[Tomy2Tone]

I know the odds are pretty slim but wanted to see if anybody here has had any experience with the Hestia/Hyperion stack from Denafrips. Or even if just one of these. I'm actually interested in the Hestia preamp to try but if anybody has had an opportunity to hear either or both please chime in with your thoughts.

[pwalker]

Hi there,

Zero Fidelity has a review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw1K76Ki69A

[dwk]

Also 'JonMarsh' over on HTGuide has the Hestia/Hyperion pair. He's posted some measurements and has brief comments on the Hestia here http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?44333-Coming-Soon-on-the-bench-Hestia-and-Hyperion . Based on scattered comments he seems to feel they deliver as promised.

[Tomy2Tone]

Thanks guys for the links. I had seen the Zero Fidelity review which is what sparked my interest.

Would love to see how this compares to the integrated from Kinki Studio.

[JackD]

Tomy

You might want to reach out to Srajen and see if he will comment for you as he has had them both in his two systems for good lengths of time.  My impression of reading his reviews of them is that the Denafrips combo is warmer more tube sounding than the Kinki which I own too.  I still think you need to spend a lot to best the Kinki it just won't be a great match for a cooler voiced speaker much like the Job 225. But it does a brilliant job with my Nola's and Verity's.

[Tomy2Tone]

Tomy

You might want to reach out to Srajen and see if he will comment for you as he has had them both in his two systems for good lengths of time.  My impression of reading his reviews of them is that the Denafrips combo is warmer more tube sounding than the Kinki which I own too.  I still think you need to spend a lot to best the Kinki it just won't be a great match for a cooler voiced speaker much like the Job 225. But it does a brilliant job with my Nola's and Verity's.

Thanks Jack.

The more I think about it I think if I was going to get one of these it would be the Kinki. It definitely has the track record across the forums of being a winner for quite a few. I spoke with Mike Powell about the Denafrips hoping he had a chance to hear them but he said no and as you probably know he’s no longer a US dealer support for them. But he did have high praise for the Kinki and it’s match with Klipsch which is what I’m using now so maybe someday I’ll get a chance to hear one.

[JackD]

The Kinki is just a hard piece to beat for anything close to the price if it works with your speakers voicing.  Dawid with HiFi Knights, who has also worked for 6Moons, replaced a $16,000 Trilogy hybrid integrated with the Kinki to drive his Boenicke's which are a really hard speaker to drive. It has driven in my systems speakers from Nola, Verity, Spatial and Reynaud with ease.  The only thing I haven't tried it with yet are the Fritz Carrera Be's. The Carrera's are a really great bookshelf speakers and though lower in efficiency an easy load and to me easily outdid the Buchardt's.

[Tomy2Tone]

Jack- Do the Fritz speakers work well with all types of music? In particular classical and jazz? The wife mentioned she’d like to have her own set of speakers so she could play classical while my Klipsch’s can stay in the main room for everything else. Always wanted to hear a pair of Fritz’s.

[JackD]

Actually I have never tried Classical on them so can't say but I don't know why not.  Another thing with them is that if you are at all worried about the beryllium tweeter then there is the Rev 7 SE which is the same speaker with the Illuminator tweeter from Scan Speak with the required tweaks to the crossover. Dan drove them at a show with an 8 wpc SET amp and I have driven them with the 30 wpc Music Reference RM-10 to volumes in the mid-90's db with ease.  Fritz will be happy to let you try a pair for 30 days without obligation other than paying to ship them back and it is worth calling him to talk about it.  Nick just tried a pair and like me ended up buying them.  When I got mine I broke them in with the Office system for 10 days 24/7 and then gave them a month each in the Family Room and Main system and just moved them back to the Office system but haven't had the tie to hook them up in there yet. There are another couple of owners here plus Rollo so I would pose the question about Classical music and see what response you get.

[Tomy2Tone]

Actually I have never tried Classical on them so can't say but I don't know why not.  Another thing with them is that if you are at all worried about the beryllium tweeter then there is the Rev 7 SE which is the same speaker with the Illuminator tweeter from Scan Speak with the required tweaks to the crossover. Dan drove them at a show with an 8 wpc SET amp and I have driven them with the 30 wpc Music Reference RM-10 to volumes in the mid-90's db with ease.  Fritz will be happy to let you try a pair for 30 days without obligation other than paying to ship them back and it is worth calling him to talk about it.  Nick just tried a pair and like me ended up buying them.  When I got mine I broke them in with the Office system for 10 days 24/7 and then gave them a month each in the Family Room and Main system and just moved them back to the Office system but haven't had the tie to hook them up in there yet. There are another couple of owners here plus Rollo so I would pose the question about Classical music and see what response you get.

I showed the wife this and she loved it. I may have to make the sacrifice and get her a pair of her own speakers and get these Carrera BE’s...

https://youtu.be/oCLUUkgnvHw

[JackD]

Interesting, running them with W4S mAmps.