Thank you for everything you have taught me this year Steve. Enjoy your holiday.

Another great year Steve. You are one of the hardest working YTers out there, and your advice is so thorough. See you on the other side! 🌲

You helped me decide to get a Vidar 2 earlier this year. And I love it, so thank you.

Dear Steve! Allways enjoy your reviews! You have opened my eys and ears to new products. Wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new hifi year!

I've been saving for the Billie. Glad to see it made it on your Best of 2023 list! ;)

I’ve been waiting for this Steve! Have a wonderful holidays🙏🏼

Thank you for another year of excellent reviews and music to check out. And Happy Holidays to you too Steve! 🙏🏼🎉

Yeah Steve - I dig your gig on his channel ! All the best to you and yours for the New Year Happy & healthy holiday wishes

*Steve, Merry Christmas from the UK. Thank you for great review as always.*

Great info Steve! I've been drooling over several of these products since seeing your excellent reviews on them. Happy holidays to you!

Nice list of amplifiers. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Well Steve, I am officially naming you the best audiophile of 2023!

Thank you for the always exciting videos, which are also very meaningful and where there are always new things to discover. Have a wonderful Christmas time and warm greetings from Germany.

I'm nearing the end of the waitlist for my Decware Zen amp ... can't wait to bring that sound to my listening space!

You’re the best Steve, thanks for sharing this

Steve, you're the best. I listen to your channel working from home and really enjoy having our hobby being so wonderfully covered by you and Jay and Darko and Zero, and God knows how many others.....lol you're the best!

Never been a better time to be an 'audiophile,' from a products perspective. More options than ever at more price points than ever, it seems. And at a quality that is pretty amazing. Thanks, Steve!

Looking forward to your Diptyque review. I really enjoyed the sound at CAF.

Can’t wait to see your Schiit Tyr review, hope you do one.

Merry Christmas Steve! Love what you do.

Thanks and a Happy Xmas and a Fab new year!

Happy Holidays, Steve and family.

Happy holidays Steve. Santa's bringing me new Sennheiser cans. Can't wait!

Looking forward to lots more content next year!. ✌️

Merry Xristmas and best new 2024, thanks

You review reminded of a Futterman amplifier that I had rebuilt. My customer was driving it with huge horned speakers. I had tested the speakers on my own system before returning them and they were amazing but different than anything I’d used before, even with the high feedback levels to lower their output impedance.

Excellent video and recommendations, as always! If you haven’t heard the GanFet amps from Orchard Audio, you should give a listen to the Starkrimson Ultra. Your take on the Gato reminds me of what I took away from an extended audition of the Orchard Audio Starkrimson.

Thank you Steve 🎉have a great 24

Having been through the "audio laboratory" phase, I am leaning toward an Accuphase stack. Man, those components look nice.

Just received our Zen about a week ago. Absolutely unreal 💥👌

Gato, simple yet stunning. I need them lol

Thanks Steve....I am gonna buy all six amps!

Great shirt again Steve 🙌!

Great review. Thanks Steve.! I think I am going to but the Vidar 2 amp and an Audiolab 6000 CDT. I also like the Iota VX amp. I currently have a vintage system. A Pioneer SX 1250 receiver and a Thorens TD 125 turntable.

I hope you and your lovely wife have a wonderful Holiday season!

Ordered the DECWARE SARAH 300B Jan 2023 and this will be a Long-awaited retirement gift to myself one day/year...🤣🤣

once again, a very nice report. The preamp must really be good, to knock off the long contested champ, and I wonder how it would mate with two bridged Schitt Vidar 2 amp, because my speakers are power hungry , yet my budget, and interest, requires very judicious selections.

Steve, reviewing some Class D power amps with your LTA preamp would be interesting.

Happy Holidays !

Hi Steve this is Steve from Manchester UK I love your videos my setup is kef r700 I love it........have a great Christmas

I have the Vidar 2, Freya +, Lokius and Polk r200 with two subs. First purchase of audio equipment in over 20 years. Extremely happy.

Steve, I pre-amp my Fosi V3, through my Jotunheim. Yeah I went there, yeah it's great. Best, D.

I love your channel I love the content you put out I just ordered a pair of GR research XL encores and I was wondering I hate to ask this question what amplifier would work well with those speakers I like the look of the heaven 11 Billie

I recently purchased a Van Alstine DVA SET 500 amplifier, price $2799. It's a new model this year, and I highly recommend it.

There is SO MUCH GREAT equipment out there to choose from it can make a person's head swim in deciding what's best for them. Also, "for sure" in 1 to 2 years from now, there will be "newer equipment" that will cause some of this Best for 2023 to be forgotten/ thing of the past (even though its still good).

Maybe the Janzen Nine.Five? Love the reviews and your song selections.

Schitt sandwich, good one!

Because of youre review i bought the A1 . I could not be more happy . I cant stop listening it is so beautifull👍

I just buy the Musical Fidelity A1 amplifier…. Thank you for your independent opinions. Merry Christmas to all!!

