@fastfreightI am on board with you regarding the pre and the DAC. The DAC did not work well for me at all, and I preferred my trusty old Audio Magic DAC to it with redbook by a country mile. Funny thing is I have yet to find a meaningful replacement for it, as it sounds mighty good with redbook. I would like to explore other formats, however, it has to sound good with plain old CDs because many of the artists I like are independents who release their own music and they are only going to be on plain old cd's.
Now the pre-amp could have drove me to drink, and it sure did cost me a lot of money in trying to find a tube that would allow me to like it. This is what I hate about tube audio, finding what really works well in a component, and knowing what the sound is really supposed to be like. Heck I was a tube guy from when I got my first Dynaco ST 70 at age 19,, to when I got these JBL and found out they are not SET amplification compatible. Even though they spec like they should be.
The amplifier seems to be the best choice out of the product line. With a set of Siemens 6922 gold pin in it I get nice sound. The questions is can it be better? To be honest the most engaging, not necessarily the most refined, sound I have gotten from it was with a Musical Fidelity Nuvista M3 integrated amp. I should have kept that one. But I sold it to a good friend, and I got it at a steal of a price, and he has financial constraints so I was able to set him up with good sound. I found a killer killer deal for him on a Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista DAC also. Then we lucked into a score of a lifetime on a pair of Vandersteen 3A and upgraded over his 2CE.
OK back on track. I did have a H2O Audio 250 Signature here, and its a nice Class D amp, but the BHK is more natural sounding. If I tried Class D again I hear good things being said about the JRDG ones. To be honest I have an initial acceptance for the sale of a pair of AVM Essential mono-block amps from a guy on an audio group I know. But shipping is from the other side of the country, he had a deal go bad on a previous sale, so he is somewhat reluctant to do this again. He says give him a couple of weeks to get up the ambition to pack them. So I am waiting. Not much info out there on AVM amps, especially these, but I find that the presentation of much of the German gear I hear seems to align with what these JBL would work with. Its a calculated risk. But under $2K for a $10K pair of amps that are about 10 years old and in excellent shape seems like a good gamble.
Audio is an adventure! Its interesting to see where the trails lead.
