First Watt SIT-1 Mono Power Amplifiers Review

Specific Examples

Let’s start with Rob Wasserman’s Duets. I want to talk about two cuts, first is the second cut on side two, “Gone With the Wind” a duet with vocalist Dan Hicks. This cut has the bass slightly left of center and the vocals right of center. The SIT-1s did an admirable job of letting the bass sound like a real standup bass. On the vocals they weren’t quite as far to the right as I am used to, and Hicks’ voice seemed slightly huskier as well. Still, the song sounded alive and was very emotionally involving.

The next cut is “Angel Eyes” with Cheryl Bentyne providing the incredible female voice. This is not my favorite cut on the album, that would be “Ballad of the Runaway Horse” with Jennifer Warnes, but “Angle Eyes” is surely the most demanding. The bass is deep and fast with lots of decay and her voice starts at a normal volume and then swells in volume and size. With a lot of systems her voice becomes shrill or at the other extreme, it becomes bloated. The SIT-1s did an exemplary job with Bentyne’s voice. They kept the size right, and let the volume swell to a large crescendo without ever becoming shrill. The standup bass sounded full bodied and had nice initial attack with good decay. The space and air around the bass could be slightly better, but was still much better than most amps.

Ella and Louis, on cut 2, “Isn’t This a Lovely Day,” the SIT-1s let me hear the beauty and lushness of Ella’s voice in a most beautiful way, but Satchmo’s voice was not quite as gravely as I am used to hearing it; as I never heard him in person, I can’t tell you which is right. The voices sounded very alive and the horn got loud without ever getting out of control. I should mention that I set out to listen to just that cut and ended up listening to the whole album.

Elvis is Back is the album that has Elvis’ version of “Fever” on it. This cut will tell you if a system is all about slam and tightness or if it’s about emotion, music, and feeling what the musicians and singer are trying to convey. The SIT-1s are definitely about emotion, music, and feeling the music. It brings me back to the fact that there is just a fundamental rightness to this amp.

Comparison

I know everyone, including myself wants to know how the sound of the SIT-1 compares to my Wavac EC-300B. The EC-300B amp is the only amp I have heard that is better than these mono blocks in my reference system. I should also mention that my EC-300B has new old stock Western Electric 300Bs, Western Electric 435As, and NOS Sylvania 6L6GC tubes. This raises the price of this amp to somewhere around $35,000.

In a recent review of a transistor amp Art Dudley (a fellow lover of the glass bottle amps) said, “What a good tube amplifier sounds like and what it plays music like are two different things. A good tube amp usually sounds warm and colorful and well textured, often with a bottom end that’s a bit fat and a treble range that isn’t terribly trebly. A good tube amp plays music in such a way that line of notes have a sense of flow and momentum, with a distinctly forceful tactile quality: an unmistakable sense of touch, from the subtlest sound to the bangiest.”

Well said Art, I would add to it that a great SET amp adds to this a magical way with voices and the space around them. The reason for including this quote is it sets a great stage for this comparison.

Take that sense of flow and momentum, for example. It was shocking to me that the SIT-1 —  being a transistor amp  — came as close as it did to the Wavac in this area. Music flows like it does in real life and the momentum keeps it moving forward; and when needed, the momentum builds to life like swells. I would have never thought any transistor amp could do this at this level. Still, it does not do it with the same power and aliveness as the EC-300B.

When it comes to the forceful tactile quality, the SIT-1 can’t quite match the Wavac, but comes very close. Then there is what Dudley described as the “unmistakable sense of touch, from the subtlest sound to the bangiest.” In this area, the Wavac is the winner hands down. The SIT-1 just doesn’t swing from the subtlest to the loudest in the same way the Wavac can, but neither has any other amp I have had in for review.

Then, I add that SETs have a magical way with voices and the space around them. Both of these amps do this in a way that I have never heard from any others amps. This way with space is truly magical and to me sets the SIT-1 and the EC-300B in a league of their own. They also both allow my system to have incredible immediacy and transparency that results in a very alive sound. The EC-300B has more of this magic though; compared to the EC-300B, the SIT-1 isn’t quite as forward sounding; depending on the system it is used in and the listeners personal taste this may or may not be a good thing. With the Wavac the sound seems a little more lit up, almost like the sound is back lighted. The SIT-1s sound a little warmer while almost doing the same thing.

The bass and mid-bass are very different on these two amps and just about the opposite of what most people think of when they think of tubes versus transistors. To use Harry Pearson’s Yin(dark, romantic) verses Yang(light, open), the SIT-1 is surely the Yin to the EC-300B’s Yang. The bass of the SIT-1 is deeper, warmer, and more romantic. The warmer and romantic quality really goes well into the lower midrange of these amps. This quality is part of what makes them so seductive and draws you into long listening sessions. On the other hand, the Wavac is fast, tight, and driving in the bass and on up into the midrange. I think this warm and romantic quality may also explain why the SIT-1s don’t have quite the space and air between and around individual instruments.

Both the SIT-1 and the Wavac EC-300B are world class amps. Without a doubt the SIT-1 is the best transistor amp I have heard at any price. The only amp I have heard better is the Wavac, which is not a really fair comparison but one that the SIT-1 could make and still hold itsr head high.

Conclusion

From what I understand, Nelson Pass took a big risk with his initial buy-in for the SIT transistors being in the lower six figures. I also read in one of his posts on an online site in which he said that if he never sold a single SIT amp it would be worth it for what he learned in making these amps.

Like most of the First Watt amps, the SIT amps don’t try to appeal to mainstream audiophile. I must admit a certain admiration for a man who continue to seek better ways to create musical truth considering the success he has had with mainstream audiophile products from Threshold, Adcom, and Pass Labs.

As I come to the end of the review, I have to admit that I thought a lot about the fact that these were transistor amps. Not because the sound like transistor amps, but just the opposite. In many ways the SIT-1 combined the sound of the very best 300B SETs with the sound of the best OTL amps. Still, even this statement is an over-simplification of the way these amps make music. Congratulations and thanks should be given to Nelson Pass for caring enough to make such a great amp. In the end my only disappointment with these amps was that they weren’t better than my EC-300B because it would have been nice to have sold the tube amps, bought these and pocketed the difference. Well, we can always wish, can’t we? Highly recommended if you have speakers that can boogie with only 10 watts. I don’t know anything that can touch the First Watt SIT-1 for less than $30,000.