Review: NuForce 9 V2 SE Amplifier


Category: Amplifiers

First gentle reader, I would ask that you scroll down to the laundry list of amplifiers that I have owned over the years (at least the ones I remember!) in the "similar products used" section of this review. I think it is germane to the body of my review and will point out that while I'm certainly no J. Gordon Holt, I have owned my share of amps over the 30+ years of being a crazed audio nut. (One amp pair that I forgot to add, and this thread wouldn't allow me to back-edit, were Parasound JC-1 mono blocs. Would be between the Hurricane's and Spectron M II).

And no, I am not a 'shill' or in any way associated with the good folks at NuForce. I make this qualification in advance as I tend to get excited when I hear and own something that surpasses my highest expectations and I might tend to 'gush' a bit in this review.

Also - I have waited, what I feel is a sufficient amount of time, to verify that my impressions are still accurate and that my audio bubble wouldn't burst. I have owned the 9 V2SE's for about 4 mos. now and am still smilin' ear to ear everytime I play my system...

Let me cut right to the chase - The NuForce 9 V2 SE's are a dream come true for this audio pilgrim. They offer a refinement of sound that I (and my wallet) could only dream about previously. I do not have unlimted funds. No, I have not owned the over-the-top ultra high-end offerings from the likes of Krell, Mark Levinson, etc., as again my finances (and three kids) simply don't permit, but I have certainly heard my share of these amps at dealers, friends systems etc., and can say with complete confidence that the NuForces can more than hold their own against them and probably are their superior.

Like many, I have struggled with the quest for that perfect blending of the salient qualities of tubes, with the reliability and freq. extension of solid state, but despite hybrids, push-pull, MOSFETS, JFETS, Class A, Zero Feedback, All tube, KT88, 6550, oil caps, mylar caps, etc., etc., etc. was never able to find an amp that could really pull it all together into one whole and complete cloth - until now.

If I had to describe the 'sound' of the 9 V2SE's, I would say they completely mimic an extremely powerful set of state-of-the-art mono block tube amps, with better extension and control at both ends of the freq. spectrum.

Do you remember the first time you heard tubes in a system? Whatever the wattage rating, 40, 80, 100 watts, it always sounded like double the equivalent of solid state power. This is EXACTLY what the 9V2SE's sound like. They have the type of unbridled power and control, over even the most demanding and complex musical passages, with micro and macro dynamics the likes of which I have not previously experienced.

Now, keep in mind, I am coming off a set of modified Jolida JD3000 mono block all tube amps, with 200 watts per side. These had, until this point, been the finest reproduction I have heard in my system, so this is the basis of comparision to most of the comments that follow.

Soundstage:
The W-I-D-E-S-T, D-E-E-P-E-S-T and most 'coherent' soundstage I have ever heard. TOTALLY dependent on the recording. Nothing is ever 'spotlighted' or out of character. Everything is of proper size and proportion within the most illuminated stage you can imagine. It is actually wider and has more 'location cues' (ambience, etc.) than the vaunted Jolida's.

Treble:
The absolute cleanest, clearest, most pristine top end I have ever heard, in ANY system. No 'white-ish' glare or other artifacts at all. The timbre of everything from a triangle to a Zildjian ride cymbal is intact and awesome in it's accuracy. This unlimited extension undoubtedly contributes to the exspansive soundstage as well. Anyone who thinks that ribbons, diamond cones, or exotic metals are superior to a well engineered electrostat would be shocked, I think, to hear the NuForce's through a great electrostat.

Midrange:
This area of reproduction is where it all happens, IMO. If the midrange ain't right, you might as well throw out the rest, 'cause our ears are trained if you will, to be the most sensitive in this frequency range. The 9V2 SE's are a completely NEUTRAL and utterly transparent conduit to what ever passes before it. It is not 'dry', it is not 'lean' or any other sound which would be colored or distorted in any way. It will simply pass on all of the timbre, inflection and body of any voice or instrument that falls within this all important range of frequencies. Never before have I heard the human voice (both male and female) reproduced with such 'naturalness'. Also, EVERY recording I play has it's own unique sound-print or character if you will. I have never experienced this 'cameleon' type of reproduction previously, where the amps are so utterly transparent that they can allow even the most subtle differences, such as microphone type, venue size/type, mixing preferences, sound processing etc. to come through with such verisimilitude on each and every recording I play.

