I was so lucky, got one of these that the shop had unpacked just before we went into lockdown in 2020, to clear their stocks and move online, they ended up giving me 40% off, it had barely been used. It's likely the best purchase I've ever made in my life with regards to daily satisfaction. I've just upgraded from some EL34's to some KT120s and that is a really impressive upgrade IMHO for what it does to soundstage and the mids and lows. Absolutely stunning. I'm so happy, pairing it with some Buchardt S300MkII's, the cones are quite heavy and it does need some volume to make it shine, but overall, it's a wonderful pairing.
Similar story mine was ex display. I have mine with the RME ADI 2 and focal aria speakers, and I have just tube rolled to 6L6 GC . Perhaps I am unusual in that I spent all this money to be able to listen to music really quietly without it going flat, and in all honesty between the clever DAC and the EVO 100 I can turn it down so far I can hardly hear it and it still sounds trough.
Upscale Audio is the bomb! I've never been there, but I have bought a lot of stuff from them. Can't praise them enough. Great review, once again. Primaluna is a good mix of high quality for what you get. And I think the potentiometer is a Blue Alps, fwiw.
I home auditioned this prima luna and it paired fantastically with my S400 in my small living room. It was the best imagining I’ve experienced. Chocolate Trip Chip was mind bending with that combo.
I LOVE my Evo 200. Bass forever on my Monitor Audio Silver 500. Never been able to go louder than 9clock. 15x18x10ft ceiling room. Going on three years never an issue. Only wish is that it had a remote on, if possible. Thank you Nemo.
Nice review, PrimaLuna is a super good product. I purchased the PL EVO300 Integrated Amp right out of the gate ... love the premium internal components, build quality, and sound. Definitely an heirloom product. Liked it so much I added the EVO100 Tube DAC ... supremely good pairing. BTW, the EVO300 has dedicated subwoofer outputs with a switch for Mono/Stereo subwoofer outputs. I have no desire to move on from this Integrated Tube Amp and Tube DAC pairing. Thanks again for the review. BTW, for reference, the EVO300 is driving a pair of Polk Audio L800s, without issue.
I will second your complaint about the volume control using the remote control. It probably annoyed me more than it does you. I purchased the PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Tube Integrated Amp about two years ago and ended up returning it (for reasons that have to do with my own ignorance, I think, and not to do with the equipment). I had the hardest time getting the volume just right using the remote. There was a point where the sound wasn't quite loud enough, and just giving the remote the quickest press on the volume button took the volume up to where it was too loud. The steps that the remote took, as you said, are too large. But the sound, yeah, really quite amazing.
yeah, I think in big rooms or harder to drive speakers its maybe not noticed as much but in my smaller room I'm not sure I could live with steps like that. .5dB steps are more reasonable IMO.
Having owned one of their integrated and two of their stereo amps. I'm a biased Prima Luna fanboy. Nonehteless that is not without reason. Over the years I have owned several tube amps from the likes of VTL, Anthem, and Zesto. These are now all gone now, replaced by the Prima Luna's. They were originally intended to be my secondary amps due to being more affordable, I was not expecting much, just something pleasant sounding to tie me over until my mains were serviced. Long story short, when I sent in the mains in for maintenance and upgrades. I so enjoyed the sound of my Prima Luna's, that when the mains returned, I found them underwhelming, they cost a lot more but did not sound any better than the PL. It has been 3 years now and I do not feel I am missing anything. The biggest selling point for me was their reliability, never giving any trouble during that time. Not perfect, I certainly have my nits. Regardless highly recommended, especially those just entering the tube world.
Nice! I've had similar experience with some speakers, sometimes our personal taste and what we enjoy is more important than the raw performance of the product. I'm happy you've found something you can enjoy for a long time, most guys are constantly hunting for that :)
respectfully I'd rather not do comparisons just for comparisons sake of comparisons but everything I've said about the CHoco stands, nothing at it's price can beat it and it easily competes with gear that I've heard up to $4k.
