I think that the reason people responded to this amplifier, even though we're a young and unknown company, was the design aesthetic and the combination of tubes and Class D, which had been done before, but in my opinion, the things I’ve heard weren’t successful.

The tube preamp could have not been active; you wouldn’t have known the difference. For us, it actually makes a difference, and it adds a lot to the Class D sound signature.

And, you know, because it's a tube preamp and not a tube amplifier, you're getting the best of both worlds. Most of the tube sound comes from the preamp stage, not the amplification stage.

So we're still getting that tube sound, but we’re not getting all the problems that come with a Class A tube amp.

And we're getting much better bass performance than you would ever get from a tube amp, because usually tube amps are typically not that great for bass performance. Our tube + Class D hybrid is more than just the sum of its parts —it introduces a new sound, and that’s what people are really responding to. And of course, I’d be remiss not to mention the design. I spent a lot of time refining the aesthetic: getting the proportions right, like the knob size hierarchy, the orientation of the source LEDs so they don’t shine in your eyes, even the way the tubes ‘wink’ when a remote command is registered. These are the details that give the object personality and create an emotional link between machine and human. Without that, you might as well just get a pair of powered speakers. Who has space for another generic soulless black box collecting dust? Perhaps I'm exaggerating to make a point, but there's just too much thoughtless design out there.

We have a 5-year warranty on parts and labor for the amps. Usually, a good 60 or 70% of the support questions I get, I can fix for people through email. If we can’t fix it remotely, then we ask customers to send their product to our engineer, and if there’s anything that needs to be done, they’ll take care of it. We then ship it back.

We usually offer the option to use our discounted shipping, but shipping is not included for repairs.

We’re a direct-to-consumer company, so it makes sense for us to offer this kind of support model. If we were mostly working on a dealer-distributor kind of paradigm, it would be too many SKUs.

That’s also why we’re able to offer a 30-day trial period, so people can try it out with their system and see whether they like it or not.

I have quite a few, actually. Meet Me in the Morning by Bob Dylan.

These days, my favorite track to use is called Arpegiator. It's from The Concerts in China by Jean Michel Jarre. It's quite an old track from the early '80s, but it still sounds pretty amazing because it has tons of bass, mid-bass, and a bit of high-end, and it keeps panning from left to right, so you get the transients.

And if I want to torture my system, I listen to Aretha Franklin. If your wires or speaker wires struggle or anything, you’ll hear it with Aretha Franklin. When she belts out, it’s not supposed to sound glassy or shiny.

Another torture track I use is The Party’s Over by Wynton Marsalis because that has screechy trumpet solos, and if there’s any problem with your system, you’re gonna hear it.

There’s a lot of gear from other brands that I like to pair my amps with.

I know that a lot of customers use the Buchardt S400, now the E50. I was so sick of hearing them rave about the S400 that I actually went out and bought a pair for myself to see what the hype was all about. The S400, for their size, are pretty amazing.

In the legacy speaker brands, another that is small and very impressive are the Falcons LS3/5A. I kept hearing about them and I just heard them recently, and they blew me away.

If we’re talking full-size, then Pure Audio Project Trio 10s. I love the dipole sound, and this is a dipole speaker that actually has kick; it actually has bass. You don’t need a sub with it.