Bass:
Here is an area where I have to default on. As the Vantage's have their own dedicated amps to power the 8" woofers, I cannot offer much perspective only to say that the bass in my system is amoung the cleanest and fastest I have heard. (The bass response is also something that other professional and 'user' reviewers have pointed out to be amoung the great strengths of all NuForce amps).

What else can I add? No, I haven't heard the plethora of amps currently flooding the market place. Is there something out there that is better? Maybe. The Spectron Musician III came VERY close, and the Signature version of this amp might very well be it's equal, but I cannot imagine anything NEAR this price range being able to better the 9V2's in any or ALL parameters. In fact I would be confident enough to feel that the 9V2's would hold their own to ANY amp, regardless of price or topology, type, etc. within this power range. And no, I don't know if you will experience the same sort of magic and system synergy that I am able to pull off. A product at this level of transparancy will ultimately pass on the character your front end components. And finally YES, I do feel that the NuForce 9V2 SE's are a 'landmark' product and one of the most significant audiophile products ever introduced.

Will I ever find anything new down the road that will out perform the V2's? Based on past experience (and my past product reviews) yes. We all don't know what 'better' is until we actually hear it, right? But am am fairly confident, now that digital amps have fully matured, that it will undoubtedly be some form of this type of amplification, regardless of the brand.

Also, as a side-note; I must point out that it is nice to use a product that doesn't over-heat my room, take up tons of rack or floor space and that i don't have to feel guilty about enormous electricity usage every time I turn it on. It's kinda hard to justify big inefficient amps that waste energy while at the same time I'm yelling at my kids to turn off lights, appliances, computers, etc. and replacing light bulbs with high efficiency twist fluorescents!

Material commonly used;

- Norah Jones/Feels like home
- Peter Gabriel/Scurity (SACD)
- Fleetwood Mac-Rumors (DVD-A)
- Yes/The Ladder
- VAn Morrison/what's wrong with this pic
- Barenaked ladies/Gordon
- Andreas Vollenweider/Book of Roses
- Bill Bruford's Earthworks/Dig?
- Ambrosia/Somewhere I've never travelled
- XTC/oranges & lemons (Mo-Fi gold cd)
- The Decemberists/Crane wife
- Mindy Smith/One moment more
- James taylor/Hourglass (SACD)
- Thomas Dolby/Angels & archetypes

Associated gear
Antique Sound Labs Flora EX DT pre-amp
Martin-Logan Vantage loudspeakers
Esoteric UX-3SE
PS Audio P300
Infinity Intermezzo subwoofer
Quantum Power Symphony Pro & Symphony
CCA silver interconnects & speaker cable
Acoustic Zen Tsunami and Nino AC cords
PS Audio UPC 200
Shakti 'Stones'

Similar products
Sansui G22000
Carver M1.5t
Perreaux PMF3150
B&K Sonata mono blocs
McCormack DNA-1
Conrad-Johnson Evolution 2000
OCM 500
AMC CVT2100a mono blocs
Adcom GFA5802
Classe CA301
Innersound ESL amp
Llano 400s
Antique Sound Labs Hurricane mono's
Spectron Musician II
Bel Canto Evo 200.2
TAD 1000 mono blocs
Pass 250.5
Audio Experience YSA100 mono's
NuForce 9.0SE
Spectron Musician III
Jolida JD3000 mono blocs
denf
I realize this is an older thread,but are any of you 9v2se users running single ended?. I would like to try these amps with my Adagios because they have a synergy with the class D or "switching amps" and these sound like killer amps,but without spending a ton I only have a sunfire receiver to drive them with right now,I know this wont bring out the best but I figure if I like what I hear I will invest in a good prepro
IMHO, my Nuforce 9V2 SE is the male equivelant of a Calgon bath, they just take me away. Connected to my VMPS 626Rs, I often smile to myself with joy and sheer wonder in how these little beauts constantly improve my musical mood. Purchase a pair and see for yourselves, that which we 9V2 SE owners already know, great product for the money!!!
I don't know yet folks but soon I'll have plenty to comment on as I just sold my 9SEV2's and bought a Pass X350.5.

Why did I do that?

I'm selling my line arrays and purchased the Dynaudio C1's which I felt the Nuforce's were struggling to get bass out of these power hungry, inefficient little monitors. There was only one direction to go IMO. Actually, this may be a test. Was it a power problem or something else? I'll know soon enough.

