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Here we see partner Milorad Despotovic and 11-year assemblage/wiring expert Goran Blazic flank Sasa in the middle during their first audition.

Between two auditions—the first shorter one with EML 45 during the evening of the Serbs' arrival, a longer one the next day with two of Dan's NOS globes—everyone agreed. The globes were more fluid and sensual, the modern Czechs tauter and more angular. The unanimous vote was for the vintage bottles. It's likely that they increased the otherwise very small amount of 2nd order THD just enough to inject that whiff of nubility especially into vocals. Here Concha Buika performed on one of the test tracks.

After an A/B against my class A EL84 Kaivalya monos with interstage transformers, I told Dan that his system now performed in a clearly higher league than my own (regardless of the fact that his far larger room had always implied a larger physical scale). The push/pull amps were patently drier, texturally inferior and dimensionally less teased out and layered. The general sense was of being more compact or contracted. The larger 75TLs with their higher voltages played a more virtuoso game at an obviously higher level. A nutshell assessment could well read big tube = big sound. What this would miss is that big sound here didn't equate to sloppy or painted with a broad tip. Finesse and scale coexisted.

These tall high-voltage bottles gave up nothing on top-end extension and speed. Here they very much defied personal preconceptions about bigger triodes. Those have admittedly been reared on 845 and 211. They've been my only longer encounters with the breed to eliminate 833, GM70 and their kind. With the 75TL air around cymbals, depth layering and incision power on fiery guitar ampeggios and percussive transients exhibited none of the suppression or fuzz I've heard with the 845/211. Since those routinely run 1.000 volts, the showing of Trafomatic's 75TL couldn't have been a sole function of such voltages.

The subjective core difference between Kaivalya and Vilobha was trickle versus gush. You'd not accuse the Kaivalyas of trickle on their own. I prefer them to similarly priced 300B amplifiers for good reason. Yet the paralleled 75TL amps added scale, buoyancy and resolution to create a far from marginal difference.

Moving to the Nelson Pass SIT2, the static induction transistors without degeneration trounced the Kaivalyas. No contest. If my white amps and the Vilobhas were two classes removed, the single-stage transistor amp moved resolutely into the Vilobhas' vicinity. Even Sasa admitted that Nelson's custom transistors with true triode curves did not betray their silicon hearts with any of the usual telltale signs. Vocals were gushing freely again, resolution flatly outshone the EL84s and what still separated the Vilobhas was mostly that more pronounced liquidity, greater textural/harmonic sophistication and a broader range of microdynamic inflections.

The Berning Siegfried and FirstWatt S2 were equidistant from the Vilobhas - surprisingly close but not fully matched. While David Berning's wasn't identical to Nelson Pass' amp, for the purposes of this discussion they were equals.
"This project was a true challenge. Accepting it forced me to exploit all my resources and design the very best amps I've ever made. I already knew in Mladenovac that one Vilobha in mono demolished a pair of my best previous monos. Yet I did not fully appreciate just how good my amps were until I heard them in Switzerland. So I really appreciate the faith Dan placed in me to grant us this commission. He spent serious money without prior proof of concept. I'm naturally thrilled with how satisfied he is with the outcome."


That outcome is a pair of amplifiers so quiet that an ear right up against a 100dB widebander makes out literally nothing. With all the virtues of a superior solid-state amp like the SIT2—speed, resolution, lucidity and lack of grain—Trafomatic's Vilobha adds a strategic infusion of perfume. In percentile figures of THD the amount is small to avoid telegraphing as a detectable fingerprint. Yet for emotional persuasiveness that fine presence of fragrance makes the decisive difference.


"I now finally have an amp that does all kinds of music justice. From Flamenco to Jazz and Baroque to my collection of old psychedelica and modern techno via Internet streaming, I no longer have to compromise or shuffle components. Where most valve amps play favorites when I get into a down 'n' dirty mood, the Vilobhas into these speakers stay the full course. For me then these are perfect amplifiers."

"Dan has already asked us for a matching 10Y preamplifier. While I need time to recuperate, that might become next year's first custom project. Now the word is out. Because of our small size and excellent in-house resources, we can accommodate very special requests which many of the big houses cannot. We credit our association with WLM electronics for our present level of fit 'n' finish. In our company history we refer to the period before and after WLM. Our work for Hannes Frick forced us to improve our game in all the areas which go beyond pure sonics and solid audio engineering.


"Frankly, three years ago we could not have built the Vilobhas. I could have engineered the circuit and transformers but the industrial design and execution wouldn't have been commensurate. Now we're quite confident. We can go up against the very best on sonics and package them in attractive enclosures that will satisfy demanding customers. For us that's a special high note to close out on 2011."

From today's €40.000/pr Vilobha to my earlier €5.500/pr Kaivalya to Tony Schmidt's in-between €2.070 Aries integrated, custom commissions which turn private individuals into minor patrons of the audio arts are alive and well at Trafomatic Audio. I would find it very gratifying if this article inspired others to approach their favorite designers in a similar manner...
PS: Being very pleased with how his Vilobhas had come out, Dan subsequently commissioned Sasa for a matching preamp around the 10Y/VT25 triode. By April 25th Sasa forwarded these photos of the white Tara.




Trafomatic Audio custom amp website
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