Amp with a hard,clean and cold sound...

Tvad, you keep referring to toroidal vs. SMPS power supplies as if this was a significant point of some sort. Personally, I don't think it is.

I believe there are some very well designed power supplies of both kinds. I also have to say that I believe we have not seen the best from SMPS yet, and that designs like those from NuForce are starting to show that there may be advantages for SMPS such as transient speed capability and the ability to accurately and quickly track wide dynamic swings... You must consider that SMPS is in its relative infancy compared to conventional toroidal technology, and yet, some amps with SMPS are receiving very high praise in the audio press.

I second the Innersound ESL 300 as a clean amp. It sounds very good in the right system. "Cold" and "hard" often have negative connotations, but I think I understand what you're striving for (clean, neutral).

I once borrowed an Edge Si-1M PREAMP and that endowed the system with a very etched sound. I actually liked it. So that's an additional option you can consider, rather than focusing exclusively on the amp.

Michael

Well,

I agree with Tvad about switch mode supply and conventional linear supply. I believe there's a huge difference having heard both ICEPOWER with switch mode supply and the H2O with the traditional supply. IMHO, The H2Os are much better.

hho -- NuForce is not an ICEPOWER amp, so I guess you haven't heard the NuForce. Also, that's sort of a bold statement saying that the H2O amps are "hugely different" (i.e., much better) than all other ICEPOWER amps that use SMPS power supplies.

Your comments bring one word to mind... "Whatever".