I loved my Nuforce's. Cool, don't take up space, energy efficient, and other than the crappy RCA connectors that constantly come loose and even break on occasion, I can't say anything bad about these little jewels. Me thinks that in a year, ya, watch my posts, I'll be selling the Pass for the Nuforce Ref 18 (then my wife will surely have me committed).

All I can say in that this uber expensive, good looking room heater BETTER perform as it has some serious competition to live up too, and I will post the results.
I'm planning to get the Revel Salon 2's can the Nuforce drive those are they I believe are really power hungry.
Hi, Do you still own the Nuforce amps?

I just read your thread on the Nuforce 9v2SE and enjoyed it. I noticed that one of the amps that you had experience with was the Pass 250.5. The reason I mention this is that someome has offered me, on trade, a Nuforce Reference 9V2. I had my heart set out to get one of the Pass amps for my Apogee Stages, possibly a X150/150.5 or 250/250.5. Pre amp is up in the air at this point, and I mainly listen to digital. Not sure if you can extrapolate what the Nuforce (9v2) vs the Pass designs might be, but it would be most interesting if you could give me your thoughts. Thanks, and most appreciative.

Steve
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Hi Drubin, are you suggesting you may have sold the Nuforce prematurely. . . or are you simply pulling my 'poetic' leg? Guido
>willing to yield their late-blooming sonic secrets only to the very patient.

I just sold my Nuforce amps, but after reading that, I may buy another pair. Guido, you poet, such a turn of phrase!
Thank you Stltrains. I have experienced that NuForce is not the only amp that exhibits a curious anomaly in the high treble when not completely -rebroken' in. In my system I am also running a Rowland 312 -- my very favorite amp of record. This is also an ICE-based amp sporting a 3X-Nuforce price point; yet, when starting cold after a several days out of the system, or after a trip by courier, rather than sounding constricted/chesty like a typical solid state amp in need of warm up, it sounds quite open, but you can readily hear some very jingling/jangling-harmonics-out-of-kilter-sounds at the top. Grand piano for example reminded me of an old saloon upright clunker. After several days the oddity is reabsorbed, and what you are left with is absolutely bleedin' glorious. Please note that the 312 in my system is not at all new, but had probably a few thousand hrs of operation on it when it arrived at my place. . . . even though it had probably not been playing for a few weeks.
It has been suggested that ICE-based switching amps may actually require more than 1,000 hours of break in when new to achieve their peak performance.
Question: how is the Spectron break-in pattern instead?Unfortunately, not having had the excellent Spectron in my system yet, I cannot comment on its break in pattern. . . although I did enjoy this amp quite a lot when I auditioned it last fall in Denver.
What is slowly becoming apparent to me is that at least some of the switching amps on the market today -- rather than being impersonal dry sounding dead weights forever -- are in fact complex instruments of music reproduction in their own right, willing to yield their late-blooming sonic secrets only to the very patient.
Guidocorona your description above is a first rate piece on what to expect upon hearing Nuforce Ref 9 SE V2s in a system. And leaving them on at all times is a must and is absolutely harmless to the amp. Of course if you dont use any type of surge protection you have to pay attention to the weather. I use Brick Wall surge protection and the only time i turn my amps off is when a long vacation comes along.

Flkin after going through the upgrade path with Nuforce amps three times, that give me perspective musical differences in what i hear in each upgrade from an amp. I do understand your point though.
Drubin, I clearly stand corrected on Eichmann binding posts. . . I did not realize they have dust caps. . . my eyesight is not what it used to be 40 years ago. . . (chuckles!) but I should have had the common sense of checking with Jason at NuForce before shooting my mouth. Once again my apologies

As for turning the Nuforce on, and even forgetting they have a power switch unless bad weather is in the offing. . . there is no problem. . . switching amps consume negligible amounts of power when idling. And why be concerned if the first time you turn them on you need to wait for a couple of weeks for them to sound their best? It's all fine music after that. . . and you never need to get anxious about ICE modules running out of steam after just 1000 hrs of operation. The prescription seems pretty easy and bland.
The Eichmann binding posts on the 9SE's do take bananas. You just have to pop off the little plastic dust caps. These binding posts, which ain't cheap, were probably chosen for their sonic merits. The Cardas stuff is heavy and manly, but does it sound good?

