ICE Amps for classical music?

I've been more than quite musically satisfied (including a dozen or so listeners) with my AD1865N 1.0 NOS Dac to 6SN7-based TRL pre into NuForce monos, tons of reserve dynamics, liquid warmth and huge open staging.

I'm very happy with the mhdt DACs as well. These also do no upsampling.

I do not regard up-sampling as categorically bad however. It can be hit or miss depending on how done like most things.

One last caveat...... I don't know about any other NOS DACs, but Audio Note DACs have the worst diodes, and that goes for all their models. Both my aged PSA Lambda transport and my Audio Note DAC got new high efficiency fast recovery diodes. The model of diode is BYW80200 STMicroelectronics.

This upgrade must not be dismissed out of hand. That one change opens the gates for for all the information, far more than otherwise.

Do you really need a great tube pre amp to get the best out of class D?

I can say that for cd playing I run balanced (DIY Neutrik/mogami)interconnects from an Audio Aero Capitole 24/192 direct into the Red Draggon Leviathans and to me this is as good as when I run the amps from my Audio Valve Eclipse(tube) pre amp.
Truth be told the AA does have a couple of small 6021 tubes,so I do run my amps from tubes but it doesn't seem to be tube dependant as I would prefer one way over the other.
I don't think more(tubes)is always better, to me less is better.

I never tried my amps on demanding speakers that drop below 2 ohms,but I have run the amps on Tannoy Ardens, Merlin TSMMXe and now Ref 3a Grand Veenas, and the amps have never run out of steam and I am careful not to crank the amps for fear of damaging the speakers not the amps.

The smoothness and detail are there in the Dragons,my previous amp was the Cary 300bsei, and I never felt anything lacking in the smooth department going class D.
Maybe this was a characteristic of old D amps, or cheap ones,but my experience with Red Dragon amps (for over a year now)is nothing like that.

I've been at this for almost 40 years, and I've racked up a list of amps and speakers that would fill a high end salon,so I've got quite a good set off past experience to draw from, and from that I would have to say that D amps can be every bit as good if not better than any of the SET, OTL, solid state, class A, AB, and push pull tube amps from 6v6, el34 to 300B to 845 to kt 66 types of amplification devices.

If anything that my D amps are picky with it is the power.
I have gone to some lengths to improve on it over the last few years and the rewards have been great.
The Dragon amps seem to be more dependant on quality power than most of my other amps however.
Even to the point of them sounding better when driven off the Hydra 2(with Annaconda power cords)than of a Guardian two.
As far as speaker wire and interconnects, I just wenr thru a bit of a comparison of good examples of each and found that they really didn't affect the sound as much as doing the power upgrades.
As mentioned my DIY balanced cables were as good as a couple of name brand cables and my clear Day speaker wires were as good as several more costly cables, so I use them.
If i could add anythinge;lse to this ,it's that D amps performance can vary depending on how they get their power.Dirt in dirt out.
They won't sugar coat things like some warm ripe tube gear can.
And they won't rob you of all the music you paid to hear either in that sea of syrup.

"... Class D amps performance can vary depending on how they get their power.Dirt in dirt out.
They won't sugar coat things like some warm ripe tube gear can.
And they won't rob you of all the music you paid to hear either in that sea of syrup."

Ah, golden words Lacee!

I happen to have chosen a class D amp, not because it is a 'good price-performer', but because it is purely a great sonic performer. . . I prefer its sound over any other amp I tried. Of course, the fact class D amps are green products is a huge bonus. . . I can play music 24/7 without the wife's complains about the power bill.

Like Lacee, I have found a high degree of synergy between my Rowland Model 312 stereo amp and Shunyata power cords... in particular the new King Cobra CX, a 5-gager which appears to me a blazingly nimble deliverer of current on demand without artifacts or flaws that I could detect.

Interestingly, in spite of 312's multilevel power supply regulation and PFC front end, the amp does benefit from top notch power conditioning. . . I have not tried any Shunyata power conditioners yet on 312, but have this far had most desirable results with 312 plugged into Furutech Daytona ETR-303, plugged in turns into a dedicated outlet.

In my experience with 312, BC Ref 1000M, and even NuForce, , a good class D amplifier definitely needs a good pre, yet this pre needs not be tubed for my ears. For driving class D amps, I have preferred SS Roland Capri and even more SS Rowland Criterion over my tubed ARC Ref 3.

On the subject of ICs and speaker wires, my entire system (with both JRDG 312 and BC Ref 1000M) appears to be quite sensitive. . . for me most desirable results from very good to fabulous have been in ascending order with Furutech Evolution II, Furutech Hi Performance custom wires, and--with a significant performance leap over the previous--Shunyata Aurora.

G.