I have been meaning to make this comment for some time, as I have used more amps than usual during the last couple of years and have owned 3 x AX-Z1010TN in an odd on/off love affair that basically went "
I love the way you amplify my inputs, but not the way you look" !
In particular, I have spent quite some time with 3 lovely amps : a Carver pre/power combo (amazingly valve like sound), a recapped Yamaha CA-800 II & my current Sony TA-N55ES power amp (which I use without a preamp as it has an attenuator on the front panel).
These all sound lovely, but very different, and this is my point : if I compare to the JVC AX-R337, which performs almost identically to the AX-Z1010TN, the JVC does not appear to have a sound of its own.
In my view this makes it the closest thing I have yet experienced to Peter Walker's "
straight wire with gain" & may possibly explain why some have not been impressed by the AX-Z1010TN, as their accustomed amplifier sound becomes absent from their system.
As I've recently given my R337 to my daughter (see my Sonab thread just posted), I may buy a
fourth AX-Z1010TN for this reason. If I do, it will be a keeper alongside the Sony & hopefully I will never have to buy another amp...