some serious consideration.
I can share my experiences and if they are of some help to you, great. I have tried a pair of JC1s, Veritas, an XA25, a 150.8, and finally a Gyphon Diablo 300 on the Aeris, so I can offer some thoughts.
JC1s sounded pretty good on the high bias setting. Even though the bass is powered by the internal amps to my ears it seems like that output and sound is still influenced by the amps, so with the JC1s the bottom end was big and bold and driving the speakers to high volume wasn't a problem. The high end also sounded pretty good. If there was a gap, so to speak, these were a little noisy in the midrange. But that is being very picky. Perhaps the newer JC1s
The Veritas had unbelievable speed - so fast that they actually made the music seem a little artificial to my ears. Dead quiet, but everything had a "high tech" sheen to it. I tried different cables but to no avail. This wasn't a good match.
I wanted to like the XA25 as everyone seems to love it, and depending on the music format it might have been able to stay, but once I moved away from acoustic or folk type stuff to heavier rock, or larger scale music in general, the sound collapsed and it sounded like I was running out of gas with any kind of volume.
The 150.8 was very close to the JC1s in terms of overall sound. The JC1s had a little more oomph and boogie factor, the 150.8 had a sweeter tone overall. Bass was great either way. The 150.8 might have had a little more rounded sound, the JC1s maybe a little deeper overall.
The amp that has stayed on the rack is the Diablo 300. It seems to combine the best features of the other amps. It has fantastic drive - you don't run out of gas. It has musical and deep bass. It has a clean top end - maybe not as sweet as some of the others, but also not rigid or artificial. IMO, the Gryphon delivers pretty everything except that last 2% of tube midrange magic some of the best tube amps provide.
Overall, I think the Aeris like having more power than the efficiency rating would seem to dictate. I have found great success with upgrading the power supply running the Wavelet, and even then upgrading the power cable running to the upgraded power supply. Before jumping amps, my suggestion would be to give that upgrade some serious consideration.