Thanks for the video. I been thinking about getting a primaluna or maybe another tube amp. But I was wondering if they would be good for hard rock and metal. I listen to everything but my roots are in metal and I think of a tube amp for jazz or something like that
The Evo 100 is pretty darn neutral for a tube amp, I don't think it would have issues with any particular type of music. I listen to metal also like Arch Enemy. For metal I'd prefer something ever so slightly smoother like the CHoco amp but it depends on the speakers too.
@@NemoPropaganda Thanks 👍 I have heard people say that tube amps are slower but idk myself. I saw that you really liked the Choco and I got interested. My speakers are all designed and built by myself speakers and I want to be able to get the best performance out of them. Thanks for your response
@@BostonMike68 tube amps come in a lot of flavors, I'm sure some lush, warm, relaxed, that's not how th EVO100 is though, it's more neutral. As far as the best amp for your speakers, the skys the limit, that really depends on what metrics you use to consider something the best or good.
@@NemoPropaganda I always hear that solid state are better for dynamics and that's what Im trying to figure out if tubes can handle big dynamic swings. Eventually honestly I want to have both. So either way I'm sure I will be happy.
@@BostonMike68 tubes can handle dynamics as long as the power is there, you'll probably wan't something bigger than the EVO 100 in that case like the Galion TS120 SE.
I've had the PrimaLuna Evo 100 int/amp for about 4 years, and still love it. No desire to change to another amp.
I was so lucky, got one of these that the shop had unpacked just before we went into lockdown in 2020, to clear their stocks and move online, they ended up giving me 40% off, it had barely been used. It's likely the best purchase I've ever made in my life with regards to daily satisfaction. I've just upgraded from some EL34's to some KT120s and that is a really impressive upgrade IMHO for what it does to soundstage and the mids and lows. Absolutely stunning. I'm so happy, pairing it with some Buchardt S300MkII's, the cones are quite heavy and it does need some volume to make it shine, but overall, it's a wonderful pairing.
Now that's an absolutely fantastic deal!!!!!!
Similar story mine was ex display. I have mine with the RME ADI 2 and focal aria speakers, and I have just tube rolled to 6L6 GC .
Perhaps I am unusual in that I spent all this money to be able to listen to music really quietly without it going flat, and in all honesty between the clever DAC and the EVO 100 I can turn it down so far I can hardly hear it and it still sounds trough.
I have this amp driving my Focal Kanta no 1 . The vocals are beautiful.
Beauty of an amp and upscale is fantastic. Bought 2 items from them and great customer service
strongly agree, I met most of the staff and was very impressed by how down to earth they were, absolutely zero snobbery!
Upscale Audio is the bomb! I've never been there, but I have bought a lot of stuff from them. Can't praise them enough.
Great review, once again. Primaluna is a good mix of high quality for what you get.
And I think the potentiometer is a Blue Alps, fwiw.
totally agree, the staff is very down to earth!
I home auditioned this prima luna and it paired fantastically with my S400 in my small living room. It was the best imagining I’ve experienced. Chocolate Trip Chip was mind bending with that combo.
Nice! I love the S400 :)
Hey Nemo ! Fab review ...you definitely covered all aspects very well ..helps us understand how exactly this amplifier sounds ..thanks
glad you enjoyed it!
I LOVE my Evo 200. Bass forever on my Monitor Audio Silver 500. Never been able to go louder than 9clock. 15x18x10ft ceiling room. Going on three years never an issue. Only wish is that it had a remote on, if possible. Thank you Nemo.
oh yeah! I totally forget to mention that gripe, I too wish it was remote on!
Nice review, PrimaLuna is a super good product. I purchased the PL EVO300 Integrated Amp right out of the gate ... love the premium internal components, build quality, and sound. Definitely an heirloom product. Liked it so much I added the EVO100 Tube DAC ... supremely good pairing. BTW, the EVO300 has dedicated subwoofer outputs with a switch for Mono/Stereo subwoofer outputs. I have no desire to move on from this Integrated Tube Amp and Tube DAC pairing. Thanks again for the review. BTW, for reference, the EVO300 is driving a pair of Polk Audio L800s, without issue.
