[mkrawcz]

Do you think it may be number 1 or 2 on your list.  Tyson recommends the Aleph J. with the nx-otica's but I have also noticed people liking amps with a bunch of power.  Are you able to build them with more than 30 Watts?

I don’t think it bests my top 2, but for the price to build, it’s a great amp. There is no way to get it beyond 25-30 watts with the amount of output devices it has.

[Jaytor]

I drove my NX-Oticas with a number of different amps ranging from 15w/channel SET amps to 400w high current SS. They all played plenty loud in my 29' x 17' x 8' treated listening room. My favorite was the 15w SET amps, so I don't think you need a ton of power.

The SET clips more gently than a SS amp, so I'd probably recommend a bit more power if going with SS unless it has some kind of soft clipping circuit.

[Julian Jacques]

Now this is just my tastes and this is on sound quality alone with the NX-Oticas specifically and excluding things like diy vs production vs reliability. Adding a couple preamp/amp combos as I feel the combo has some special synergy that sets them apart from the rest. A few are tied and some of these in the middle and back tend to switch around depending on music type so this is in general as best I can. I'm not including amps I feel are not worth it at all.

PSAudio BHKPre/300monos, Hypex preamp/Nilai500, Folsom7293/GR Research GK10, VTV Purifi Eval1/VTV Purifi Monos w/Neurochrome buffer, Elekit TU8600s, Neurochrome Mod86/286/686, Akitika GT104, First Watt AlephJ, Benchmark AHB2, Akitika GT102/AiyimaA08Pro, Emotiva XPA2 gen2.

I noticed that you reccomend the Aiyima A08 Pro. It excites me when people reccomend high value gear on forms like these. What PSU did you use with it? Also have you managed yet to try out the A09 Pro? I'd like to know your thoughts on how those amps compare.

[350Industrial]

My 'reference' or normal Amplification for my NX-Oticas is a McIntosh integrated hybrid amp- it uses a tube pre-amp section and solid state amp rated at 200 Watts into 8 ohms.  It works fantastic with the speakers.

Currently I am trying a 300B class A SET amp (6-7 Watts) of very high quality....... and I want to love it, but I do not.  It's very transparent, vocals/mids are beautiful, and even the bass is fairly tight.... but it lacks dynamics- big time.  I never understood when reviews discussed dynamics, because I always used higher current solid state gear- I never lacked dynamics.  Now with this 300B amp I lack dynamics, even with the fairly efficient NX-Oticas, and I am learning this amp paired with these speakers just isn't for me.

[Tyson]

My 'reference' or normal Amplification for my NX-Oticas is a McIntosh integrated hybrid amp- it uses a tube pre-amp section and solid state amp rated at 200 Watts into 8 ohms.  It works fantastic with the speakers.

Currently I am trying a 300B class A SET amp (6-7 Watts) of very high quality....... and I want to love it, but I do not.  It's very transparent, vocals/mids are beautiful, and even the bass is fairly tight.... but it lacks dynamics- big time.  I never understood when reviews discussed dynamics, because I always used higher current solid state gear- I never lacked dynamics.  Now with this 300B amp I lack dynamics, even with the fairly efficient NX-Oticas, and I am learning this amp paired with these speakers just isn't for me.

My personal experience is that a 300b amp will struggle more with a 3 way speaker more than it will a 2 way speaker.  For 3 way speakers I usually prefer a push-pull tube amp, or a warm sounding SS amp. 

[mkrawcz]

I noticed that you reccomend the Aiyima A08 Pro. It excites me when people reccomend high value gear on forms like these. What PSU did you use with it? Also have you managed yet to try out the A09 Pro? I'd like to know your thoughts on how those amps compare.

I use the stock PSU. The A08Pro and the new A07pro are hilariously good. They are not end game amps, but they still sound shockingly good for the price. Haven’t tried the “A09 pro” not sure that’s a thing at this point. The T9 Pro is and I have tried that and wasn’t impressed with it compared to the others.