What to put under my VAC AMP/ PREAMP??

I prefer Ultralinear with my Vac Phi 300.1 as well. This seems to be the concensus. That said, I got a different opinion from another party last week. His speaker was quite efficient. I believe in the 94DB range. I don't want to give any details, to respect his privacy. Anyway, he preferred Triode operation, and Balanced as well. This may have had much to do with the preamp he was using, as it may have been optimized for balance operation. My speakers are 87db, and Ultralinear is clearly better. However, if my speaker was more efficient, I would check out Triode again. Barrelchief, I would be curious as to the efficiency of your speaker.

Barrelchief, thanks for sharing your experiences. Unfortunately, the gentleman I was referring to lives a long way from me, and hearing his system is not realistic. Kevin also seems to prefer Ultralinear, but that was coming from an older phone conversation with him. I will have a different speaker to audition very soon, and it is very efficient. I will definitely give Triode another go at that point. I will chime back with my results. Vacattack, congrats on your Vitus CDP. I heard it at my dealers, and left extremely impressed. Jwm, it's funny that there really are never any unanimous opinions in audio most of the time. I wouldn't think Triode sounds thinner or bleached on your ESP's, or it's likely you would not be preferring it as you now do.