Whole point here is to have no pre conceived notions . DarTZeel is great but they are very colored ; I suspect Mike will like the openness and naturalness the stellavox will bring to the table. But that’s all speculation ; let’s just wait and see what happens .
Stellavox Introduces a New State of the Art Amplifier IDEM Monoblocks
- Thread starter Steve Williams
- Start date
Jesus , yes . What skin In the game are you worried about. How many of us will have the luxury hear the OG darts versus a brand new amp . This is a lot more valuable than any bullshit magazine reviewers write up.
I say , don’t be skeptical .
We will hear an honest assessment .
Ultimately this is a subjective hobby and everyone hears and prefers different things .
But let’s cherish these write ups instead of looking for made up reasons to discount them.
my intension is that the Stellavox on the floor has to surpass the darts on the Taiko Tana/Herzan platforms straight up. at least for the Saturday morning compare. i have a relatively short 3 hour window (at 12:30 pm my UW Huskies play the Oregon Ducks) to (1) listen to the IDEM, (2) move the cables from the IDEM to the dart 468's (3) allow for enough time for the darts to warm up after being off for 3 days, and (4) listen to the darts. doing all that sufficiently right is a tall task.
trying to move things around to allow for the change of the active platform for both too is just pushing it too far. i figure even if the compare favors the dart on the active, i can then move the IDEM's onto the active and do that compare myself. if the compare favors the IDEM even on the floor, i will end up long term with the IDEM's on the platform anyway. and i will report on either situation once done.
so just trying to make sure what we do do is not harried and too stressful Saturday morning. we want to have a fun session and execute the parts we do effectively.
Last edited:
i will do my best to keep the long term best choice for my system.
Keith and Elliot would certainly be welcome if they can make it. there may be other such sessions in the coming days/weeks. at least until i ship one of these amps away. my room always has an open door.
people will think what they will think. i can't concern myself with all that. if i can choose either set of amps, why would i not choose the one i prefer? if that is not enough for anyone, not my problem. i've done plenty of public shootouts before and never not went the way of the better performance to my personal ears. i have lots of history. i'm an open book. YMMV.
i'll have three sets of experienced WBF Member ears with me Saturday. one owns medium powered tubes, one is buying a much respected big push pull tube amp, and one is a die hard dartTZeel lover. so hopefully they will take the time to comment on their compare perspective. all three are very familiar with my system and appreciate the darTZeel already and have never met or communicated with Gideon.
skeptics can speculate all they want about what they will say. knives out.....but take care.
Last edited:
Huh? darTZeel is very colored (the all purpose slur) is news to me.
So you think Mike selected and enjoyed darTZeel amps for many, many years, but that he was wrong to pick them? Is your hypothesis that he has gone from bad taste suddenly to good taste?
Mike believes in neutrality, not in coloring things. If darTZeel were very colored Mike would not have had them for many, many years.
Last edited:
I trust that for Mike to replace the 468s with Stellavox the Stellavox will have to be at least on the same indifference curve.
I don’t mean to imply that coloration is a bad thing; I should have said they have a house sound , great amplifier that is lovely no doubt.
We should all avoid extrapolating or trying to guess what the sessions will yield , I am guilty of opining without being there .
no worries, this is the place to say our thoughts about it. conjecture is a part.
we have lots of darTZeel 458 and 468 feedback over the years from Fremer and Heilbrunn, as well as myself, and visitors to my room, to read about.
many, many compares and comments, to both various tube amp choices, and solid state too. if you look at the big darts from the tube side, or the solid state side, you can make various comments about them as having a 'house sound' or not. but in my particular room most visitors very, very rarely comment about my amps at all. these expensive gold jewels sit there, tell us the peak watts, and sonically disappear. they simply play music and the sound of my room is not tubes or solid state. they are integrated into my room sound, which has not much of a signature. which is my aim.
yes; when i went from the 458's to the 468's, it was mostly more of a great thing, and more mid range textures, and so on and so on. is all that coloration? seems not to be that way in my room so far.
the question will be what will the compare uncover in this respect? maybe......i've not had such an amplifier to expose what the dart's are doing as the Stellavox? nor has anyone else either? we will see.
Last edited:
Mike, I have not heard the Stellavox and expect them to be very, very good. That said, the 458s (not the 459's) were the finest amplifiers I have ever heard. Powerful and as close to music and no-amplifier as I have experienced in 50 years of doing this. In full disclosure, they were powering Roger Miller's MM-7s in as near a perfect listening room as I am aware of. Enjoy!
That is saying something...will be very interesting to hear how this plays out. Fun to watch!
Who would say that after all size does not matter - there must be something in the 'craft'
Exactly - fun to watch, nothing else, unless someone has large experience with Mike system. But is seems some people look at it like like if it was a boxing fight. BTW, is there a WBF betting agency on this session outcome?
I’m sure that goes against WBF policy .Exactly - fun to watch, nothing else, unless someone has large experience with Mike system. But is seems some people look at it like like if it was a boxing fight. BTW, is there a WBF betting agency on this session outcome?
But what’s the line ? -10 in favor of Stella’s or are we starting off even? Home team darTZeel should be favored ? We need input from Vegas odd setters .
I would bet that I could live happily ever after with the loser
Elliot G.
Dealer - Bending Wave
I am flattered by the invitation but alas I am not planning a trip to the other side of the country anytime soon and certainly not in the winter LOL.
Im happy playing golf in Florida and enjoying the best time of the year here. Mike has a great system and I am sure Mike will decide which one he prefers, It is his system and he needs to please no one but himself. I have no information and never have heard the challenger so all I can do is read the blow by blow. enjoy!
one man's color is another man's tone/musicality. I can't see Chuck liking Dart either.
Thanks, and I've been meaning to get to Seattle for years. Still on my to do list.
That said, I'd never come up to do amp shoot outs. I'd rather just enjoy music for an entire weekend.
hope it happens.
Keith, you make a good point. and for sure i do not consider this a shootout really, or even anything final for me, where one wins and the other loses. no pressure to vote here.....and sometimes there is not much difference.
it's for me to see how they compare. to keep the right one for me long term. and it's for my local friends to have fun hearing both side by side before one leaves. all three had previously asked to be able to hear them. they have been long term supportive of my system, as i have of theirs too. after listening for three days i do have feelings about how it might go, but am curious how listening to the darts again might alter my viewpoint. and i want my friends to see what they think without trying to somehow support my viewpoint.....whatever that ends up being. down the road whichever way i go.
it might be somewhat early in my Stellavox time to hear it's best. but i'd like to understand maybe areas i need to explore to make the best decision too. so my decision might not happen today. or it could.
and if i want to hear the IDEM's on my Tana active platforms, i need some help to lift the heavy darts off them.
the IDEM's i can lift myself.last night i had visitors, a local audiophile friend brought his brother to hear my system, and the friend was here a month ago so his viewpoint was recent. we played the same tracks we had played last time he was here. he did not know i would have the IDEM's when he arrived. he was not sure he could absolutely tell the difference with the IDEM's. so there is that.
Last edited:
Similar threads
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |