I have few amps and the one that makes the Sapphire's show how good they are is the 400 watt McIntosh MC 402. Imaging, dynamics, ease, beautiful render midrange, and a bottom if on the recording can really hit you in the chest. I thought 400 watts would be overkill but it is not, the ease on dynamic swings is easily heard, no forwardness, brightness, nor flat sound, the sound just keeps getting better and better, of course, there is a level where the recording can be played too loud for the producer intent so you know when you ruining the recording with playing at a too high of a level. I HAVE some Telarc recordings I've seen my meters swing past 40 watts on peak dynamics. So don't skimp on power the M3's love it. On tube amps, I go with 60 watts to 100 watts. Preamps make a huge impact also, I pulled out my Mark Levinson 326S that I had in storage for several years and after it burned back in I can hear why I hung onto while other preamps were sold, it gives you the whole of the presentation and feels, without doing each instrument sounding great but also separate without the feel of the whole. I call it head listening, where the ML 326S hits you in the soul, and the funny thing is it has more detail top to bottom but none of it is spotlighted, that took some getting used to, but once you catch it, all the others things come into focus, it not flashily but more real in a natural way, and the M3's convey that.
