[daveneumann]

Originally Posted by joel_hifi

Dave, I don't have experience with the Auris II but I can share some thoughts regarding other Ayon gear I'm familiar with.

I have owned the S3 Streamer/DAC/Pre and can pretty much second Matthiasmenz' highlights.

I now run the Stealth in my system, sometimes as a DAC, sometimes as a DAC+Pre, alternating with the Nagra Jazz, depending on the rest of the system.

Ayon make excellent tube gear, the sound is always musically satisfying with good quality bass, nice sense of airiness, without ever compromising on dynamics nor detail. The build quality and finish is first class and makes for proud ownership.

One word about the 6H30 tube complement in all these units: it is reliable, affordable and is known for bass control and detail. It's maybe one of the cleaner tubes around, not as smooth as the 12AX7 or 6922, but far from cool. On the downside there's little room for tube rolling. BAT are also using them in their preamps.

I'm currently at the mountain place but I could run a careful test of the combo Ayon Stealth as preamp + Pass Labs XA30.8 (edit: on the Elipsas!) when I get back at the end of the week and report about the synergy if that would be of interest to you.

The Auris would obviously elevate the experience on another level from the units mentioned above, and as described by Kaarmstrong.

Thank you, Joel. I had some questions about the build quality and I appreciate your description of the sonics. Thank you for your generous offer, but from talking with Pass Labs and the importer of Ayon, I think the match will be very good both electronically/impedance matching, and sonically.