Your prescription for getting good sound from the Nuforce is asking too much IMHO.
I have had the opportunity of evaluating the excellent NuForce 9 V2 SE in my system. My system was configured as follows: TEAC X-01 Limited, JRDG Capri, NuForce 9 V2 SE, Vienna Mahler 1.5 speakers. ICs are AQ Sky XLRs, NuForce are powered via Cardas Golden Ref PCs, speaker wires are Cardas Golden Ref.

The amps were not new and had been previously used. However they had not been used for a couple of weeks prior to my insertion into the system. What seems to be apparent with switching amps I have tried this far is that they need to be turned on at all times and must play for a long time before sounding at their best. . . this is even for aledgedly broken in devices. This is very important, because otherwise you may be unwittingly undervaluing them based on very temporary artifacts that may be peculiar to this type of device. Beside the usual initial 'dry' sound, you may discover that the NuForce amps are INITIALLY doing something funny in the treble region, which sounds like a slight burr, resembling a slight ring modulation. A comment that I have heard somewhere is that their treble may seem slightly disconnected from the rest of the sound. True but. . . this is also very temporary. . . just be patient, leave the devices powered up at all times and play a lot of music for at least a couple of weeks. You will find that the NuForce will re-break in very nicely; The stage will open up; they will gain more and more authority; harmonic content will fill up; frequency will extend; and the anomaly in the treble will be absorbed and disappear. In the end you will be left with a very graceful and very nimble sound, which can be both delicate or powerful, depending on the music. from little amps that can even control the notoriously difficult twin 10 inch subwoofers of the mahlers with what seems to me a pretty iron fist. The amps filled my essentially 18x30 feet listening room with a very credible stage and textured music. I was particularly pleased by the sense of air surrounding the Clarinet and the English Horn solos in Dvorak's 9th Symphony undr Bernstein and the Israel Phil, the speed and impact of the timpanis from the 3rd movement of the same work was quite satisfying, and the realism of the voice of T. FD'Althan in Monteverdi's 2nd Book of madrigals was delightful. The amps seem to be excelling at staging and imaging.

I only wish that some of the metal work, connectors, switches, etc. . . on the NuForce matched the quality of the sound I was hearing and were commensurate with the price point. 5-way binding posts or patented Cardas connectors would have been welcome instead of the spade-only connectors with plastic screws.

But do yourselves a favor. . . if you have the opportunity of auditioning these fine amps, do not form any opinions unless/until they have been playing for a long time!

Guido
The sound you hear is the total contribution of a whole lot of equipment starting with source, head-amp (if any), pre-amp, then the Nuforces and then speakers.

For the kind of sound you describe hearing, how do you know what you are listening to? Which component is contributing to the incredible sound you are hearing?

Is it possible to comment on the virtue of a single product by listening to a chain of products connected in series? Perhaps your entire system was state-of-the-art apart from your prior amps which was the bottleneck. And swapping them for the Nuforces opened up the bottleneck and increased the enjoyment bandwidth?

Glad you liked the Nuforces, I'm making it a point to listen to them properly when I get a chance. Actually I already have but it wasn't as captivating as you described so I'm going back again.
Denf i concur with you in your fine review. I have gone through the upgrade chain that Nuforce offers to there customers. I started with basic ref 9, then SE, now V2. Each upgrade was easily audible for the better. The V2 technology in the last upgrade is going to be hard to beat. I challenge Jason and Casey to try and deliver one more upgrade to this fine series of amps.

Not only does Nuforce make one of the best amps available they know how to keep there customers up to date with upgrades. And the price for these upgrades is more than fair. It saves you from playing the turnover game.

I have been in front of my system since mid after noon today. Its about 10:30 now. I'm Absolutely fatigue free and musically satisfied.

My analog front end is my choice for sit down in your ear music listening. Some of our LP selections today.
Beatles Magical Mystery Tour, Sargent Pepper,
Pink Floyd Pulse
Led Zeppelin One
Jeff Beck Truth
Moody Blues Long Distance Voyager

Like you said something will arrive in the future that will possibly surpass these super amps. But that manufacturer will have to work hard to beat the satisfaction to price ratio that Nuforce offers.

Like you i am just a hard working music lover that is in no way at all connected to Nuforce.

BTW your system if a fine one, glad to hear from another satisfied ref 9 SE V2 user.
marvellous! This is all pointing to switching technology coming of age. . . and not necessarily conforming to increasingly obsolete stereotypes.
"The $1 In-Home Trial is a great opportunity. The trial is for one week, though. It's not for 30 days."

