Dayens Ecstasy 2B - some initial thoughts

[asliarun]

After a very long search for a good quality integrated, I recently had the good fortune to purchase a used Dayens Ecstasy 2B amplifier. The original owner had done some upgrades to this amp, most notably replacing the binding posts with Cardas CCR copper posts.

This replaced my Parasound 2125 power amplifier which has tons of reserve power, is built very well, and controls most speakers with a lot of authority. However, it has a very clinical solid state sound. I was also using an entry level Audio GD DAC as a DAC and pre-amplifier. I was really looking for better quality sound, and also trying to simplify my setup at the same time.

The Dayens amplifier on the other hand is the exact opposite of my previous amplifier. This is my first foray into a decent quality integrated and I can now see why people feel that amplifiers are "voiced" to sound a certain way. The sound is now very liquid, lush, smooth, completely fatigue free, and right away, I can see that I can listen to music for extended periods of time. I can enjoy my music.

I haven't been able to perceive an increase in detail, and if anything, I think the level of detail might have actually reduced a bit. However, I don't find myself missing anything. I'm already liking the sound quite a lot!

Before buying, I was intrigued by this amplifier and by the manufacturer/designer. A Serbian company - not a big name. A very no-frills approach. They seem to use quality components though - Alps pot, Mundorf caps, etc. People have had mixed reviews but mostly related to export/import, shipping etc. However, the sound is very distinct. The original owner also said that this amp has a very tube-like sound (he was selling it to go back to tubes himself). I personally haven't owned tubes and haven't listened much besides in audio shows. However, if this is what people mean by a tube-like sound, I can see why people get hooked on to tubes or why they like a certain "sound".

 

[Vinod.R]

pictures! pictures! pictures!

Thanks

 

[asliarun]

pictures! pictures! pictures!

Thanks

Hi Vinod,

Certainly. I will post some pictures in a day or two.

In the meantime, here's the link to the Dayens Ecstasy III. The Ecstasy 3 gets a remote control, and increased power delivery (100W/8ohm vs 70W/8ohms for my 2B model).

The pictures on the website actually do not do justice. The amp itself is fairly heavy, quite well built (cabinet has a lovely texture/finish to it), and the front-face is thick shiny plexiglass (?). The knobs are copper.

My speakers are 8 ohms nominal that dip to 5 ohms in certain frequencies. My 2B amp seems to have ample power reserve and even with the volume knob at 9-10 o clock, I'm finding it quite loud. In terms of authority, it is certainly handling my floorstanders (Carnegie Acoustics CST1) with ease.

A couple of reviews here and here. None of the review pictures are any good though! The amp looks much better.

 

[mpw]

wow.. the reviews certainly are flattering and out of curiosity i did lookup the ecstacy 3.

this looks like a SS amp getting closer to tube variety..

congratulations and enjoi !!

look forward to pics of your setup arun..

its nice to see electronics coming from the non traditional ( is this the right word ??? ) brands / countries and making their mark.

mpw

 

[prem]

Congrats Asliarun. Dayens makes good stuff. Have heard their Ampino amp. This is the amp that put them on the world map.

 

[soulforged]

Nice! :clapping:

6moons has somthings nice to say about it (Ecstacy III) though they do point out some archaic inputs but that's nitpicking...enjoy!

 

[asliarun]

Thanks a bunch, Mpw, Prem, and Soulforged! It means a lot - especially since I know you have tons of experience and perspective about the audio world as well. This is a really sweet sounding amplifier - even if I say so myself. I haven't been ever this excited by an audio upgrade! Besides this, the original owner also added some internal damping to the tranny, cabinet, and caps, and I think they really helped too.

Prem - would you mind sharing your thoughts about the Ampino as well?

Vinod - I had a tough time getting decent photos yesterday - will try again today when there is less light in the room.

Here are a couple of pictures of my new amp. Sorry for the bad picture quality. The small device on top is the Audio GD DAC which uses 2 WM8741 DAC chips. It is supposedly more musical and tube sounding but less detailed than ES9018 - but I only say that based on product literature and what people say. I have not compared the two chips myself.

 

[Sunderpalanivel]

congrats..

looks great. I have not experienced this particular brand, but if you are able to listen longer than before it must be really good

 

[prem]

Hi Asliarun

I heard it about 4 to 5 years back. I remember it as sounding very lithe, fast and open. I had never heard an amp in that price range sounding so open. Also it had very good micro dynamics.

 

[mpw]

the design philosophy seems to be of a relaxed smooth flowing music type. One of the reviews mentioned that while comparing it to a 1956 classic chevy.. built for comfort and not speed ( this is not a negative but a design philosophy of the designer )

I guess its each to his / her own age and taste in music.

what matters in the end is the enjoyment the owner gets.

This looks to be a SS amp with many tube like qualities and i wish i could hear it someday.

mpw

 

[prem]

Hi mpw, I don't know about the other models but the Ampino is definitely a high bandwidth, modern sounding amp. Absolutely nothing vintage about it

 

[asliarun]

Here are some additional pictures of my current setup. I have a 2 year old toddler so safety first. I also have to stick my speakers right against the wall as my son tries to crawl behind the speaker and the wall and tries to yank the wires! The speakers are Carnegie Acoustics CST1.

In the last picture, you might be able to detect that the speakers slope gently backwards. Not just the front face, but the entire speaker cabinet tilts backwards.

 

[asliarun]

The amp suddenly stopped working and after troubleshooting with a multimeter and a lot of anxiety, turned out to be the main amp fuse that had blown. Unfortunately, it was an amr gold fuse - a bit underrated at 3.15amps. I have replaced it with a cheap 5amp bussman fuse but it should ideally be a 4amp fuse. Am thinking for now to keep a generic fuse but at 4amp. Not sure if it should be fast blow or slow blow - am thinking fast blow as it will protect the inner circuit and components.

There are two more 5amp inner fuses in the signal path, both amr gold fuses. Luckily, they did not blow and that would have been expensive to get and replace.

 

[mpw]

from whatever i remember of electronics...

slow blow fuses are preferred..

if using a cheapo fuse please try to use something below whats rated maybe 3.5 amps or 3.75 amps.. you have used 1 amp higher rating.

try to get the original fuses only.. they are there for a reason.

do write to the manufacturer regarding this to investigate why this happened.. i am not sure if a place like USA has voltage related issues.

your speakers are quite sensitive so i dont think this would be a case of overloading the amp.

mpw

 

[asliarun]

from whatever i remember of electronics...

slow blow fuses are preferred..

if using a cheapo fuse please try to use something below whats rated maybe 3.5 amps or 3.75 amps.. you have used 1 amp higher rating.

try to get the original fuses only.. they are there for a reason.

do write to the manufacturer regarding this to investigate why this happened.. i am not sure if a place like USA has voltage related issues.

your speakers are quite sensitive so i dont think this would be a case of overloading the amp.

mpw

Thanks very much, mpw. I will follow up with manufacturer as you suggest.
The previous owner actually upgraded all the fuses as part of an effort to further improve the sound quality.

The original owner also suggested replacing this with a 4 amp fuse or lower. My safest bet would be to replace the same fuse (AMR Gold 3.15 amp) - but this is hard to get. I will also use a slow blow fuse as you suggest.

There was no power surge too (although I do live in an old city and some of the power grids here are actually quite old). The only thing I can think of was that I was feeding input from my DAC at "high gain" setting for a period of time. Not sure if the gain was too much. I did notice that at high gain setting, I only have to move the volume knob to 2-3 o clock to get sufficient listening volume.