I'm now the proud owner of both a Clari-T and Red Wine Teac and figured some of you might be interested in my impressions of how the two compare.
Firstly I wouldn't want this to be thought of as a 'shoot-out' between these two amps, since I believe they're both excellent, although in different ways, and in any case it cannot really be comparing like with like since the Clari-T doesn't need to be used with a pre-amp, whereas this edition of the Red Wine Teac does. The pre-amp I've been using is the Tube Fi-Y which is designed to be partnered with Don Garbers Fi-X SET amp.
Obviously use of the Fi-Y is going to be contributing something to the sound which may or may not be welcome depending on subjective taste. I did briefly try the Fi-Y in combination with the Clari-T; but preferred the Clari-T tout seul.
With the Clari-T's volume at full the Fi-Y seemed to add a richness and fullness to the sound; but at the expense of some of the Clari-T's amazing transparency. On top of that, we now had noise back in the system courtesy of the Fi-Y which has always generated a certain amount of noise in this system, whatever amp it's partnered with. (This is despite having identified and ameliorated all the ground loops I could find). I put much of this down to the less than ideal mains in my apartment. That detracts from another of the Clari-T's great strenghts, of course, which is its complete silence when running alone. It's just not possible to hear anything coming out of the speakers with the Clari-T apart from music. This is despite the fact that the transport and DAC connected to it are plugged in.
The Clari-T is the ultimate amp I've heard for transparency in the mid-band. I've been through a number of tube and other amps trying to maximise transparency in that vital midrange and, for me, the Clari-T is the best I've heard in that respect and I wouldn't be surpised if it bettered what some people pay a hell of a lot more for some exotic SET amps. This 'transparency' and the ultra low noise floor are obviously related. For me the term 'transparency' alludes to just how natural, real and in the room instruments and voices sound.
With the Clari-T, intruments are uncannily natural and 'there' in that vital midrange where most of the music takes place. It's also a great strength of the single driver high efficiency speakers I've been favoring. In this system I'm using Horn Shoppe horns. Since I got these speakers, there have been times when, while music's playing, I sometimes hear a noise, usually when I'm not in the same room as the speakers and the 'noise' is so real it startles me and I ask if anyone dropped anything. Then I listen closer to the music and realise that 'noise' which didn't sound in any way reproduced is part of the music, a percussion intrument of some sort. A favorite oldie of mine, 'Curtis Mayfield live 1970' demonstrates this well. The marimbas and other percussion intruments are just so 'there' with the Clari-T.
This 'thereness' seems to diminish slightly as we ascend towards the higher frequencies, which still tend to sound a little dry. This could very well be that the Clari-T needs to run in a bit longer. The initial stridency was gone after the first 100 hours; but I haven't played it much beyond that.
When it comes to the lower frequencies, there aren't any particular anomolies with the Clar-T. What bass I hear sounds 'musical' and natural enough, there's just a little less of it than I would like.
I guess having spent a good part of my life chasing this 'tranparency' and 'naturalness' and having found it, I'm now getting greedy and looking for the icing on the cake and some reinforcement down below.
Now the Red Wine Teac:
Ever had the experience of an old friend you thought you knew well, turning up after not being seen for a while and having changed somewhat?
I was always very fond of the old stock Teac. There was just something that sounded so 'right' about it whatever system I tried it on. It had obvious flaws which could make it sound 'artifcial' and 'electronic' at times. It could exagerate problems in recordings, such as mis-use/overuse of eq, so I could only really listen to it on the best recordings. Nevertheless I enjoyed it on whatever speakers I tried it with. That included my old ProAc Supertowers, whose metal dome tweeters I realised I'd never heard properly before. The highs seemed to soar to the heavens. I think this proves Dans point about digital amps suiting metal drivers well. I tried it with my other single driver speaker system, which is a pair of Rethm 2nds (using Lowther DX4) drivers. On the best recordings, such as Antonio Forciones' 'Touch Wood' it sounded pretty awesome. Only lacking a little in the bass compared to my previous amp in this system, the Plinius SA50 which was richer sounding; but not nearly as transparent.
My old friend had gained a fair amount of weight, now seeming like a far more serious contender, with a handsome logo on the back side and a rather large additional appendage on the front. The weight is, of course, due to the two SLA batteries and the serious looking switch which Vinnie installed on the front for switching the amp between on to off/charging. The switch being on the front, is more convenient than the Clari-T's and it has a nice chunky, definite feel to it, to the extent that it's almost become a perverse sort of pleasure to switch it between its two modes.
