Donald North Audio (DNA)

I compared the stock vs acmes and it’s crazy how much more clarity the acmes have. The stock sounded a bit duller and muddy after doing a quick a/b. I don’t think the stock tubes will get much use anymore now that that I know what an upgrade can do. I’d like to note also, Before hearing any upgrades I loved the stock tubes.

$5 to see the pricing. Never heard of a seller doing that. How much are the elites after the $5?

You don’t know until you pay the $5 to see it.

They’re regularly $550 for QC grade, $615 for top 10% per pair. I don’t know what the discount is, but if you’re going to buy a pair anyway, at least you’ll get some kind of discount from a reputable dealer

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First night listening to the EML 2a3 Solid plates and they sound awesome!
Very Neutral and hard hitting. Great clarity. I feel these are more neutral and the Acmes had more detail in the top end with lots of air. But I have not heard the acme’s for about 3 weeks or so. Definitely will want to get another pair for sure down the line with no flaws/noise problems as I feel they will be a nice compliment to these EML’s

its 3am and time to turn this amp off LOL

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I talked to Donald about the KR tubes as well as a member on Headfi that has a lot of experience with these and both of them said the Kr 2a3 specs do not align well with the Stratus and are not suggested to work well together. Id be weary in trying them. Im very happy with the EML solids. Donald did say he likes the EML mesh plates.

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While I’m neither of those tagged, the FOMO tax of $65 led me to buy the premium Acme 2A3 a year ago while I wait for my Stellaris build that is scheduled to arrive this month.

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The EML mesh ones I replaced the stock tubes with made an immediate improvement. FWIW.

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Someone better grab this real quick. I can’t believe the seller is selling it for so cheap. This will be gone very quickly…

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Holy Crazeballs!!!

I’ve been thinking long and hard about this but it’s the seller’s first sale listing and he has no feedback/trader history. That adage about “if it’s too good to be true…” keeps bouncing around in my head. That said, could it be an earlier version of the Stratus? If so, why not tell us? Why’s the description so terse? Because it’s a no-brainer purchase? Or am I overthinking this?

At this point, I assume it has sold.

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Based on the serial its likely an older gen but only the seller and Donald can attest. Great amp nonetheless a worthy top of the line amp for any dynamic driver headphones.

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I messaged the seller. He replied after 12 hours or so. Said the amp was purchased in 2015. So definitely not the latest version. I guess the price then was around 3k if I am not wrong. For a 7 year old amp, I think the price is about right?

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Yes, that seems like a reasonable explanation and price, both of which make a purchase more tempting… thank you for sharing this info, I very much appreciate it!

Price until the latest revision with the Audio Note transformers was $3K.
You have to realize how few of these there are out there, mine was built in 2020, one of the last before the transformer change, and it’s serial number is 85, so I’m surprised the one in the add is that old.
They have evolved somewhat over the years, but it’s basically the same amp.
It’s hard to know what a reasonable price used is since they are available used so infrequently, it’s what one person is willing to pay, that seems like a good price to me.

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I agree. Scarcity has to be factored in as well in the pricing.

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Definitely is a factor in making a purchase. It’s an amp you’d never want to part with, but because of that quality and the scarcity and the lede time to get a new one, they don’t really depreciate. I see $30,000 gear on Audiogon all the time reselling for less than half that.

If it was my amp I’d be asking $3k, exactly what it retailed for and bet it would still sell as it’s totally worth it being how rare it is to find one.

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That’s precisely why I’ve been so cautious about buying it. If it were a less significant expense, for me, I’d have taken the risk already.

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The new Stratus with the AN transformers have a serial numbers starting with AN, allows differentiation.

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Caution is a good approach, not only due to the price but also due to how the previous owner tended to their equipment. Someone may for example tried to connect speakers from the headphone output, or opened the blue baby up and tweaked something they should not have.

Although the model may be from a few years ago, don’t let that dissuade you as a V3 is still a DNA Stratus and still uses the same 2A3 power tubes. If anything you may have some room room to negotiate, components age and sending back to DNA to update will cost some money. Keep that in mind when others suggest a used amp should sell for full price, as rare as the units can be the last thing you want is to have the experience ruined because of an aging component.

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