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Move to tubes: Ayon Crossfire or Triton, various

I am contemplating a move to tubes from a solid state platform that I've loved for years with an Esoteric C-03 pre-amp and Edge NL 12.1 Stereo Amp driving Legacy AERIS speakers. See my system thread for details on the rest of the rig including interconnects, speaker cables and power conditioning/cords. Through a lot of conversations and admittedly, after reading alot of "Bugatti of Audio,..." type reviews on Ayon tube integrated and stereo tube amps, it seems that if I was aiming high (but within realm of possibility of me), my choices would be down to the Crossfire III or III PA and Triton III or III PA running in triode mode most of the time.

The C-03 and NL12.1 deliver performance, impact, dynamics, subtlety, musicality and imaging across the entire listening spectrum and frequency range based upon multiple years of owning them. They do many things that fit my personal prefs but I have heard many desirable things from moderate->expensive tube gear that I would like that much more of.

I'd be interested in feedback from people who have heard both the integrated and pure stereo versions of these products; given I love what the C-03 does for me as a pre-amp and MAY keep it in the chain, would you suggest;

- Crossfire or Triton as a baseline choice (and then III or III PA version each)?
- keep the Esoteric C-03 pre-amp and use the Ayon as pure stereo
- abandon the C-03 pre-amp as well as NL12.1 stereo SS Amp and go with an integrated amp version of the Crossfire III or Triton III?
- other Ayon offerings (Titan not reachable); see note on power reserves below....
- move up to the C-02 Master Soundworks new pre-amp from Esoteric and look at these or other pure stereo tube amps?

***I need XLR inputs....that culls out many tube amp offerings from what I have found....

Any other choices out there in the Ayon line or others I should be considering? The Legacy AERIS are incredibly efficient (96db or better) and are optimal 4-ohm loads, BUT I want power in reserve to serve dynamically challenging passages. I note that one of these Ayon models go to 35Khz, the other to 60Khz; which would you recommend based upon performance over the entire listening spectrum?

Thanks in advance, I know this will require some time to respond to; definitely appreciate the help and guidance!!!
zephyr24069

Showing 3 responses by zephyr24069

zephyr24069's avatar
zephyr24069 OP
1,245 posts
 
Thank you all...you'd never glean the quality issues mention from any of the reviews of their products. I wonder if they've made strides toward improvement as they certainly seem to garner alot of praise when their amps are functioning from what I've read, which is by no means exhaustive.

Charles: You have quite the collection of tube gear; of all your amps present and recent, which are your favorites and how frequently do you swap in/out and for what reasons? Thank you!

All: I was looking at the Ayon's beyond the review in part due to their power ratings as I need reserves for dynamic passages in many styles of music I listen to and if moving from SS to tubes, I don't want to sacrifice that capability. I've heard some good sounding tube gear at friends' houses and at shows. Some of the best sounding tube gear I have heard has lower power ratings and has 'a wall...' when it comes to handling some of the big material at reasonable, but normal listening levels.

Beyond power though, everything else is still important to me to maintain with the added benefit of tube-related sound attributes....

Apologies for the "tube newbee" questions but we all have to start new sometime! Thank you all!
zephyr24069's avatar
zephyr24069 OP
1,245 posts
 
Thank you both for your suggestions.  I've actually moved past this question for my setup for now and decided to stay solid-state for the foreseeable future.  I find that S/N ratio, THD and Damping Factor (the higher the better, my current amp is a champ here; it also has separate input and output transformers and only 2 gain stages) and the ability to run true balanced to be as important to the sound I wish to achieve as power rating for amps, speaker efficiency,etc...

BTW...the Legacy AERIS are not rated 94 db, the actual metric is a bit higher. My current speakers are actually 91 db if memory serves so if I ever go with tubes, I'll make sure to remember the recommendations here.  Thanks!
zephyr24069's avatar
zephyr24069 OP
1,245 posts
 
@atmasphere : Great feedback, thank you very much.  I agree the NL 12.1, NL Ref, etc...were amazingly musical and did not have the typical solid state side effects; they were also (at least to my ears) dead neutral and injected no color or warmth of their own.  Tom and Steve were champs in their day designing and building cutting edge, great sounding gear.  I also am a fan of the big Karans although I never pulled that trigger given their lack of US distribution and service network.  The 2 times I was able to hear them were extremely impressive.  Today, my system is centered around an Esoteric A-02 stereo am; very "un-solid state" in how it sounds in my system but with the power, control/grip and dynamics (both micro and macro) that I love to hear.  I'm not saying tubes are out of the question ever, but for now, I'm focused on other things.  The MA-1 (MkIII) certainly looks like it would get the job done very well with numerous reviews spouting its praises, thank you for the recommendation. Can I assume you would also recommend the MA-2 MkIII and MA-3 (what a monster!)? Would these recommendations all hold for TAD R1 Mk2 speakers? (see my current virtual system). It might be good to grab the phone and give you a call :-)

@pepper1999 : Thank you again for your feedback; there are various Ayon models above Crossfire and Triton that also had/have my attention.  

Any opinions on Raven Shaman, Spirit or Silhouette monos?

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