Anyone hear the Van Alstine CA1 Control Amplifier or NP1 amp demoed?

to newtozu:

In case my message failed, and re: the Musical Fidelity A1...

I can appreciate preferences.  Looked at that one too and may revisit someday. I had a M2si which I tried and couldn't stand. Loose bass, grainy upper mids, not smooth at all and lacked depth.  Probably OK for some Rock but not for alot of what I listened to.  Prefer smooth, musical but still transparent. Will try the CA-1.  For the prices, not expecting a $10K+ experience but don't need to at my listening levels.  Also looked at similarly priced tube gear, the new Galion amp but then I'd need a suitable pre, pehaps a couple of others such as the Iota VX40.  The CA-1 seemed to stand out and I picked up at a used price I couldn't say no too.  See what happens.

I get this today and will put it in my system the next day or 2.  If anything, I kind of wish it had pre outs. I could live with two rca inputs for source plus a pre out would make hooking up a sub for fill'in simpler.  Ideally, it would have a truly balanced XLR, an RCA pre out  or perhaps a subout with adjustable cutoff as subs are popular today versus when VA first started.  The XLR would add to the cost though. Still, that be my personal design desires. 

I could live without a phono stage myself but alot of people are into vinyl.  As long as the SQ is there, mission accomplished.

I've had the CA1 for a couple of months and believe it is a great all-around performer for its price. I found it to be sensitive to speaker type, impedance, etc. I is a nice balance between my 5 watt class A tube and Vera Audio P150/600 Purfi-based class D amps. Transparent with reasonable sound stage and power. I have not tried the phono stage. I currently listen to it via Audio Note AN-K SPe speakers.

About to find out myself. Picked one up but hadn't the time to install.  Only using on small speakers, easy to drive speakers and wonder how it would do on something needing more current.  Looking at other small but next step up speakers, not an easy task with size constraints.  Audio Note AN-K SPe...nice!

I was very interested in the CA-1. I emailed them with a few questions, 3 times, crickets.

That's discouraging enough for me to pursue something else.