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Verdict: In broad parlance, I'd peg the Kaivalya more transistor than tube. Yet it retains enough valve-sourced fluidity and tone color to be distinctive and different from my solid-state amps. For context, think 5687-based preamp as opposed to a "big tone" 6SN7-based unit. The perhaps most shocking initial aspect in AVC mode was bass quality and quantity. For a change it actually led my admittedly low-power sand amps in wiriness on techno fare, redolence on acoustic stuff and power in general. All my ambient favorites like Mercan Dede, Burhan Ocal, Hector Zazou, Cheb y Sabbah, Bob Holroyd & Co. were fantastically fair game. That clearly wasn't the case with the 300Bs and Tango speakers. One could invoke push/pull and NFB's lower output impedance but in the end, explanations aren't essential. Enjoying the performance is.
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Having in-between visited Living Voice/Definitive Audio for a RoadTour impression on their Vox Olympian 5-way hornspeakers—those were powered from a combination of exotic Kondo M-77 preamp and top-line p/p 300B Kondo Gakuoh monos whilst running from massive high-current regulated battery banks to be completely off the national grid—I immediately referenced the same music tracks I'd heard there when I returned. I noted very gratifying overlap (that system after all had been well past x 10 as costly) and of course also sobering differences.
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To a rather more crystallized and distilled extent, the EL84 monos preceded by the Bent Audio preamp did retain some of the 'voluptuous ardor' or 'succulence' of the Kondo/Living Voice precedent. The crystallized aspect pertained to the inherently greater leanness and speed over how I believe Kevin Scott voices systems to conform to his taste. The Kaivalyas' minor opulence versus my transistor amps had to do with a deeper saturation of colors. Tone color intensity was stronger. Since I'd personally rather err on the side of more energy, motion and projection power than richness that turns cloying and humid, this particular weighting suited me perfectly. Naturally, nothing comes free. Using the quickening agent of the autoformer volume control, payment had to be made for tracks that veer into the overly lit up and glassy. The very same 'active elements' which on the white amps shift my other preamps into clearly thicker more opaque turf when good recordings warrant no soft focus were naturally absent as well to fill out, relax and generally mellow thin hard-edged stuff.
Surprising again was the very adaptive bass quality. On wiry plucked strings like Uzbek tanbur or Turkish oud and certain qanun, the Tap-X/Kaivalya combo carved out the metalized aspects of string action to unexpected degrees for real sinewy striations. Those are the feline qualities of purr, growl and snarl. On gently plucked upright accompaniment meanwhile, languorous sarod or better yet, the 130cm long surbahar—a bass sitar with a wonderfully rich lower register—the bass was redolent, buoyant and generously rolling. This discriminating intelligence on bass textures was a clear forté. Given that these weren't merely tube amps but some which use pinky-finger piccolo valves, this didn't fit preconceptions at all. It also went quite beyond comparable 300B amps.
Back on the precarious balance between incision and body, attack and bloom, the Serbian amps in my ideal marriage with the Bent Audio Tap-X leaned more forward than back but had sufficient harmonic elegance to be more pressurized from within than my transistors.
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That's back to the 30:70 balance between tubes and semiconductors. As such the Kaivalyas might be more tube amps for diehard lovers of upscale transistors. They add a little but delectable something which on a whole such listeners won't have while really taking nothing away which reasonable speakers in a reasonable room would latch on to. Deep triode aficionados meanwhile might focus on what the white amps diminish compared to their mental references. Given my personal goals behind this commission—to revive my flagging jones for tubes—Sasa Cokic had hit the proverbial nail on its little head with a sledge hammer. Kondo fanatics and chocolate lovers might be less impressed. But then they frolic in rather more uptown neighbourhoods.
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Another not entirely typical strength of the Serbians was the top end. Having converted to direct-coupled wide bandwidth transistors with 'endless' treble and plenty of upper harmonic illumination and cleanliness, I've soured somewhat on the dirtier less informative treble which the sort of valve amps I could afford tend to major in. They lack that extension and energized lively freshness with the occasional zing that I need to fully follow what acoustic instrumentalists are doing with deliberate tone modulations and timbre shifts. That's not about octave-doubled richness inserting shadow voices. That's about recorded true harmonics.
Here the pentode-connected EL84s lived up to their wide bandwidth reputation, being nearly as agile and lit up as my Power JFets and definitely no dirtier/fuzzier if a bit richer and weightier overall. Muted trumpet, small pan flute in its top register under full throttle, violin flageolet, triangle workouts and related treble acrobatics all lacked the veiling, shadowing and patina prettification I would usually expect from glowing bottles. Was that the lack of coupling capacitors between driver and output stage?
I wouldn't know. Regardless, percussive noises of all kinds benefited subjectively in the timing domain. That's because of how human hearing tracks transients by their harmonic contents. Rounded-over edges tend to soften rhythmic tension and articulation. Particularly at lower playback volumes this becomes a real liability when things mellow out too much and get downright limpid and mushy. As hoped when I'd honed in on the EL84 but couldn't be sure of until actually delivered, the Kaivalyas were blessedly free of this. Only at true midnight whisper levels were they still bested by the FirstWatt F5 and J2 amps. Those might ultimately be even more resolved due perhaps to lower noise floors (even though the Kaivalyas generated no audible noise with my ear right up to the Tango Esotar clones).
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Had the white amps simply cloned the sound of my FirstWatts, this whole development exercise would have been for naught.
