The vicent cd-s7 has 12ax7 and 12au7 tubes, LOl!, not any 6922 tubes!, yes, there is a gain stage in the player.,My audio advisor catalog says this,,,bur-brown 1796 24/192 dacs,tubes in the output amplification stage consist of three 12ax7 tubes and one 12au7 tube,, the tube in the front window is used to power the headphone output,the cd-s7 has a 4-channel balanced analog amplifier, a solid state/tube hybrid player!, wima caps, m-caps, employed in the power circuit board,, A phillips vam 1202 transport, The vincent player reveals the wood of the grand piano and subtle nuances in the pluck of acoustic bass.,, front to back depth, seperation, sound staging, resolution,etc..., are you there breath taking, this is exactly what I hear on my system with this player! cheers.