So after about two weeks of fairly heavy use, how does it sound? Well, I'm glad to say, my old friend hasn't changed to such a degree that its unrecognizable. It's old familiar strengths are there accept now it actually seems to have become less fussy about source material. My cable subscription includes some music channels which I believe are in MPEG2 and have been converted to analog before they exit the STB. Well, some of the live performances of classical, jazz, etc. have sounded way better than the source would suggest. The amp extends further in both directions than the Clari-T and continues to sound natural through the full tonal range. The highs extend as far as Eds Horns could possibly allow them to and without the previous stridency and artificiality of the stock Teac.
I have a number of CD's which I've burned to incorporate Digital room correction for this room/system and the best of them are incredibly natural sounding with the Red Wine Teac. Although if I really tried to analyse the sound I would probably admit that with the additional noise introduced by the Fi-Y it isn't as transparent as the Clari-T. The sound is so musical and enjoyable though, it makes such analysis difficult to accomplish. Sometimes I fancy I hear some resonance on certain intruments within a particular frequency range. This could be due to the Teac still warming up or it could be that those resonances are a characteristic of the intruments themselves. Many intruments are afterall mechanical devices which have natural resonances that are part of the music making and should afterall be there and I think sometimes I've become oversensitive to these. The Teac may actually be reproducing them as they should be heard for the first time.
The Teac seems quite sensitive to the cable used between it and the preamp feeding it. At the beginning I used some Kimber Hero. I noticed the first time my wife, who's a keen dancer, heard the Teac she started spontaneously dancing around the apartment. The next day I swopped it out for another cable I was trying out and the dancing stopped. (Which was a relief in some ways) When I re-introduced the Kimber the next day, the dancing begun again and I must admit, I much prefer it that way.
Incredibly the depth, extension and slam the Red Wine Teac is getting out of the Horns is something I just never would have believed they were capable of. I haven't measured how low they're going; but it is satsfying with most 'real world' music. I have a subwoofer on order. Do I need it? We shall see.
With the Red Wine Teac ultimately I come back to this idea of 'rightness', which sounds like a bit of a cop out. What I believe I'm trying to convey by that is that this amp is very well balanced.
I think the stock amp was as well. The Red Wine mods have taken it further though and improved its quality in all directions, while respecting that balance.
On Vinyl, which is still probably my best source in this system, the Clari-T is the amp that caused me to hear the music making on familiar discs in ways I had never heard before. For example, I could really understand Keith Jarret's phrasing on 'Koln Concert', his musical voice, if you like (not the actual singing accompaniment he sometimes makes, which anoys some listeners).
On the Red Wine Teac, I wasn't sure if these aspects came across quite as well; but having heard them for the first time grace au Clari-T, I could now pick them out, if I chose to listen for that. I was more likely to be carried away on this disk by the driving rythms which the Teac does better due to its afformentioned strenghts in the bass.
My enjoyment of the Red Wine Teac, despite the noise introduced by having to use it with the Fi-Y caused me to question for a moment just how important that absolute silence, when music isn't playing, really is. Although I sure appreciate it when I put my ear to the speaker with the Clari-T on when nothing's playing.
I'm sure it probably is still an advantage and Vinnies new customisation options with the Teac would allow me to hear how it sounds with a zero noise floor as well, since he can include the inputs from his Puri-T passive preamp.
On the other hand it could be that some of that musicality and richness that I so like about the sound of the Red Wine Teac now is contributed by using it in combination with the Fi-Y (and Kimber Hero cable). Some reviews of other digital amps at 6 moons and Stereo Times have found they benefit from a tube pre in front of them; but maybe that won't prove to be true of the Red Wine Teac with passive pre built in.
It's far too early for me to draw any definitive conclusions about either of these two excellent amps. Anyway, it's all a learning experience and all a lot of fun. I've learned a tremendous amount from these forums and am continuing to. I'm particularly looking forward to Dans comparison of these two. Not sure which version of the Teac he's getting. Either way it should prove interesting and enlightening reading.
I'm also itching to try the Subwoofer with both these amps. I don't have any experience with subs, so any tips would be very welcome.
I believe the Teac was always full of potential and something special right from the beginning. Anyone who's had theirs modded to bring out it's strenghts and clobber its weaknesses is likely to have a great amp today, whether it plugs into a mains or a charger.
I'm sticking with Vinnies approach because it's worked out so well with this amp and with the Clari-T. Also Vinnie is offering a number of customisation options now to incorporate his passive preamp and a battery powered DAC into the same enclosure.
I have a second stock Teac that I swear is inching its way closer to the door each day, as if it's willing itself to hop on a plane to MA