Ditto if they somehow copied the sonics of my Yamamoto A-09S. To my ears and with my ancillaries, they set up camp between either. This occupies attractive middle ground. In a variation on Sasa's son who during our past visit to Mladenovac had cracked up the adults with his "maybe yes, maybe no" answers, the Kaivalyas are a bit of this, a bit of that* - F amps with a Yamamoto injection perhaps. One side effect of higher color temperature over transistors is that when things get loud, they do so seemingly faster or more massively. Deeper tone creates greater intensity. With that, amplitude seems to increase as well even though it wouldn't show on a meter.
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* This is nicely embodied by the cover art of Hüsnü Senlendirici's latest album, a collaboration between a Turkish clarinetist and a Greek folk ensemble. With these two nations fierce old enemies, a black and green olive on the same branch say it all. |
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My clarinet teacher Hans Deinzer at the Hannover Conservatory of Performing Arts used to instruct us students to practice tone intensity. |
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To describe the desired effect, he wanted a steadily held note to grow so potent in urgency that the listener might nearly feel assaulted, oppressed or drowned in it. This the Kaivalyas managed rather better than the solid-state amps when the volume was raised. At this juncture I should again stress that to come off as described relied on John Chapman's Tap-X autoformer passive. While my recent experiences in Derbyshire suggest that an active preamp of Kondo M-77 caliber might change my assessment, the active preamps at my disposal were all guilty—to some degree—of thickening the stew and robbing it of life.
Just as you wouldn't want to dull the sparkle and deep luster of a finely cut decanter which maximally reflects the light to intensify the color of its contents, I wouldn't want to dull the Kaivalyas. With the Tap-X, I've hit upon all the necessary creature features I consider essential; finely variable steps with a numerical display vital for easy duplication; and the liberated reflexes to not pad down or buffer the amplifiers' sonics. Consider me perfectly satisfied.
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Tube rolling: With a complete set of Create Audio/Synergy Hifi valves at hand—current Sino production manufactured by Shuguang with proprietary treated metal alloy structures supplied by Synergy—it was naturally mandatory to compare them to Sasa's set of NOS Russian and Serbian bottles. The ECC82 by EI would seem particularly sparse these days but even the military 6P14P-EV doesn't seem all that easy to find. A no-tears replacement with a currently abundant supply would be an unexpected bonus.
As I'd already concluded in an earlier assessment of Synergy's 300B, this Chinese set made no excuses or apologies either. Cheap but not so cheerful no longer is the necessary refrain when it comes to Sino glass. Admittedly these aren't exactly cheap. But you definitely get what you pay for. On balance, I slightly preferred them for a dash of greater virility and pop. Unexpectedly, these differences were far less than I'm used to when comparing direct-heated triodes. I could have attempted hairsplitting but we'd both be bored. Suffice to say that the Chinese were perfectly interchangeable with the Russians. This seems to be saying a lot considering how fond Sasa is of the exact valves he selected for my amps.
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Conclusion: I'm back on tubes. These days I can only stomach very small doses. I don't want to relinquish the low-level resolution, drive, bass control, speed and attack clarity of transistors nor their super-fine top end once transistors equate to the kind of Power JFets Nelson Pass uses these days. Pretty much the only area where for my tastes more remains possible is in the tone color intensity bracket. Yet I'd not tolerate gains there if they weighed down things with undue mass. For the glowing bits, that's a quite narrow window of opportunity or acceptance. Interstage transformer coupling to eliminate the blurriness and thickness of coupling capacitors plus class A pentode rather than triode drive in push/pull rather than single-ended mode and most carefully administered feedback seem to have done the desired business here.
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It might not be enough for other tube lovers who wish to harvest more tube flavor richness. The EL84 could be too pedestrian for others. Fair enough. For what I wanted, it's absolutely perfect. Bull's eye. What more could one possibly hope for when entrusting such a very personal project to a faraway designer when means of communication are email and the occasional phone call? Sasa Cokic and team have delivered and made this punter very happy indeed. Thank you. |
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Quality of packing: Very good. Double-boxed with thick foam.
Reusability of packing: Many times.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: Easy.
Condition of component received: Flawless.
Completeness of delivery: Tubes, acrylic shield.
Website comments: Good. As a recent custom commission, the Kaivalya isn't on it yet but having since become a formal production item, should show in the near future.
Human interactions: Prompt, always upbeat, enthusiastic and blessed with unbelievable can-do stamina and a complete no-nonsense attitude - what the Americans call a straight shooter and self starter of great resourcefulness.
Value: Given performance, build and parts (especially transformer) quality, very high.
Final comments & suggestions: None which pertain to the product per se. That said, I'd encourage music lovers to follow suit and hire their favorite audio designer to design something especially for them. Not all will be able to accommodate custom requests but having now done this twice myself—a previous occasion involved Peter Daniel of Audio Sector and the first pair of Patek SE chip amps as well as two 240/120 step-down power transformer boxes—I can vouch for the multi-dimensional satisfaction it gives. If you treat fine hifi as an art form, it's only sensible to support your favorite artist/s with a clearly articulated project brief and the necessary freedom to let them be at the top of their game and surprise you. This Kaivalya project certainly came off superbly and even better than anticipated.
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While the Tap-X is officially discontinued, its 61-step Slagleformer modules with remote are available in other manufacturers' products. An inquiry with John Chapment of Bent Audio will detail out the various options. |
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