I have had the darTZeel amp and pre-amp for several months now and can only agree with Arthurp, that they are truly an awesome sounding combination. The 50 ohm constant impedance link between the amp and pre-amp is pure genius and outperforms easily an RCA or XLR connection (I A/B'ed both against the 50 ohm and it was no contest). Yes, the amp takes 300-400 hours to really burn in before it is at its best...unfortunate, but that's the price to pay for excellence. I have not heard the Pass Labs or the Lamms...I'm sure they and many others are also excellent. I did compare the dart to the ASR Emitter II, Linn, Boulder 2010/2050's, Halcro dm10/dm68's, ARC, VTL and the dart is in another league IMHO in terms of its utter lack of artifacts and ability to deliver the very best of tube and solid state strengths. The amp may not have the power to drive inefficient speakers in a very large room, but it drives my Dynaudio Temptations (which are 4 ohm and 90db efficient) just fine.
I doubt very much that dart will become a "flavor of the month or even year". The designs were 20+ years in the making and I think it will be awhile before it is matched or bested, but if it happens that fine, we as audiophiles will all benefit.
Happy Listening.
I doubt very much that dart will become a "flavor of the month or even year". The designs were 20+ years in the making and I think it will be awhile before it is matched or bested, but if it happens that fine, we as audiophiles will all benefit.
Happy Listening.