After a bit of a hiatus from the amp comparisons and trying to knock the 777A off of the pedastal as my place, I'm going to be ramping up activity again. It feels a bit narcissistic to announce that, rather than just come here with the outcomes, but I'm just so thrilled to be getting back to it. The story is that, as some of you may know, we've had our first child here and things slowed down.... except for amp purchases.
So aside from some overdue comparisons to existing models in the collection (like AU-9900, Eight, Eight Deluxe, AU-111, HF-V60/PR-330). But I've managed to get an AU-X11 going in the meantime, plus collected some other newer stuff (Alpha907Limited, Alpha607MR, AlphaNRAII, Alpha707, AU-X111 MOS).
Oh and some older stuff like some HF-L60 to compared to the HF-V60 in particular. Also a pair of rather old and rare Q-16 mono amps. And a Q-3535 stereo power amp.
Although not an integrated amp I've picked up a CA-F1 preamp (or two) which will also be interesting to pair with some units and see what happens (and this preamp will be compared to the Marantz SC-6, which I think is a great unit).
Hmm, what else, oh I've already compared to some Yamaha, Sony and Pioneer units but I've now gotten around to getting my Luxman collection into service including SQ38FD, MQ60, MQ70 & MQ80.
Oh and I think one more unit, which is very special to me already, needs to be brought into the competition; I got a McIntosh MC2505 with one blown channel which I fixed up recently and initial impressions are very very good. So good that I have collected a bigger McIntosh or two (but I think the MC2505 is really the best comparison to the AU-777A so that will be the focus).
So now I'm just thinking where to start. I just recapped a Pioneer A-400 (the so-called NAD 3020 killer), so that might be a good starting point. From there I don't know if to continue with the older unit comparisons or get straight into the alphas etc. Anyway, It's going to be a fun next few months.
I sincerely hope that doesn't come off as a brag about the collection growth. I'm just so excited to get back to some hifi after a bit of a break (although, I never stopped listening to music)