help with tubes


I am putting together a simple two channel system, I have a birdland dac and gma europas. I want a tube amp under 1300$ dollars, the ones I am comparing are the cayin, consonance and antique sound lab amps. I know the cayin and consonance have outstanding build quality not sure about the asl. My question is for someone who has heard them and can tell me the difference's sonically. I am leaning towards the cayin as the price of the ta-30 is incredible! That being said, I would like something with some power to drive the europas to good levels with some weight in the bottom end. Thanks for your responses! If anybody has suggestions for another brand let me know, also, since the birdland has volume I don't have to have an integrated.
sean34
I have a Birdland Odeon-Ag DAC, too. One of the important details to note is that the Odeon-Ag is DC coupled, which means you shouldn't really hook it directly to an amp that is also direct (DC) coupled.
My question to the thread, as I am looking at possibly getting a tube amp, is which tube amps are not dc coupled? How can you tell from the specs?
Is the KT88 an amp? Looking at the Quicksilver website,It looks like it is a type of tube. Can you clarify?
Also, is there a way to tell from the specs that an amp is AC or DC coupled?