Class D amp with Tube Preamp Combo?

Stltrains, what is your amp+pre combo exactly? Guido

Im using a deHavilland Mercury II preamp with the NuForce 9.02 SE V2 amps in single ended mode with stunning results

Yoby, you hit on a great combination. A sweet tubed pre-amp with a SOTA class D. I ended up with my Modwright while looking for a deHavilland. Funny thing, nobody wanted to sell theirs! Still, I love my rig. I wish I could hear everyone else's rig. Wait, maybe not, I would just spend more money!

I have a Supratek Chenin tube preamp usually paired with a Bryston 4BSST driving a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C1 in a 5x4 m room. I just picked up a pair of used but fairly new Bel Canto Ref 1000 monoblocks 2 days ago and was all excited about trialling my first class D amp after reading all the rave reviews, especially 6moons.

Well after 3 days, i'm disappointed and perplexed. Adding the BC Ref 1000 has sucked the life and excitement out of my system. The high sounds rolled off to me,lacking air and i struggle to hear the attack/leading edge of piano strokes during Solo piano recording. Soundstage depth is so so and everything sounds a bit homogenised.

My personal taste is for a bit of warmth and bloom in mid range as a neutral system will grate my ears after a short while. I'm aware of the tubey warmth some reviewer has elluded in the reviews but this is too much. So far it's no high end bargain.

I don't know how many hours they had before i got them and wonder if burning in will help. I left them powered on as suggested but the sound is still lacklustre so far. Gr.....

Well, three days isn't enough burn-in, but if you like extra midrange bloom, then Bel Canto is probably not for you. Rowland will not work for you either. You'll need excellent sources with most Class D/ICEPower amps.

Dave