Here's what surprised me about the Torii vs. the SLI 80. Firstly is female vocals. "Piercing" is the word that comes to mind. It's as if there was something there before standing between me and the music, but now it's gone, no longer in the way. Female vocals pierced through the air as if they were performing in front of me. It really made me do a "double take" and take notice of this new aural sensation that I had not experienced before.
Don't get me wrong, the SLI 80 is a really nice amplifier. I had the exact same feeling when I first bought it, having upgraded from a mid-range solid state amp. Female vocals on the sli 80 gave me shivers down my spine. Literally. But the torii takes it a step further, another level better than the sli 80. Just like the torii, the sli 80 is Made in USA, all point-to-point wiring, symmetric layout, tube voltage regulation, etc. A fine product indeed. But at least in my room, with my equipment, I am liking this torii better. As an added bonus, the torii does not require manual bias adjustment of the output tubes like the sli 80 did. One less maintenance item is always a good thing in my book!
The next thing that surprised me was the bass. I'm no expert, but everyone says that KT88's are a more punchy bassy output tube than EL34's. But this EL34 powered torii is hitting harder bass notes than my KT88 equipped sli 80. A very pleasant surprise indeed.