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PrimaLuna compared to Decware


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Are you thinking of getting rid of your EVO 400 and getting a Decware instead? I have never heard a Decware but would love to hear one and compare with my Primaluna but it probably will never happen for me. I just enjoy my EVO 400 too much.

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Yes, I've used both and I have them on my channel. Just in case you're not aware, the Decware Zen is Decware's benchmark amplifier, so Decware strives to achieve as close to the sound signature as the little single ended Zen as possible but with more power in the larger, more expensive units. In my opinion, both of these amps are excellent depending on the sound signature you are after and how it relates to the genre of music you prefer to listen to. 

 

The Primaluna's have a more analytical, in your face kind of signature which is now considered the more modern sound which is very detailed. The Primaluna's also have amazing bass performance in my opinion plus they have loads of current and power. For music like Albert King and Stevie Rey Von and rock or blues music for example, the Primaluna is a better choice in my humble opinion. The Primaluna's have balls and more grunt. My friend Mirko has the Evo 400 and it sounds fantastic with his Heresy IV's 

 

The Decware's on the other hand tend to have a sweeter, prettier kind of sound signature that's smooth and a bit more refined for smooth, easier going jazz tracks and music listening. They also have a slightly warmer sound signature compared to the Primaluna's. Don't get me wrong, the Decware's can rock out, but not like the Primaluna's can in my opinion. I eventually sold my Decware because I was doing really long, easy listening jazz sessions and what I started to notice over the years is the sound wasn't quite as balanced. I'll give you an example.

 

I tend to listen more to easy going jazz tracks like Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Stan Getz and Scott Hamilton. Most of the time, I was listening at moderate volume levels to lower levels for many hours. Even though the Decware had a sweet sound signature, I noticed that the sound was colored in a manner that wasn't as balanced so if I was listening to a trio with a trumpet, piano or sax for example, they would tend to stand out more forward than the rest of the instruments in the band. At first, I loved this, but later at night it got a little fatiguing over time. 

 

In order to get a sax or trumpet to sound less forward at more pleasant listening levels, I would turn down the volume but the problem was that some of the other instruments went too quiet by comparison into the background. At first I thought this was the recordings, but I later learned it was the sound signature of Decware. For that reason, I sold off all my other amps which were similar and went with the next generation Dynakit ST35's with 17.5 watts per channel. The sound signature is sweet and warm too, except for one big difference, "it's more balanced across the board". All the instruments still sound holographic and three dimensional, but it doesn't throw a sax or trumpet in your face compared to the rest of the music. 

 

I would describe the Decware as more fun and sweet to listen to for shorter periods and the Primaluna even more exciting, but for long listening sessions, I preferred the Dynakit ST35. If you already have a Primaluna, you may already have the right set up. Most of the more recent demand for Decware really has more to due with all the popular YouTube channels finally testing a Decware and failed miserably testing and comparing less popular products due to marketing agenda's. Don't quote me on this, but I've heard that as YouTube review channels earn greater popularity and subscribers, any sales that are related to those channels are granted commissions by the bigger companies and I believe this is the real reason most of these YouTube review channels are totally clueless about the products Kevin reviews from real hard working private craftsman that nobody hears about. For those kinds of products, you should go to Kevin's review site. He knows way more than these YouTube sensations. 

 

The best review site is Glow In The Dark Audio here.

http://glowinthedarkaudio.com/amps.html

 

My favorite integrated amp of all time is the Elekit 8600s 300B for my Heresy and Forte's. The one I reviewed was from Kevin's site here which uses the Lundhal transformers. When I first heard this, I was pretty blown away. It was sweet, holographic and well balanced like the ST35. The reason I don't have one, or at least yet is because I only had it for about a week or so and I wasn't sure how I would like it over longer listening sessions compared to the ST35 coupled to my PAS and Aretha tube preamps. 

http://glowinthedarkaudio.com/elekit-8600s.html

 

Best of luck.

---daniel

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Hello, 

Thanks for all the comments especially Daniel. Everything you said is 100% right, I have always wondered what the deal was with Decware. There is a private auction going on with a Decware amp I was considering bidding on but after what you said it open my eyes. It’s not worth paying a premium to get one that is brand new. 
It’s been about 5 weeks or so listening to the EVO 400 and I really love it, no way is it going back. It’s a real life time amp which most likely there won’t be any problems with. There sure is a lot of tubes if I ever wanted to change them for fun like my friend Fido did. I listen to a lot of Electronic music which has a lot of bass and tons of things going on, the PrimaLuna is really excellent with this music. Some songs are a tad bright in Ultra so the remote to click into Triode is really nice. To make this amp perfect it would be nice to find a couple 12AU7 tubes to tone it down just a touch but it’s not a problem if I can’t do it..Being retired the wife and I get up around 7 and the music starts durning coffee and stays on until 3 pm and we don’t get fatigued…it’s really good at low listening levels. The bass is perfect, it actually sounds like the instrument or what ever is producing the bass, we look forward to hearing it on my Forte IVs and the Fortes I bought new in the 80s…If anyone out there is thinking about a PrimaLuna you can’t go wrong it’s a great amp…I am close to being 70 so all I want to do is wake up and get another day of this sweet retirement and listen to music at the same time the tv is on, that the advantage of having two systems in the same room…you get the best advice in this forum, thanks a lot..

