I am not a fan of that amp designer who promoted his products by pointing a condescending finger while scolding audiophiles, like errant children, for preferring their records to sound “pleasant” rather than “accurate.”
He reminds me of my least favorite teacher, Professor Grausamkeit, who was just like that and said similar things. Every time I smarted back, “Accurate to what?” he’d whack me with a wooden yardstick.
Grausamkeit would twist my ear painfully while scolding me but would never explain what “accurate” sounded like or why it didn’t sound pleasant. Best I could figure, he meant gray and stern, like him, or bland and flavorless like our school lunches. Professor G was constantly reminding us, “Pleasure-seeking is a congenital defect that defines the ignorant classes.”
Because of G,I grew up to be an insubordinate audio flâneur, a world-traveling, drug-imbibing Anthony Bourdain type who explores parts unknown seeking full-flavored gourmet audio and musical experiences (footnote 1). I’ve devoted my life to mocking sanctimony while exploring the back roads of audio design, befriending engineers with open minds who question all forms of received orthodoxy, searching constantly for the wisdom of wizards and the secret keys that open hidden doors to the purest forms of audiophile pleasure.
I’m old now and happy to report: I’ve been a lucky traveler. I’ve befriended more than a few audio wizards. In fact, I just “discovered” another one. His name is Steve Deckert. He’s been building and selling tube amplifiers since 1993. I’ve been aware of his company (Decware High Fidelity Engineering, footnote 2), and I knew about his beautiful “Zen Triode Amplifier” because the birds in the tube forest told me. Embarrassingly, I’ve only now got ’round to knocking on his door, auditioning some of his creations, and grasping his accomplishments. I’m sorry I waited, because this wizard makes ingeniously simple amplifiers that make recorded music sound pure and beautiful.
The Zen Triode Amplifier
Decware founder-in-chief Steve Deckert named his first product The Zen Triode Amplifier because it was incredibly simple and delightfully unpretentious. Against all odds, Deckert’s 2.3Wpc integrated amplifier has been wildly successful, selling more than 6000 units and evolving through seven numbered revisions. According to the Decware website, the latest revision, model SE84UFO, is a class-A, zero-loop-feedback, single-ended, stereo tube amplifier using just two resistors and one Jupiter Beeswax film capacitor in its signal path. It costs $995.
The Zen Triode Amplifier is hand-assembled and point-to-point wired in East Peoria, Illinois. It comes in an impressively thick, powder-coated steel chassis that measures 8″ H (with tubes) × 6.125″ W × 12″ D and weighs 17lb.
Each channel employs a single triode-wired, self-biasing, self-balancing 6N15N output tube, which is the electrical equivalent of the American 6BQ5/EL84. Each Zen power tube is driven by one section of a high-transconductance, medium µ, 6H1N/6N1P dual-triode voltage amplifier tube, which is the equivalent of the popular 6922/6DJ8. This is an interesting design decision because both of these tubes are widely esteemed for their ability to retrieve greater-than-average quantities of low-level, small-signal information. In my experience, the 6922/6DJ8 is a high-revving 9-pin tube that recovers so much microdetail, bas-relief texture, and subtle tonal nuance that it makes 12AX7 or 12AU7 tubes seem blunt and generalized. If you look at the photo of the Zen Triode Amplifier, the biggest tube you’ll see is the ST-shaped (Russian) 5U4C full-wave rectifier, which may be tube-rolled to great effect or substituted with 5AR4 or 5Y3GT tubes.
On the back of the amplifier, in front of the right- and left-channel speaker-wire binding posts, are little switches. They select between output transformer taps for either High (6–16 ohms) or Low (2–6 ohms) impedance loudspeakers. Decware’s website claims the Zen can handle impedance dips down to 1 ohm.
In the front are two more little switches. The one on the left chooses between two line-level (RCA) inputs. The one on the right switches between two cathode-bias resistors, raising or lowering the standing current on the input tube. According to the owner’s manual, higher current (harder class-A) delivers a punchier sound and is louder. According to Deckert in an email, “The other is more laidback and dimensional, better suited for using preamps.”
On the chassis front is a single chickenhead knob that controls stereo volume.
When I asked Steve who designed and built Decware’s “highly interleaved” “Ultra Fidelity” output transformers, he replied, “I did. We have always made our own output transformers. They are sneaky good, which is a large part of the reason this amplifier design has been so successful for 25 years.”
The Zen Triode Amplifier is sold direct with a 30-day money-back guarantee and is warrantied for life to the original owner. For a fee, second and later owners may get their Zen amplifiers “recertified” by Decware, extending the warranty for their own lifetimes.
The sound of one tube
The minute I heard the Decware Zen playing Benoît Menut: Les Îles (24/96 FLAC Harmonia Mundi/Qobuz), I knew this would be a fun article to write. The Decware Zen’s conspicuous purity of sound turned French cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand, soprano Maya Villanueva, and members of the Syntonia Piano Quintet—playing compositions by Benoît Menut—into one of my most thought- and pleasure-filled musical moments of 2020.
The system was simple and low cost: the $899 Denafrips Ares II DAC sourcing the Decware Zen Triode amplifier powering my beloved $549/pair Klipsch RP-600M loudspeakers, which claim a sensitivity of 96dB/2.83V/m and a nominal impedance of approximately 6 ohms. I used Sound Anchor Reference loudspeaker stands with interconnect and speaker cables by Triode Wire Labs. Total system cost: less than $4k.
My Zen-Klipsch listening sessions were dominated by a general sense of radiant, saturated tone plus a feeling of denser-than-usual physical presence. With the Zen’s bias switch on High, music from the RP-600Ms was reproduced with a level of overt vividosity that I had not experienced previously. With the bias switch on Low, the music got quieter, more subdued and plain-spoken.
I have always said that the system that reproduces sopranos and pianos with the greatest verity is the most accurate. If that is true, then this little system is one of the more accurate I’ve encountered. These humble components put Maya Villanueva’s seraphic voice in my room and in my heart. (I have a history of swooning for sopranos.) The middle registers of Romain David’s piano were conveyed in rich, complex tones. The piano’s low registers were tautly drawn. Surprisingly, the Zen Triode yanked more tight bass from the bass-light Klipsch than any other amp I’ve tried. All that separated this system from bigger-money systems was the Klipsch RP-600M’s inescapable lightness below 100Hz and its lack of refinement above 1kHz.
The above system played voice, solo instruments, and small orchestras with incredible grace and substantial verity, but only at modest volumes in my smallish room. Time for bigger, more sensitive speakers.
The Zu-Zen experience
Like Steve Deckert, Zu Audio’s Sean Casey is one of those wise wizards who snicker at orthodoxy. I reviewed his $4499/pair, 16 ohm, 97dB/W/m Zu Audio Soul Supreme loudspeakers in June 2016 and have been using them with low-powered amps ever since.
As you may have noticed, the Soul Supremes’ sensitivity is rated in watts, not at 2.83 volts as is the fashion these days. The two units are equivalent only for 8 ohm speakers; at the Soul Supreme’s 16 ohms, you get more volts per watt. So, the Zen’s 2.3W should play comfortably and loudly with the Zu speakers.
Footnote 1: Click here for a complete list of Anthony Bourdain’s books.
Footnote 2: Decware/High Fidelity Engineering Co. 75 S. Riverview Drive, East Peoria, IL 61611. Tel: (309) 822-5255. Web: decware.com.
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