Practically all in-home auditions last more than 1 week. And we never charge the $1, it is just to get your attention because people don't believe it when we say it is free. If you're serious in buying Nuforce amp or preamp within 3 months, you have nothing to lose except your time to audition it. We bet that it will outperform anything at any price.
Great review Denf!

Thought I'd add my 2 cents. I'm 2 months into owning my ref V2's replacing my venerable Classe CA100's which now serve surround sound duty. In my 40 years of audio insanity these amps have educated me in a way I'd not thought possible. I find them so neutral, so natural that due to the nature of my system, I've had to replace, modify, experiment, and now look to build myself a set of speakers to utilize the full potential these amplifiers deliver.

You'll have to excuse me as I've not gotten much sleep lately due to late night listening experiences. Don't beat me up on my current setup but you can't help but laugh. My source components are a Playstation 3 and a modded Squeezebox 3. I hate my Sony Playstation 3 but admittedly, the Playstation is an overachiever. It just looks bad and has a fan to boot! It looks like a game machine sitting stupidly on my Adona rack system and oh ya, it’s that too :-/ My SB3 is not much better except for it's Welborne outboard linear supply. The SB3 need more tweaking and I love the interface. The Sony is really just a bus station transferring EAC ripped - FLAC encoded - Tversity server sent files through the PS3 then to an Onkyo PR-SC885P preamp, then to my SE V2's and finally to my Def-Tech BP2000's.
Please don’t get me wrong here. I’m just trying to name bash or discount brands or equipment. How I arrived at my somewhat kludgy system with these state of the art amps is another story. In fact it sounds pretty amazing at this point. My feeling is that it all starts with the V2's. I cannot describe a sonic signature with these amps. They're fed pristine digital files are @ 44.1Khz through a pretty long path and deliver an unbelievably coherent sound at the end.

The BP2000's don't image. That was my mantra for a decade. Now I have a SOLID central image with good depth although still confined between my speakers. This did not happen until I changed the power cables first from outlet to Line filter box (also modded), then on the Onkyo, and then on the PS3. Amazing change with the addition of HQ DIY power cables!

Last night after setting my newly acquired Adona rack I played Steely Dan - Aja. I laughed throughout the entire song and the next. I cannot believe how good the sound was through my Def-Techs. I think I was giddy. Don’t ever remember being “giddy”. Another thing I noted with these amps is the fact that they play at low volume levels the same as at high volume levels. How many amps or systems have you listened to that only came alive or sounded good only when pushed to higher volume levels? I thought that just how it is or supposed to be. Not any more! Even at low levels these amps bring all the nuisances of recordings that one hears at high SPL’s.

So these Nuforce’s forced me to upgrade some cables. Why, because you can tell what these things are capable of and wish to exploit.. I can't imagine how they'll sound through some audiophile grade speakers. I need a second job..

Criticisms? These amps seem to be sensitive to noise. Mine are quiet but I had my moments. The WBT binding post has failed and is in need of repair. Sometimes when I turn the amps off then on again say after changing to a different interconnect, they don't always turn back on. What is that?. I have not done that yet. I'm looking for winners here and like to DIY. They're so small.... They like nice interconnects, cords and equipment around them ;-)

P.S.
I really like the MAC Palladium's. I've tried the following cables through the Nuforces.

Various high end Monsters = Give to your neighbor
Anti Cables = Good but lacks smoothness and warmth.
DH-Labs BL1's = Better, warmer, detailed but read on.
Balanced Neotech UP-OCC interconnects = Good but voices lacked weight and felt recessed ON MY SYSTEM with my edgy metal dome tweeters
MAC Palladium's = These cables changed everything. Voices became more natural with proper weight. Detail by not hyper detail and non-fatiguing, even on my HT speakers. I'll buy more from this co. as their prices seem very reasonable.

Sorry this is so long – perhaps more than .02 cents worth?
I have to say that my own experience with the Reference 9V2 SE amps mirrors Denf's very closely. I can also add that on my VMPS RM30 speakers the bass is outstandingly articulate and extended.

