Hi, I’m curious if anyone has paired a dcs component (more specifically bartok) with Audia Flight Amplifiers? I currently have my bartok paired with a McIntosh MA12000 and wondering if anybody thinks this would give improvement.
Thanks
Hi Darren - I hope that you are enjoying your Bartok.
Your question may be hard to answer as you haven’t given much information. Audia Flight make three ranges of amplifier , some are pre/power combinations, sone are integrated. There is a phono stage too, is that an area that you are interested in? Have you a budget limit?
How are you thinking of using it? Are you thinking of driving a power amp directly from Bartok or do you want a preamp ?Are you intending to drive loudspeakers or is this a headphone setup? If loudspeakers, which? Is it in a large or small room? Is your idea of a nice evening’s entertainment listening to a good recording of a string quartet or Motorhead flat out?
What sort of improvement are you seeking? What don’t you like about what you have?
I can say that Audia Flght has gained good reviews in the press over here ( UK). On the other hand so has McIntosh.
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I have an Audia Flight amp in a different system from my dCS DAC so I can’t answer specifically about the pairing. What I can confirm is that my 35kg FLS10 integrated is a pretty amazing integrated amplifier with effortless power. Described as 200w/side Class A, my guess is that it is Class A/B but very heavily biased into Class A. It takes 20+ mins to come on song but goes as loud as anyone would want into whatever difficulty of speaker load and is as clean as a whistle. I have the additional digital board for extra inputs and picked up the optional internal DAC board (close to £2k as an option) off eBay for under 50% of that and am still experimenting with which if any of the 8 filter settings on the AK4497 based board I prefer to my outboard Arcam D33.
Comes with a classy aluminium remote but I love to use the large notchless rotary to change volume or select inputs as it’s a thing of tactile joy.
Hope this helps!
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Thanks Pete. I am thinking of the strumento pre in combination with the fls4 power amp or possibly the fls10 integrated. I had owned a fls3 at one point and loved its sound. The intent is to stream folk/jazz with the bartok and SF Amati tradition speakers in a large room.
I can’t see much to say that the SF and Auiia Flight amplifiers combination do not make a good electrical match. The speaker is high sensitivity ( around 90dB) but the low impedance at certain frequencies makes it a bit of a difficult load. However the Audia Flight amplifiers for which I have been able to look at test results have low output impedance so the high sensitivity combined with 100 watts+ per channel with low output impedance looks promising even given a big room.
However what I guess you really want to know is what it sounds like and is it “better” than your existing McIntosh? The only honest answer is that it looks worthwhile auditioning. Nobody can tell you if you will like the sound or if you find it better or worse than what you have. I can’t see any technical reason why it should not be at least as good. As for anything more then that is strictly down to you.
Good luck listening.
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@Darren Hi, don’t have experience but have my Bartók apex connected to a darTZeel 8550MK2 and the Alexia 2 with nordost cables and i have to say, i was impressed with the amp but is playing everyday better. I give it an all week playing wen was i other house and the manufacturer says 170h, i give more but i think this amp really takes a lot of time to burn in, at least 400h and that’s crazy, but i really see more “flow” on the sound.
I ear a lot of gear and very expensive and i love this combo, i think to do an up-grade that will produce visible results you have to spend a lot lot more. Others like Dan have more grip and control on the bass, but this amp sings very special. Because the house interior design I can’t have pre+power but i thinks the integrated have a lot of advantages and for me this is the best integrated amp i heard.
By the way, i listen to all kind of music and it plays everything so good… Give it a try and I’m share you will be amazed.
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