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The EVO 400 sounds great with the stock EL 34s but in my system setup the KT 150s,  my S812 REL sub along with my Forte IVs take the mid bass and lower registers to another level.. I listen to music off and on for hours daily and the PL is never fatiguing. I often listen at low levels and dynamics never seem to suffer at those low levels. Crank it up and mid range vocals  sound live in my living room. Highs are clear and bright but never irritating bright. Low bass is solid and you feel it deep inside. Ithe KT150s almost make the low end sound like it’s a solid state amp but the overalll sound is tube warmth with the holographic sounds only an all tube amp can convey. I don’t yearn to try different amps because the EVO 400 sounds incredible to me.

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11 hours ago, Silverfoxvtx1800 said:

Hello, 

Thanks for all the comments especially Daniel. Everything you said is 100% right, I have always wondered what the deal was with Decware. There is a private auction going on with a Decware amp I was considering bidding on but after what you said it open my eyes. It’s not worth paying a premium to get one that is brand new. 
It’s been about 5 weeks or so listening to the EVO 400 and I really love it, no way is it going back. It’s a real life time amp which most likely there won’t be any problems with. There sure is a lot of tubes if I ever wanted to change them for fun like my friend Fido did. I listen to a lot of Electronic music which has a lot of bass and tons of things going on, the PrimaLuna is really excellent with this music. Some songs are a tad bright in Ultra so the remote to click into Triode is really nice. To make this amp perfect it would be nice to find a couple 12AU7 tubes to tone it down just a touch but it’s not a problem if I can’t do it..Being retired the wife and I get up around 7 and the music starts durning coffee and stays on until 3 pm and we don’t get fatigued…it’s really good at low listening levels. The bass is perfect, it actually sounds like the instrument or what ever is producing the bass, we look forward to hearing it on my Forte IVs and the Fortes I bought new in the 80s…If anyone out there is thinking about a PrimaLuna you can’t go wrong it’s a great amp…I am close to being 70 so all I want to do is wake up and get another day of this sweet retirement and listen to music at the same time the tv is on, that the advantage of having two systems in the same room…you get the best advice in this forum, thanks a lot..

 

 

5 weeks is a pretty short period because it will only sound nicer as the unit burns in assuming you got it new. When Mirko first got his Evo and we tried it, it was really bright brittle sounding and later as the months passed by, it sounded sweeter and much nicer. I was really surprised at how much nicer it sounded in later months. You can also treat your room by hanging decorative rugs on the walls. That helps dampen things down a bit too if it's of any concern.  

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22 minutes ago, Idontknow said:

Fido, you're probably better off not comparing gear. It drives listeners insane and sometimes they're never happy. 

 

 That's funny! What I've found over the years is most everything has its pluses and minuses, "A" may do somethings better than "B" but usually at the cost of something else. Really I think it all comes down to system / room synergy; putting together a series of equipment that compliment each other and the room they're all in, everything has to work together. I have experienced several times that one system in a certain room or home can be very good but when that same exact system is moved it can fall apart.  

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I also bought my PL from upscale Audio and the people that work there are awesome.  Kat set me up in a listening room and Kevin Deal came in and just listened to me try to describe what I was hoping to hear. Since then I have bought the kt 150s from Upscale and Kat setup my gorgeous Mofi Fender Turntable. The service there is the best I have ever experience at any audio dealer in my life. They share their passion with customers and are so nice. Total positive experiences doing business with them. When I told Kevin I needed to sell my McIntosh Ma252 before I could consider a PL amp he made me a very generous offer to take my MA252 in trade towards the EVO 400. As much as I enjoyed that McIntosh amp the Pl sound was what I was looking for and Kevin bent over backwards to help make that happen for me. Kudos to Upscale

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1 hour ago, Silverfoxvtx1800 said:

Yes I bought it new from Upscale, the people there are really nice to work with. My room isn’t very big, 12x15, carpet and lots of quilts on the walls…there is a French door with lots of glass…very nice room, close to the refrigerator,coffee pot and bathroom….

image.jpg

 

That room looks great. It's only gonna get better as time goes on, I'd stick with it. You got carpet a wall dampening which is very good in my opinion. 

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I bought from Sean at Upscale, he bent over backwards to help with questions I had 7 days a week he would get back to me. I am drinking coffee and have the Primaluna in Ultra sound mode, sounds excellent….makes my old ear sparkle…..toes tapping…it’s all good…the Decware amp at the auction they are having is way to expensive for what it is…

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I’m relieved that you are loving your EVO 400 after I raved about it here on the Klipsch Forum. Now that I have had mine for a few years I just like it more and more as the KT150 tubes have been well broken in for many months now

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I had a great music session today, just can’t get enough. The PrimaLuna and the ForteIVs really sound awesome with this music…The used Decware market is expensive too for what you get. There was a UFO for sale a few weeks ago 20 miles from me, talking to the guy he already sold it after having it a couple weeks, it was new but he didn’t like the sound with his La Scalas. He preferred the Shiny Eyes Radu amp he already had. Thinking a lot about the sound today with the EVO 400, there is no doubt the bass is really nice. No complaints here….Here one of my crazy playlists, you need a amp with some grunt to play these songs…

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There are also other amp options besides one guy I can recommend is Fluxion Amp Designed and Made in Canada. I started from Dynaco EL34 (22 years) in the 80's, then KT88 and EL84 (20 years). I bought a Primaluna Prologue Classic (3 years ago). I still have all of the amps besides the Dynaco I sold it after 25+ years.

Then I bought the Fluxion 300b and another exotic amp in assembly right now. I been using mine going 3 years now. I cannot compare it for I had a wonderful relationship with my previous amp. But this is the one I'm using now. The only thing I do know is I have 2 quad set of Mullard EL34 that I bought back in 1989 NOS from early 60's running those dynaco and possibly the Primaluna in the future. After all these years, I just sold it last February and I dont even know why?

Anyways you can check him out Mr. Ahn.

Best CCG

 

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