My kit and a possible purchase of Tom Evans The Vibe or Tom Evan Groove+ SRX

[Rosewind]

As some of you know by now, I like to listen to kit in my set-up to hear what the black or silver boxes are all about, which means that quite a lot of small and large boxes have been through my small study. Some of the components were here because I traded for them, other components because I decided to buy them, often because I simply had to listen to what they could do in my set-up. However, I am sure that some of the kit I had here were not given the opportunity to shine the way they could have if they had been matched better than they were here. In the past my kit changed so often that I never really had a stable starting point. Unlike other audio freaks I never had the money to own two or three expensive amps at the same time. So perhaps I let some kit go I would have kept if I had had my present set-up.

Thankfully, I have found four items now that I trust will remain here indefinitely:

(1) Empire 698 - I saw it advertised, liked it and was able to snap it up as the first responder last month. It ended 35 years' Thorens TD160 Super/TD 147 Jubilee supremacy. My only brief detour was an Amazon Audio Reference TT.



(2) B&O Beocord 6500 Cassette Deck - not the very best that Bang & Olufsen produced but its unique drawer design and great playback quality makes this Danish-made cassette deck a keeper.





(3) EAR 516 power amp - which Tim De Paravicini said is perfect with my current speakers. He serviced it for 7-8 hours in 2018 and I talked with him on the phone about the EAR 516 and Quad ESL 57s. I may decide to buy a Leak Stereo 20 as a spare power amp. I already have a Leak Stereo 60 (solid state) and a Leak Stereofetic FM Tuner with JBL LX310 speakers in my separate tuner system.



The Leaks:


(4) Quad ESL 57 - with One Thing bass panels - which I bought from the UK (courtesy of iansr). Ian bought boxes for me (I paid) and packed the pair of speakers extremely well for shipment to me in Denmark. These are the true jewels in my set-up, placed up high on shelves and strapped to the side-walls of my study, leaning out so they allow me to sit in the sweet spot.



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Other kit:

I have a Line Magnetic 502CA Dac that sounds very lush and detailed here with its valve output "euphonizer". It will take a lot to replace this sweet component but if I ever find a very good cd player with COAX and/or usb input(s) I may decide to sell this on.



I have a DIY DCB1 preamp with a nice mm phono stage onboard (built by disarmamant). This sounds very sweet and transparent in my set-up and may very well be the preamp to end all other preamps. It has gain on the low side but 2 o'clock makes any vinyl record or computer music file sound as loud as I can stand. So lacking gain is not a real problem, I know.



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After the phono stage sells I can choose to buy a nice (last?) preamp that would relegate my Diy DCB1 to mm phono stage duty, or I can choose to buy another excellent phono stage and keep my Diy DCB1 as my permanent preamp.

(1) I have set my eyes on Tom Evans The Vibe as my first choice for a preamp on the basis of a few reviews on-line. However much I would love to try it before buying, this is not an option as I live in Denmark.

So are there any good people here who can say a bit about Tom Evans the Vibe in the context of their own set-ups - why its a keeper or why they decided to sell it on?

(2) The other option is his phono stage, the Tom Evans Groove+ SRX. Are there anyone here who currently own this or has owned this and would care to comment on it?