I wanted to join in the praise of Vinnie's upgraded Clari-T. About 2 weeks ago I received a Dual Mono Clari-T with blackgates, auricaps, Dact attenuator, silver wiring, the whole nine yards. It's replacing the stock Clari-T I've had since last December.
The new amp has been breaking in (well over 100 hours of play) and continues to improve most every day. With one amp board for each channel, I get almost twice the volume, which is very welcome on my 90DB Soliloquy 5.3 speakers. Along with the increase in volume, the bass is now deep and full, WAY down there, making the stock amp sound somewhat lean by comparison. Also, having one amp board per channel really enhances stereo separation, providing an even more coherant soundstage. One professional reviewer refered to the Clari-T's "narrow soundstage, which was only as wide as the distance between my speakers". Are we listening to the same amp? the soundstage I'm getting is amazing.
Of course one of the great strengths of the battery powered amp is the silent background. It was excellent on the stock Clari-T but when the dual mono's enhanced dynamics, detail and soundstage emerge from silence, the contrast is truly spectacular.
In short, the dual mono Clari-T has all of the strengths of the stock unit but does everything better, and by a large margin. I'm sure the caps will continue to imrove for several more weeks, but it's already delivering the best audio I've ever heard. How nice that it's coming from my own living room.
One last thing. I've noticed that Vinnie's offerings pair very well with red wine. Sitting in the dark at night in my Ekornes stressless leather recliner with a large glass of the grape, listening to music has become, in short, eargasmic!
Thank you Vinnie for making world-class audio available to the common man.
Matt
