I have had my Nuforce ref9SEv2 for almost a month now (I must have been the first in the UK to get them) and I suppose it is time to post my short impressions.
My system is : Opus 21>Oritek X2>Minimax preamp>Anti IC>NF v2>anticable>Gallo ref 3.1. PC are 2x Black Sand Violet, Isotek and Chord.
I must immediately say that they sound much, much better than the other amps I have tried with the Gallos: Krell, Primare and Belcanto.
I very quickly tried them directly driven by the Opus 21, but after a few minutes I inserted the Minimax and the improvement was gigantic, notably in term of soundstage and clarity. If you have a Opus 21 (my favourite CDP at any price point), don't even try to use it without a preamp: you would be missing a lot.
I have been doing a lot of tube rolling on the Minimax getting each time a very different sound signature, but something remains constant: the NF have an incredible grip on the bass, breath-taking dynamics and slam, extension and transparency; the sound is always extremely clean and there is plenty of air even in the busiest passages.
I always thought that amps were a sort of compromise: either nice midrange, bat lack of dynamics and loose bass (tubes) or good dynamics and bass but dry and uninvolving midrange (SS). With the Nuforce for the first time I found a system that suits me perfectly with any kind of music