I first used a solid-state preamp with the NuForce and it sounded pretty darned respectable, but since I switched to a custom built, dual-mono, transformer-coupled 6SN7 tube preamp the sound has been simply extraordinary. This is a super combination in amplification!
I'll have to wait until the summer when I can make the best of a week. thanks guys....
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Warrenh - I believe NuForce still offers a "$1.00 in-home trial" for 30 days. You have nothing to lose (other than $1.00).
Great review Denf. I love my SET sound and I am really quite happy with my rig, except for one thing: I don't have the amp power when I really want to crank out some very serious dynamic dbs. You know what I mean? I would love to have the SET sound with some powerful reserves for the dynamic stuff. I would love to know how these babies would sound in my rig. Any thoughts? Audiophools, please jump in. thanks in advance, warren :)
Denf,
I don't own the Nuforce, but I do own another D-amp.
I have replaced my Spectral equipment with the
S300 Belcanto d-amp.I think the people who do not like
d-amps have not given them a chance.
I had to break my amp and Belcanto Pre3 preamp in.
It took about three months of average playing time.
I thought they sounded a bit strange at first.
Not any more.I do not plan on going back to my Spectral
gear.
Catahula bill- Haven't heard their speakers or pre, but if they dedicate the same level of genius and commitment to these pcs., they should be above level performers as well. If you haven't already, you can Google a search on these. I seem to remember a review (maybe 6 moons?) on the NuForce speakers not too long ago.
Denf - thanks for the great review. While visiting CA last week, my wife and I auditioned the NuForce 9V2SE, P9, and the new S9 speakers. We finally agreed on a sound that we both loved. I've only been at this for 27 years less than you and have the upgrade bug. I been looking for 9 months and nothing has been considerably better than what I have until I heard the NuForce. My question is - have you listened to the speakers or the pre, and if so please give me your opinion. I'm looking to purchase one piece now (can't quite swing all three yet).
Thanks
You're right on the mark John. Two new reviews just popped up within the last few weeks - one at The Stereo Times (Feb 2008) and the other at Audio/Video Revolution (Feb 2008) BOTH reviewers basically state that the V2's are amoung the finest amps they have heard. The guy from Audio Revolution in so many words says that the V2's handily out-gunned his Levinson 336 amp.

As I listed in my other amps owned, I once owned the NuForce 9.0SE's, and they were also great amps, but these new V2's have catapulted them into a whole new level/category, IMO.

Let's face it, there's just always going to be audiophiles who can't wrap their mind around the fact that an amp doesn't have to cost a fortune, weigh a ton, and cost an exhorbitant amount of money to be 'world class'.

Drubin - I'm using the excellent over-achieving Acoustic Zen Tsunami AC cords - very synergistic match up.
Nice job. I am a huge fan of the V2s. In "my" thread dedicated to the V2, I proclaimed them to among the top "5" amps of any type or price. Of course, I was harshly flamed. At the same time, I honestly know of no one that has carefully listened to the V2 and not give it the prop's it deserves.

Here is the best compliment I can give it: For the past 8 years I have been a contributing reviewer to www.positive-feedback.com. Since putting my 9SEV2 in my system (I purchased the review sample, Duh, the biggest no brainier of my lifetime), I have lost much of my motivation to continue reviewing. I just love to listen to music through my system. They make every aspect of my system sound better and I just don't want to put any review gear in the loop, I want my system as it is!

Thanks again for your review and I agree, this is a landmark product.

John
Great review, Denf. Which power cords are you using with the Nuforce amps?

And Tvad: a tip o' the hat to you for volunteering your new perspective.
Hey thanks guys for the kind comments! I really glad you found some value in my review.

Teajay - yes! couldn't agree more, the Flora preamp is a true 'giant killer' of a preamp and seems to be a match in proverbial heaven with the NuForces. I'm still using the stock 6Sn7's but recently picked up a matched pair of Sylvania VT-231's that I plan to send off for a cry'o treatment. Will let you know what the results are.
Denf, great review, it's extremely well written, informative, and a fun read. The only D-amp I have alot of experience with are the Kharma monoblocks that I thought were quite good, better then a pair of highly regarded Lamm monoblocks, in a friend's system.

I see you have the Flora in your system, I too have it as my preamp and think it's another "killer" piece sonicly and quite the bargain regarding its retail price. I have a question, what tubes do you use? I finally ended up with NOS oval plate TungSols, expensive and very hard to get, but boy they offer sonic bliss in my system. Thanks for the excellent review.
Denf, thanks for a very well written and informative piece. IMHO, your extensive experience with similar products is what gives this review so much value. It will certainly help me make a decision about whether to take the Class D, analog switching plunge. Kudos!
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