Bel Canto, Nuforce, Acoustic Reality, Channel Is.

Actually, I may stand corrected.

I have not heard the Channel Islands yet, and have heard from people whom's opinion I respect they are a decent contender.

Of the others you listed, I stand by my comments. Others I have auditioned prior to my H2o purchase were the Rowland 201's & 501's, Bel Canto Evo 2's... I wouldn't add them to your audition list over the H2o's.

I'm in general agreement with what Tvad and Slaw3 have posted. The CI may be less bright and a little warmer sounding than the NuForce or AR amps. With any of these amps, going straight in from the Wadia could yield a bright presentation from the Sonatas.

I think James was on the right track. What I recommend is buying a Monarchy M24 tube DAC/Linestage and using the Wadia as a transport to feed the M24's DAC stage. Put a pair of Siemens E88CC gold-pin tubes in the DAC stage. You'll need to use the Monarchy's tube linestage to get volume control and you can play with the two tubes in the linestage as well. The stock military Russian 6DJ8s are not at all bad.

In my view, you'd move a lot closer to the sound you've described by using a tube DAC or a tube linestage -- rather than changing amplifiers.

If you go to a good tube unit and still want a little more dynamic pop and slam, the NuForce Reference 9.02's should fill that bill nicely.

I had a similar reaction to James when I compared the NuForce Reference9.02, CI 200, and the Mark Levinson 431 amplifiers with my Audio Physic Scorpios. Both the CI and the NuForce were a better match with the speakers than the Levinson which retailed for more than twice the retail price of either the NuForce or CI amplifiers. The Levinson was slow and dark compared to either of them.

I chose the NuForce because to me they were more dynamic and bottom heavy. I found the treble in both to be essentially the same, though others who have posted here feel that the NuForce amplifiers are brighter. That was not my experience when I auditioned them. Without question, they are both real world giant killers in my opinion.

Good Luck.