Did the low noise tubes help at all?
Another thing you may want to try is raising the gain on your DAC. Since your speakers are not super efficient, maybe you are pushing the preamp too hard. Also, how does it sound going from the dac to the amp?
Another thing you may want to try is raising the gain on your DAC. Since your speakers are not super efficient, maybe you are pushing the preamp too hard. Also, how does it sound going from the dac to the amp?