Frank Van Alstine emailed me and said I could take home his 550 hybrid power amp which is 250wpc at 8ohms and 500wpc at 4ohms, along with his T-8 all tube preamp to audition with my system which now includes the Parasound Halo A21 and the Van Alstine Ultra Hybrid DAC. I went to his house and picked up the equipment and hooked it up in different combinations. I listened to the preamp with out his DAC and just the 840c and then compared it to his DAC running through my adcom preamp. The T-8 tube preamp had a slightly smoother, more transparent sound with a larger sound stage. Treble was maybe rolled off ever so slightly but is was very pleasing. (it was not as rolled off compared to the all tube DAC I auditioned the other day and returned for the hybrid DAC) The sound was less fatiguing in general but still not what I was looking for.

Next I hooked up his preamp and DAC and it was pure magic. Sweet music to my ears. The sound had this tremendous sound stage, was very transparent with no digital edge what so ever. It sounded like a 10K turntable but with no rolled off treble. Bass was deeper, smooth and tight. Even my 17yo son said it was the best sound he had heard. We even played one of his favorite AC/DC Cd's which is way too bright for my ears, but with this combo it sounded great.

Next I hooked it all up to Franks amp. The sound was smoother and warmer with very deep bass. In fact the bass was too much for my room which has wood floors and several large glass windows. Its really too bad because his amp really did sound better than the Parasound.

So now I'm going to sell my 840c and buy both the T-8 all tube preamp and the Ultra Hybrid DAC.