What are the "new" brands in amps and pre-amps

Wyred 4 Sound has some excellent amplifiers, integrateds and preamps at very reasonable prices. You should go to their website and have a look. I've been using their STI-500 integrated high-power amp for over 3 years now and I'm still impressed with the quality of its power and musical performance.

There are many that deserve an audition. In amps Nuforce, Channel islands, and Hegel. In preamps Audio Horizons and TRL Dude

I'll add a few that have come up on my radar in the past year. Devialet*, Heed, Hegel*, Sroll, Shindo, Jungson*, Octave*, Micromega*, Music Culture Technology.

*I have listened to these and I thought that they were very good.

Stereophile is doing a decent job of covering CES and you can read a little about several new companies, as well as several old companies that have resurfaced with different names...like Edge. I don't recall the new name for the guys that developed the Edge gear, but they have lowered their prices a lot, yet still pack them full of audio quality.

My vote for new brand would Mystere. I have a Mystere CA11 tube preamp. Couldn't be happier. I traded in my Primaluna preamp for the Mystere. Very nice tube preamp. I highly recommend Mystere to those individuals looking for quality sound, robust build, and affordability. The warranty is also above industry standard in the price class.