Synthesis Amplifiers: One of High End's Best Kept Secrets?

I get it for sure, Bill. This "quirky" design flaw could well be a non-starter for many, and I certainly wish they'd make exactly the adjustment to their amps you have suggested.

I will send this advice along directly to Synthesis, for whatever good that might do. All I can say to anyone out there is don't audition it unless you're willing to live with it :)

I am sure I would have been fine with the A40, as the Fynes are quiet efficient, but it is great to have the power to spare. The amp is not necessarily inexpensive, but let's just say I was able to pull thousands of dollars out of my system by selling my last amp and buying the Titan. I'll recoup thousands more if I decide to sell my DAC and interconnects. That makes the Synthesis an unbelievable bargain in my book.

Thanks for all who have chimed in, those who have also had thrilling experiences with the Synthesis gear and those with very kind and supportive comments. I have always appreciated this about our community, our shared enthusiasm for good sound and fun discoveries.

I forgot to mention that the stock TAD KT66 tubes are sounding just terrific to me, though I did swap out the smaller Electro Harmonix tubes and for some NOS tubes I had lying around and experienced a nice litte jump in performance.

I often find myself impressed by great solid state and class D amps, but invariably I migrate back to tubes. I guess they must be worth the trouble, for me at least. And, yes, I sure do like looking at them, especially at night in the dark, when my system becomes a little cathedral of sound and beauty.

Thanks very much, Bill. It really has been somewhat of an odyssey, but I had some fun along the way and got to sample a wide swath of great-sounding amps, while at the same time coming to terms with exactly the kind of sound I was looking for. I forgot to mention a dalliance with the Linear Tube Audio Ultralinear+, another very fine amp indeed but, once again, not exactly right for me.

I would love to get together sometime and hear the Synthesis and Circle Labs in the same system. That would be great fun I'm sure.

I have an audition this weekend of an Infigo USB cable and also have a Network Acoustics Muon USB cable on the way to compare. If that goes as well as I hope it will and think it may, my DAC will soon be for sale.

The Synthesis has changed my paradigm on how good an onboard DAC can be. It has been quite a ride rebuilding my system around the Fynes, but I think at last I am almost there.

@larryi 

The F1-12s are on my radar. A very good deal on a used pair tempted me a few months back, but the timing wasn't good. My wife isn't crazy about their looks either, so there is that to overcome since the system is in our primary living area.

At some point down the line, I might consider Synthesis separates, but I expect I'll be enamored with the A100 for quite some time, and I love the simplicity of it. I may take the proceeds from selling my DAC and cables and have some fun exploring some different cartridges. It really never ends.

This kind of demonstration makes you wonder how many audiophiles have given up on speakers without ever hearing their real potential due to an inferior or mismatched amplifier.  While a great amp might make a modest speaker sound amazing, it doesn't really work as well the other way around.

Thanks for the recommendation. I will look into the BMC cable. I feel like finding the right USB cable may be the last piece of the puzzle at this point.

It turns out that the biasing situation with the A100 is a bit "mysterious" and complicated.

In the specs on the website, it says the amp is "manual" bias for the power tubes, but there is no information otherwise on how or where to adjust the bias. My dealer thought the amp was an autobias design, but that turned out to be incorrect.

The tech at Deja Vu Audio--the distributor for Synthesis in the US--told me that the output tubes would need to be biased manually when I change them. He said that most often, the KT66 tubes last about six years.

Unfortunately, the Synthesis designer did not make it easy to adjust the bias, so the tech recommended taking the amp to a local repair shop when the KT66 tubes have to be replaced. Not convenient and certainly not ideal, but for me at least, well worth it to own this extraordinary amplifier.

If you are especially proficient and knowledgeable, you could probably manage to do this on your own. I'll probably just have my local tech do it when the time comes.

Not yet, but I am sure they will. The tech told me that he actually made a video of the process for one owner, but when he watched it, he decided to bring the amp into the shop after all. Nope, not ideal, but I won't be selling mine, that's for sure.

It is highly unlikely I will do this myself. Then again, the tech for Deja Vu told me that the KT66 tubes in the Synthesis last an average of six years. I'm not exactly fretting over it. I have a tech twenty minutes up the road who could do it, or I might send it to Virginia to have them do it when the time comes for tube replacement.

For context, I just sold an amp that retails for more than twice as much as the A100. If I also end up selling the DAC, interconnects, and digital cable as seems very likely given the quality of the onboard DAC in the unit, I will be pulling about $10K out of the system and still have sound I much (much!) prefer. For me at least, that's worth the nuisance of having someone else setting the bias on the output tubes when the time comes for that. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.

I'll be interested in this comparison as well. I continue to marvel at my A100 every day. I'm glad Larry mentioned the onboard DAC again. I have been driving myself crazy for a month comparing it to my Lampizator Baltic 3, which is a terrific DAC that suits my tastes nearly perfectly, and I sometimes think it is enough of an improvement that I'll keep it or even upgrade the Baltic 4.

But the A100 DAC sounds so good to me that it really does force me to consider the law of diminishing returns. I've been comparing for a month and the differences are by no means night and day. You throw in the cost of a decent pair of interconnects and an extra power cord, and pretty soon you're closing in on $10k for what, maybe a 5-10 percent improvement? The fact that this is even a horse race speaks volumes.

Maybe other Synthesis owners are experiencing a bigger gap in performance than I seem to be between their external DAC and Synthesis' own built in DAC, but when Larry says it's formidable, that's no joke. I've had several very highly regarded integrated amps with built-in DACs, and not one of them impressed me the way this one has.

I have not heard this.

Hmm, what kind of problems? The only thing I have noticed with mine is that it can be a little bit balky and the volume control is not as smooth as I would wish. It doesn't really bother me that much, but an upgrade would be welcome.

I believe my Lampizator Baltic 3 has a slightly bigger and slightly more layered soundstage, but otherwise they sound more alike than different.

When I have time later in the week, I'll call about the remote.

Believe me, I know what you mean about going to back to solid state. I had some very nice, very highly regarded solid state amps through here the past couple of years, but I much prefer the Synthesis A100 to any of them. It is very hard to turn it out and go to bed at night, always a good sign!

@azwill 

My cable evaluation is on hold until the arrival of my new DAC, the Lampizator Baltic 4.I expect it to arrive in the next week or so, and then we'll see how it shakes out. I will also be comparing a couple of very nice AES/EBU cables--an Infigo prototype and a Shunyata Sigma V2. 

I will report back when I have some solid impressions. Thanks for your interest.

@pryso 

Now there's a thought! I am going to look into that possibility right away. Thanks for a creative potential solution. This is my only issue with this amp, which continues to delight me every day.

I notice a little bit of a hum very briefly when first powering up my A100, but it quickly goes away. I have not noticed any noise at all changing the volume.

In the year I have owned the Synthesis, I have come to love it more and more. It is just a stunning piece.