Thanks Steve ! I actually gave out my 1st award on my channel for the vidar 2 (Tree trophy lol) for pricepoint it's a Very clean sounding amp and doesn't have the grittyness I got from the original I reviewed awhile back ' Would love to hear your take on the Galion TS 120se tube intg ' with my Dynes the pairing is Heaven ! Si detailed and airy with crazy bass impact !! Thanks again Steve

Great work. Thank you Steve, could you please share the detail information of your hifi toning boards on your wall? I would love to have those in my rooms too!

Steve is valuable to the industry he knows his stuff I know car audio amplifiers in the same way

Thanks for this! Have you reviewed any amplifiers/pre-amplifiers from Aric Audio or Triode Lab?

I love audio i design building speakers. I would love to drop off a pair for you to listen to something that would be so awesome 👍. Great video

I have both the musical fidelity A1 which I just received and the heaven 11 Billie. The Billie is far superior in another league.

Fosi v3 and smsl A300 kick ass and my audiophile hobby just got a shot of life. Buy expensive speakers but Chinese amps and dacs. Expensive amps are a fool's gold now.

Just watched the two best of 2023 videos and the Gift video. I've been following you for decades, in fact we lived in parallel universes, we are about the same age and I grew up in Queens, there is no doubt we were at the same concerts at various times, Fillmore East, Singer Bowl the Beacon and etc.. You are far and away the best and most trusted reviewer I have ever encountered. Of course I respect the fact that you are entitled to your opinions, but a while back you mentioned the subject of 'Snake Oil' in regards to wires and cables and such and said folks could spend their hard earned cash on whatever they wanted but you were not going to get involved. So I was greatly disappointed to hear you pushing speaker wires that cost $1,000. I have 12 foot bi-wire speaker wires, top shelf locking bananas and spades from Blue Jeans Cables for about $150 and I will and have, matched them against very expensive others and none were better. So you kind of rocked my confidence in you, especially since I know you know better. I'm not ready to flee your channel over this but I have to squint a little when I tune in. Please remain Steve Guttenburg.

Hi Steve do you have a good recommendation for an integrated amplifier for the Elac Concentro S507? I listen to 90% quiet music, which is why the amplifier should sound good here. Merry Xmas 😊

I would love to see a review of the AGD class D amps.

Hi Steve, I’m curious to know if you had an opportunity to pair the Schiit Vidar 2 with the Magnepan LRS+ you also reviewed this year. I have the Maggies, and I’m considering a pair of Vidars to replace my current Pro-Ject DS2 Amp Box/RS Power Box to both increase power and maybe get a bump in overall performance. Thoughts?

Steve, have you heard the Burson amps? They are designed in Australia, they’re quite small but also quite a bunch of power. I have a preamp and two mono power amps.

How would the Billy amp compare to the Musical Fidelity A1?

Hi 👋 Sir , Wow fantastic video review with so much knowledge i listened in your review. Really very good information it was. I just wanted to buy a good Tube valve pre amplifier with two pre out, one for Parasound power amplifier A21+ & one for my BangOlufsen Beo lab 9 please advise good Chinese brand. I am reiterating next year. I can’t buy USA make or European make. It’s very expensive. Thanks 🙏. Wait for your reply.

I would have liked to see a small Luxman like the L590AXII in this review ! 😉

OK, Steve, I'm looking for a good pairing with my ZU DW6 superflys (which I absolutely LOVE). On the short list is the Billie mkII and the Musical Fidelity A1. I like a full sound but with detail, not too strident, and with bass weight, depth and texture. I don't listen at crazy loud levels. Can I ask you thoughts about these 2 options?

Thanks for a wonderful year Steve! Any comparative thoughts on the A1 v Firstwatt J2 (I own)? Much appreciated

Just throwing this out there. Bruno Putzeys in his interview with Harley Lovegrove mentioned that his main motivation for working with class D amps is their efficiency. I think that's a noble motivation, wrapped up in an engineering challenge. That's all.

Well the new version of the Audioanalyse A9 is pure class A

What are your thoughts on the Rogue Pharoah? Thanks

Hi Steve , Can you make a video on Amplifiers of the Decade ???

Would love to know where the viewer’s system of the day owner got his audio rack from! Thank you!

Consider the Orchard Audio Starkrimson Ultra for 2024. USA made in NJ !

So many tube amps don't have voltage regulator circuits. That is a sever design flaw. As a sound signal varies, especially down into the bass frequencies the load on the power supply changes causing the voltage supplied to the plates to vary and this distorts the signal. Establishing a rock solid voltage supply will lower the THD.

Musical Fidelity has been Austrian owned since 2018 (same owner as Pro-ject).

hi Steve i just got the new Rega Elex mk4, have you heard it?

Nobody reviews Made in USA Belles (Power Modules) brand products. I would love to hear your take on this brand and how it compares to the competition.

Looking at the Nad M66 at the moment.

