I have a Veloce preamp ( battery powered/tubes) that I have owned for 10 years and enjoy every day. It takes app 6 mins to warm up the tubes and sound great. The Gold Note is on 24/7, but like most european amplifier designs of late, they automatically go into a "sleep mode" after so many minutes of no music where they stay warmed up and ready to go, but only draw 8 watts. Crazy energy-efficient for solid state