Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Dared Dared VP-20 Amplifier (Tube) by JayWilson Looking for a new Amp or Preamp? If you're after tubes, post over here.

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Model:	Dared VP-20
Category:	Amplifier (Tube)
Suggested Retail Price:	$1400
Description:	Tube Monoblock amplifiers
Manufacturer URL:	Dared
Model Picture:	View

Review by JayWilson ( A ) on September 25, 2003 at 18:38:21 IP Address: 67.24.115.140

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My Dared VP-20 is a used one when I bought (less than one year old I guess). It came with NOS Russian

6n3cE power tubes (6L6GC type). This unique looking pair of monos performs exceptionally well by all means in terms of music. I am still puzzled how good does the sound come out of two relatively small output transformers. It gives a solid bass and deep, wide sound staging of which I hear all the good attributes of the valve sound. Playing my favor jazz CDs with this amp, vocals sound very natural with a realistic presence that makes my speakers disappear. I love to listen to Billy Eckstine’s, “Cheek to Cheek” (Ella Fitzerald and Louis Armstrong), “You’re Not the Kind” (Sharah Vaughan), “When I look in your eyes” (Dina Krall), and “You re too Beautiful” (John Colrrane and Johnny Hartman. The vocals are extremely transparent and crisply defined. My wife enjoyed the sound of this amp too when playing her favor classics CDs (Barbra Streisand, Sarah Brightman, and Linda Eder). It reveals wonderful smoothness and rich tonality of Saxophone when I played James McBride and Sonny Rollins’ CDs. On strings, this amp yields bright mids, pretty warm lows and rich harmonic modes. I can hear the richness of the string sound when I played Yo-Yo Ma’s Cello CDs. This amp is a bargain one. The quality of sound is pretty impressive although it is relatively light and small comparing to other tube amps.

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Product Weakness:	light weight and small size of output transformers, quality of the DC power cables
Product Strengths:	Sound quality, and good looking

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Dared VP-20 monos
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	n/a
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Metronome CD-2V signature
Speakers:	Omega Grand 8 (dual cone Fostex) and Soliloguy 6.0
Cables/Interconnects:	Nordost SPM-Reference/Cardas Golden Reference RSA
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz, clasical, soft rock
Room Size (LxWxH):	28 x 20 x 7
Room Comments/Treatments:	n/a
Time Period/Length of Audition:	two weeks
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	n/a
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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