LEBEN CS600 OR CS300X

300 s. Amazing value for the money. Heard it with your speakers many times. Magical. Please also get their phono stage.

I did have the very nice opportunity to listen to the CS300X for two hours with Musical Affairs Grand Crescendo speakers.
I feel both Lebens are very nice indeed, no phono stage included, tho the Headphone Jack feature is a REAL plus.
Do sufficient research to decide which is better for you. Post your results, good luck.

Bolero, I don't have experience with Leben, but do with Devore with Silverbacks. I have a 15w shindo apetite, which sounds great, except, it doesn't quite have enough power for my room. I would think that the 600 would be the better bet for for your nines. I have been thinking of going down the road of a shindo auriges or monbrison with a vac phi 200 or something like that. Also agree, Don Better will be a good resource. Good luck.

My feeling is that the value is in the 300...once you get to the 600, you're in a price range where going towards Shindo starts to make sense. Just because your budget goes to $5K, doesn't mean that $5K is what you should spend...IMHO, in these lines, a 300 makes sense around $3K, and an Aurieges-L/Montille makes sense at around $7K.

That being said, the 600 probably has the power you need...these things are never easy!

I have a pair of Devore Nines, and recently owned a Leben CS300. For reference , I do also own a Nait XS and ARC 100 watt amp. That said, I did not find the CS300 had enough power for all types of music. Simple music, yes, it was fine. But I like to rock out occasionally, and the Leben did not have the power for that. I replaced it with a new EL34 amp being imported by the same folks who import Shindo and Leben (Tone Imports?). It is a high quality Chinese made amp by LM Audio. I bought it from Don Better Audio for $1650, plus another $50 for upgraded input tubes. This amp is triode/ultralinear switchable for 15/32 watts, and has plenty of power for the Nines. I upgraded the tubes to KT77's for another $200, and it sounds great! But it was great even before the KT77's. If you Google LM Audio, you can check out the company. I see them as a Chinese Shindo. I have owned a few Shindo pieces, and am VERY impressed the LM Audio amp. You cannot go wrong with this amp. Plus it has remote control! That is important to me. I want to be able to adjust volume from my listening position, because with really nice gear, things just seem to really "click" with the right volume level.