battery-based SS amps

Red Wine Audio has some battery powered gear that I've heard and sounded great at the shows. I cannot compare them to the others you are considering, but from what I heard they should be on a short list of battery-powered amps to consider.

Not sure batteries has anything to do with it. A well designed noise immune power supply can come in both battery and linear, and yes, even switching flavors.

As for tube like sound well that's a different discussion altogether. To me it's in the overall design, not just the power supply.

As Jax2 mentions, RWA designs some very good equipment that uses battery power. Well worth hearing.

My vote also for Red Wine.If you've got the resources the 70.2 mono blocks are very impressive.

I've owned battery gear, to include a Dodd battery powered preamp and a battery powered supply for my Squeezebox, which I still use. Based upon my experiences, it is my opinion that unless you just have very poor AC service at your home, battery power is somewhat over-rated. The VAC pre I own now is just as quiet in my system as the Dodd. Another thing to keep in mind is that there is a certain amount of "nuisance" that comes with battery powered gear. Batteries do die, sometimes at inconvenient times, and your listeing time is limited. So, if you like to have long listening sessions, battery power may not suit your listening habits. These issues have caused me to shy away from battery power until better technology is available.

It has, however, been my experience that there is a benefit to having the power supply separated from the "business end" of the digital gear and preamps. With the exception of my amps, all of my gear has separate power supplies and my system is dead quiet.

I have a Rowland Model 2 amp. I also own the BPS-2, battery power supply for this amp.
My experience is identical to Cruz123.
This amp is so quiet in any system configuration I've used,
my BPS is sitting stored on a shelf & the batteries are long dead & sitting on my patio, under my workbench. The BPS for this amp is just not needed, in my house. I have a new transformer on my power pole, courtesy of my electric utility. My entire front end is on a balanced Platinum Power line conditioner.
One of my batteries did crack open & leak, the last time I had this BPS in service. It was a pain to clean up the electrolyte. I haven't used the BPS, since.
I remember when a Sterophile reviewer said the BPS was definitely worth the extra money. Not in my system...

i have the emitter 1 exclusive battery, driving sonus faber guarneri memento's augmented below 40 hz by a rel b3 subwoofer. the sound is unbelievable. voices natural, strings are sweet. when playing well recorded church and organ music, i am there. this is the best i ever heared anywhere. is it due to the battery supply? i have no desire to waste my time in experimentation. i just want to listen and enjoy.

Some of you guys are missing part of the point of battery power: it's not just to improve the signal/noise ratio, but to give overall better sonics by keeping the signal free of AC hash. No rectification/regulation scheme in the world is perfect. This has nothing to do with S/N and nothing to do with whether one's power is dirty or not either.

That said, I've also owned some battery-powered gear and found it not so revolutionary. But one cannot deny at least the theoretical advantage of pure DC power.

More food for thought: the one-box, tubed, AC-powered Shindo Monbrison preamp is as quiet as preamps come, period, at 122 dB S/N.