I have no problems recommending the Lyr 3 for the Verite to anyone looking for an amp that is pretty affordable, and still adds a bit of tube flavor to the sound. But, if you want my current opinion on the best budget amp for Verite, then read on.
We had a local meet here in CO the same weekend as canjam, and oddly enough, I found a super great amp for the Verite that won’t bust the wallet open too badly. How does about $350 sound?
It is the Shortest Way 51 amp. Made by the same gentleman (Zampotech) who made the Eddie Current ZDT Jr, I believe. He has an order page he linked to here, and I think these impressions are pretty spot on. It is probably the best pairing for the Verite I’ve heard in a budget category ($100 to $600), period. I was able to compare it directly to a EC ZDT Jr and EC Super 7, as well as my Asgard 3.
Now, full disclaimer, I really don’t like the ZDT Jr. At. All. It does funky stuff to the mids and treble, and changing the tubes doesn’t seem to fix that. So, I was completely expecting it to blow the zdt Junior out of the water. What I didn’t expect was that it was trading blows with the Super 7 in terms of tonality, speed and resolution. The Super 7 was audibly better, but it’s also Unibtainium and well into the $1500+ category. I digress…
The SW51+ is a neutral sounding amp, in contrast to the zdt which is warm, wonky, and generally unpleasant to listen to.
51+ has better staging and imaging than the Asgard 3, and also had that holographic tube quality in the sound which made it a compelling pick for about $150 more. It ready did amazing things for the Verite. It presented a not too warm, not to much distortion, with just enough of both to create a euphoric and engaging listen without straying away from a clean and resolving presentation.
Now… Switch Headphones to something like a planar or low impedance driver, and the Goldilocks qualities of the amp disappeared. It seemed to struggle to drive those headphones and the staging and amazing tone became more flat and uninviting. This is an amplifier you will NOT want to use with most Focal, Audeze or Hi-Fi man headphones.
And that’s where the Lyr 3 comes back into this. If you only need to drive the verite from an inexpensive amp, I’d go SW51+. For everything else, Lyr 3. Those are my top 2 budget picks.
Or, if you really want to get into tubes the right way, do yourself a solid and get the Asgard 3 or {Insert affordable SS/Tube Hybrid amp here} and then pinch every penny you get until you can afford the ZMF Pendant, DNA Starlett, ECP T4, or (my preference, in order) an Eddie Current ZDS, Aficionado, or Super 7.
ZDS vs Af vs ECP 3F (Via Sonnet Morpheus):
Sorry Aficionado fans, the ZDS is better.
