Balanced tube preamp for Class D amps

John, tomorrow I will have at home a Rowland Capri to evaluate. Capri is a fully balanced linestage voiced for operation on the current JRDG class D amps. I will have the opportunity to connect it to a pair of NuForce monos among other amps. I will report my findings here in the next few days. Unless I am mistaken the Capri retails $2795 new in black livery. Guido

John, pardon the ignorance. . . I do not know what SMPS may be.

On the subject of tube preamps running hot. . . it depends what's in the power supply. . . my Audio Research has both a 6550C and a 6H30 in the power supply and runs quite hot, particularly in summertime.

I auditioned the JRDG Capri driving a JRDG 312 on my system yesterday. The system was fully balanced using Audioquest Sky XLR ICs. I have posted my findings at:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1200110667&openmine&zzGuidocorona&4&5#Guidocorona