On the whole I liked the sound but the noticeable higher background noise level in my quiet soundroom was a bit more than I'm used to. In comparison, it's quite easy to hear the cleaner, tighter, more resolving sound from the
Hypex NCore Class D rising out of a background of silence. As an obsessive audiophile, I could not "unhear" the higher noise floor during late night listening sessions.
One of the age-old debates in audiophilia is the question of "
tubes vs. solid state". Honestly, as a guy who
aims for transparency as the goal for my reference system, coloration is not what I'm after regardless of whether it's tube or solid state. Amplifiers are supposed to amplify the sound that comes from the source, and I don't think it's the amp's business to be changing the signal being fed to my speakers. That's a personal and philosophical choice although there are instances where I might be more open to euphonic coloration (for example we'll talk about "fun" sounding headphones in the days ahead ;-).
Obviously, I don't consider this $1000 amp to be the best of what tubes can offer but I do think the "meaty" and at times even "voluptuously" mids especially with female vocals are part of the tube "magic" some talk about and love.