???Anyone Here UpGrade From Yaqin/Cayin/etc... To Another Tube Amp Considered Hi End???

Not sure about the Raven products. I had the Nighthawk MKIII in house and I much prefered my Hegel integrated.
In my opinion, in my system, Raven was one of the most over-hyped products I've heard in 25 years in audio.

@freediver  horses for courses.

@dgcurtis36

I actually had the Nighthawk MKIII, not the Blackhawk, but anyway...

I’ve read up on Raven and their products extensively before purchasing the Nighthawk. I’ve spent many hours reading forum posts and reviews along with numerous hours watching videos. I’ve never read or seen anything about Raven that put them in a negative light in any way.
It was because of the glowing reviews and comments that I decided to do two things which I almost never do:

1) Purchase brand new.
2) Purchase brand new AND entirely unheard.

I made a phone call to Raven and immediately spoke with someone expressing my interest in the Nighthawk MKIII and discussed which NOS tubes to ship my amp with. The amp was shipped very quickly.

While waiting for the amp, I tried to contact Raven with questions that I forgot to ask before I purchased. Needing to call THREE different times before getting someone, I finally get through and ask about some impedance and voltage sensitivity questions. I was told they would find out and get back to me.

I received the amp and opened the box. The very first words out of my mouth were, "What the ***?". I was expecting two boxes, it only came in one. Really?...for a $3,000 amplifier? The foam inserts that the amp sits on were so bent, they looked like they didn’t belong for that box or that amp. The tubes were packed well in bubble wrap, but not packed securely.
First impression: not happy.

The sound of the amp was very thin and had not nearly the body and weight my Hegel had (as I’ve mentioned in another thread). It had no "meat on the bones", so to speak. My Hegel had a TREMENDOUSLY lower noise floor (which is big with me). From my listening seat I could hear a lot of tube hiss from both channels and humming from one channel. Placing my ear next to the tweeters, I could hear a VERY loud hiss. So, what’s with the quality control over there? When you ship a $3,000 amplifier WITH 70 year old tubes, doesn’t anyone listen at the shop first? While the midrange was pretty good, in every other aspect, the Nighthawk fell on its face against the Hegel, in my system, to my ears.

Before I decided to return the amp, I call Raven back and again no answer. I leave a message saying that I think I have some bad tubes and I’m still waiting on an answer to my previous questions.

I never received a reply on all issues.

One of my biggest pet peeves when purchasing anything is when a manufacturer is easy to reach before the purchase but difficult to reach after...boils my blood.

So, with all due respect, the reason I wrote this long post is not to bash Raven, but to give the next person shopping for an amplifier a view that the majority of information out there does not.

@freediver  For years I've always wanted to try Icon Audio. Please let us know your impressions.

@dgcurtis36  understood and no worries.

@charles1dad  Thank you. 

As I'm listening to the Hegel, the word "obnoxious" is so far from what I'm hearing.  As you all know, there are so many factors.

Just remember:  It all sounds fake.  You just have to find your favorite kind of fake. 

@recroom  Exactly. Well said.

@dgcurtis36  That's a pretty distinguished list. I'm sure you're quite content with the all-Raven setup.  Enjoy!

@freediver  I've had four or five Burson products over the years (160 D, Soloist, Virtuoso, Conductor V2+, and one more I think). They all drove my Audeze LCD 2.2, X, HD 800, Hifiman 400i and now Arya VERY well.  The DACs inside are pretty nice; far from the last word... But nice. The Preamp section of my V2+ was amazing. I took it over my buddy's place who has a passive with Audio Consulting wire and it held its own.

Not trying to be a you-know-what but I loved the headphone output of my Hegel driving my Arya so much, I sold the Burson. 

Enjoy!

Oh, and built like a tank. 

@freediver for my personal taste, I don’t find Sabre chips to be as natural-sounding as say Burr-Brown or other R2R DACs. I don’t listen to hi-rez and the times I did, I kind of felt the same way.

Metrum DACs I’ve owned:

NOS mini
Musette
Menuet
Hex
Amethyst
Onyx

MHDT:

Havana
Paradisea
Orchid

All of these DACs sounded more natural to me than others I’ve had.

I know what you’re thinking... "If they all sounded so natural then why did you sell them?" Lol. With each one I was trying to move up a little bit more, as we all do.

That being said, no DAC I’ve had at in house beats my current Yamamoto YDA 01.

As I mentioned, I don’t do hi-rez so take what I say with a grain of salt.

This is just my own personal taste... Not bashing any manufacturer or anyone.

Like I said before:
It all sounds fake. You just have to pick your favorite kind of fake.