Another fire review Nemo! Keep up the great work bro!! 😊
I would be interested to see if you could review their tube DAC
prob not my bro, I prefer to focus on speakers & subs mostly. Even amps are rare for me to review.
Great review! Thanks for sharing.
I will second your complaint about the volume control using the remote control. It probably annoyed me more than it does you. I purchased the PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Tube Integrated Amp about two years ago and ended up returning it (for reasons that have to do with my own ignorance, I think, and not to do with the equipment). I had the hardest time getting the volume just right using the remote. There was a point where the sound wasn't quite loud enough, and just giving the remote the quickest press on the volume button took the volume up to where it was too loud. The steps that the remote took, as you said, are too large. But the sound, yeah, really quite amazing.
yeah, I think in big rooms or harder to drive speakers its maybe not noticed as much but in my smaller room I'm not sure I could live with steps like that. .5dB steps are more reasonable IMO.
Having owned one of their integrated and two of their stereo amps. I'm a biased Prima Luna fanboy. Nonehteless that is not without reason. Over the years I have owned several tube amps from the likes of VTL, Anthem, and Zesto. These are now all gone now, replaced by the Prima Luna's. They were originally intended to be my secondary amps due to being more affordable, I was not expecting much, just something pleasant sounding to tie me over until my mains were serviced. Long story short, when I sent in the mains in for maintenance and upgrades. I so enjoyed the sound of my Prima Luna's, that when the mains returned, I found them underwhelming, they cost a lot more but did not sound any better than the PL. It has been 3 years now and I do not feel I am missing anything. The biggest selling point for me was their reliability, never giving any trouble during that time. Not perfect, I certainly have my nits. Regardless highly recommended, especially those just entering the tube world.
Nice! I've had similar experience with some speakers, sometimes our personal taste and what we enjoy is more important than the raw performance of the product. I'm happy you've found something you can enjoy for a long time, most guys are constantly hunting for that :)
I love mine. KEF Q950 is a wonderful match.
Not that I am shopping, but I was wondering CHoco EMEI comparison since it was said to sound tube like.
respectfully I'd rather not do comparisons just for comparisons sake of comparisons but everything I've said about the CHoco stands, nothing at it's price can beat it and it easily competes with gear that I've heard up to $4k.
Thanks for the video. I been thinking about getting a primaluna or maybe another tube amp. But I was wondering if they would be good for hard rock and metal. I listen to everything but my roots are in metal and I think of a tube amp for jazz or something like that
The Evo 100 is pretty darn neutral for a tube amp, I don't think it would have issues with any particular type of music. I listen to metal also like Arch Enemy. For metal I'd prefer something ever so slightly smoother like the CHoco amp but it depends on the speakers too.
@@NemoPropaganda Thanks 👍 I have heard people say that tube amps are slower but idk myself. I saw that you really liked the Choco and I got interested. My speakers are all designed and built by myself speakers and I want to be able to get the best performance out of them. Thanks for your response
@@BostonMike68 tube amps come in a lot of flavors, I'm sure some lush, warm, relaxed, that's not how th EVO100 is though, it's more neutral. As far as the best amp for your speakers, the skys the limit, that really depends on what metrics you use to consider something the best or good.
@@NemoPropaganda I always hear that solid state are better for dynamics and that's what Im trying to figure out if tubes can handle big dynamic swings. Eventually honestly I want to have both. So either way I'm sure I will be happy.
@@BostonMike68 tubes can handle dynamics as long as the power is there, you'll probably wan't something bigger than the EVO 100 in that case like the Galion TS120 SE.
so would you say 115bd is slightly load
I do not understand your question. Pleasr rephrase it.
hey, can try the musician knight 1? Tharbamar really praised it
I don't have any relationship with them so no way to get a review sample at this time. Maybe that will change in the future.
Hey Nemo! I’ve heard that the Alta Audio Alyssa is an S400 MKII but upgraded in every way.
Would u care to review it? iId like your POV on that ♥️
My channels not that big so it's not very easy to get review samples of stuff that costs over $2k, if they're willing, I'm willing.