The first tube amp I heard was the Macintosh MC275 and it was a revelation. I had always dismissed tube amps as nostalgia but everything changed that day. I couldn’t afford the Mac amp but learned about Primaluna in the process and got a demo Dialogue One from Upscale. I loved it and thought it sounded every bit as good as the Mac, or close enough for me. A couple years later I wanted to try something else and got a Line Magnetic LM508 integrated. Have to say sound wise it was better than the Primaluna in every way, however it was also quite a bit more expensive and it’s a beast of an amp and runs very very hot. It also developed a buzz in a transformer and had to go to service. While it was gone for nearly 6 montths I put the PL back in. There were times I thought I could just live with this amp forever as it does everything right. However, so many flavors of amps to try so when I got the Line Magnetic back I sold it and the PL. Since then I’ve had amps from Linear Tube Audio, Mastersound, Tektron, Canary, Oliver Sayes, 300b SET mono’s from Grant Fidelity, and some solid state amps from Van Alstine, Odyssey and others. All very good, some great. But after all that I’m now back to Primaluna with a Dialogue Premium amp. Did some of those other amps sound better in some ways? Yes, but the PL gear is just simple, quiet, versatile, reliable and I actually like the simple, clean understated looks. And buying a used PL Dialogue could be one of the great bargains in HiFi. Now, a local HiFi shop just got an Evo300 amp that I might pick up and sell my Dialogue. Not sure it’s a huge upgrade but in the end it will only cost me a couple hundred $$ and could use the flexibility of the xlr inputs. So might be selling my Dialogue for the Evo. And I still have some other amps I want to try, but I just don’t think you can go wrong with the PL gear. Highly recommended.
also, and not to get off subject, I have a Don Sachs preamp and love it. It’s not in the system right now but I think I’ll have a really hard time ever selling it. Don has also been great to work with in terms of support and advice. I’d love to hear his amp one day but just haven’t gotten there yet.
Be well everyone and enjoy your music.