Art Audio Carissa vs deHavilland 845 tube amps

Ah, my post popped up : ) The question of is the deHavilland "veiled" was an unfortunate one based on reading only a few comments. I have heard many times after this post that they are not veiled at all. I will soon hear one of the deHavilland Ios amps and I'll report back my experience.

I ended up with the deHavilland Ios partly because they are local. It is simply an incredible amp! I've not heard the Art Audio. The Ios offers dynamics, deep, tight bass, and the energy and emotion of the performance really flows through. I use it as an integrated and I have the stepped attenuator (one note on this: the first step of the attenuator in my small room is quite loud even with my 88 db speakers, though my CDP has high output). I've dealt with Kara and George a few times and it's refreshing to see such talented, professional and friendly business people. When the amp was first ready they hand delivered it and we listened to music and talked audio for over an hour. Nice foilks!

I recommend the 845B tubes from supertnt.com. One of mine went microphonic and I'm trying to get a new pair from them right in the middle of Chinese new year. Right now I'm using the stock 845 tubes and though good the 845B is better.

Nope, I have not tried it. There was some discussion on the Asylum of whether amps would have to be retrofitted to use it and this may or may not be true but I don't know enough to know if it is and try it. The 845B is good enough for me. I'm not much of a tube roller. But that's a nice thing about the 845 tube, that there simply aren't very many of them available so it's easier to tube roll and find the one you prefer.