Amplifier Choosing

ZD542 is right. Also the older Defy 7 are excellent and fairly simple to repair if something goes wrong. Even if you managed to split the Jadis i35 and use only the "amp-part", from what I remember, the Defy is more powerful and has better dynamics. Also the Defy 7 is well known for its reliability. The price though seems a bit on the high side for a unit that is 10 years old.

As long as your room is not huge, I would go with the more current i35 integrated amp. The i35 will allow for more than one source to be used, it runs in pure class A and is relatively efficient and compact.

The Defy is out of production, runs in Class AB, draws a lot of power at idle, expensive to re-tube, runs real hot, and has had some reliability issues, needs a pre-amp.

Your dac has a high precision stepped attenuator; therefore, I doubt it will degrade the sound if used with a pre-amp. I also imagine that a lot of antelope zodiac gold dac owners run more than one source, therefore, a design consideration must have been given for use with a pre-amp or integrated.

Brf makes several strong points for the Jadis i35. Class A tube amplifiers
that are well implemented are tough to beat sonically. According to Jadis
their current production amplifiers have improved quality output and power
transformers. The PMC is an easy 8 ohm load speaker. Should match well
with the Jadis i35.
Charles,