Steve...u own yourself to hear a Lavardin amp. Start with the (now), legendary Lavardin IT, but chosse their ann. model (IT15/20). Then, tell me what u think about that "musicbox"? Me myself.....it´s still the best amp i ever heard, when it comes to "play" music, without any excuse. Just music that flows, with a touch of that Lavardin magic. Cheers fromn Denmark.

Hi Steve, I’ve got an Onkyo AVR capable of delivering 100w/ch. I am satisfied with it but since a lot of reviews like this one get me curious to try out an amp like the Vidar you were mentioning here. What’s your advice for me?

Were you ever left wanting for qualitative "room-fillability" with the Decware/Zu combination?

Which is the cheapest on from the the list?

Hey Steve, what tubes are you using on the MicroZOTL?

Hi Steve what to choose between aiyima t9 and fosi audio v3? Please help

From all I've known, heard about & seen screen pic's (inside & out) of any DecWare amp, i kinda want one now, esp' after ..must be nr' 47'yrs now, of owning at 1 time or another.. (from 18'yrs old, [new official O.A.P. here]) near all the household Brit' vintage stereo or mono-amps in pairs, made from shortly b4 the 1960's & upto (I'm guessing) the mid or late 1970's before an obvious valve revival in a then fast growing u.k. hi-fi scene & market happened & that quickly zoomed up the prices of those older vintage valve amps, & vastly so, as a side effect. Even tho the new valve revival amps were made with.. (far ..no, extremely) ..cheaper to make solid- state power supplies (inferior in my tech' & personal opinion) the vintage valve amps i'd buy for circa £10, £25 or 30'ish tops (but £45/week was a younger person's best wage wether in careers or hard labour) The (few) 70's to the (much less few) '80s hi-fi mag's, esp' their growing plethora of hi-fi amp adverts saw very many sell music lovers sell their old large dust-collecting too-heavy wide & tall (mm'lovely) vintage amps in local paper ad's, news-agent's window card-ad's & i'd grab Radford's STA25's & 15's, Leak's TL25, a TL50 & < watt'd el84'd models, Quad 11's, some euro jobs & even - b.i.o.not. - a massive 2'ch 2'chasis job made by 'Hawker Sidely' aircraft Co' of the 'Harrier jump-jet' fame, a then unique jet also sold in numbers to U.S. Airforce, i later discovereda grease proof paper 'wallet' taped to an inside chasis wall with a 'Williams Design' of signal circuit and mains & O.P. tyranny winding ratio diagrams inside the output chasis, developed from v.early to past mid 1960's, they made many of these amps used for playing loud white, pink & tonal noises to excite cockpit resonances to locate & cure on those 'planes developed from early to mid 60's, I digress. I found i'd prefer all those vintage valve amps to any & all new top-brand Japanese & Brit s/state amps, even tho some preferred s/state amps of 70's & 80's & +... (all s/h bought, as always 'till post 2000) took up-to a week of eve' listening sessions to realise I prefefed wotever vintage valve amp. I've always had valves but now I'm running valves in just a pre-amp & phono stage, but i'd pick my speakers to suit the DecWare amp instead of my normal visa-vera method

I'm struck by the creativity and depth of this content. A similar book I read prompted a significant evolution in my mindset. "The Art of Meaningful Relationships in the 21st Century" by Leo Flint

What, no Naim Nait 50? Curious ...

I have an original A1. Nothing touches it. Hope I can find Ed an authorized repair depot that can upgrade it to current spec.

Steve, the Schiit amp run as mono blocks has lots of power but…. Low damping of only 100 ? Is this the only failing of this amp… ?.. Dynaudio speakers need big damping to control the bottom end..

11:18 The big advantage of the Musical Fidelity was that you could grill steaks, eggs and pancakes, because it was so hot... Is this still the case today, and is it reliable too, because back then, it often grilled... 😵‍💫

The Schiit Aegir is an unusual amplifier. If you like your music clipping at about 85dB.

I have some very expensive amplifiers. I got them as a gift. Have you ever heard of classe. I haven't hooked them up yet

"knob feel"... best new audiophile criteria of 2023...

Will there be a source of the year?

Have you evaluated Nagra?

Do you have a preference between the Billie and the A1?

If you were going on vacation, would you take a Schiit?

Where's the Carver Ram 285? Absolute state of the art from Bob Carver.

Don't bother considering that Decware amp. Unless you're Mr. Guttenberg, you won't get one for almost 4 years. Think I'm kidding? Go check the waiting list for "anything" (almost) at Decware. I'm not a Decware hater; far from it. I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE my SE84UFO2.1 amp and think it's an awesome amp; as are nearly everything Steve Decware designs. However, there's so much demand for his products that the waiting list is over 2000 people long. To give some perspective, I was number 950 on the list for my amp and it took me almost 2 years to get it. If you can find one on the used market, take advantage of the opportunity.

I think there is difference between an audiophiliac and a salesman, the two are not compatible.

I love Steve’s reviews but it’s so hard when there’s no where to actually hear anything.