Interesting. On languid flow—what I secretly call the waft & wane factor to conjure up visions of lapping ocean surf and surfaces in flux—the amp-direct feed was superior. Things were less grippy, the bass was a bit looser and less prominent but on female vocals with piano, upright bass and such, I actually preferred the valve amp pure. Because the ported era design speaker is deliberately beefy in its response, the active preamp contributions pushed this aspect too far on the type material where bass is background accompaniment, not foreground sensation. Quite unrelated to my personal response, it was clear as day that the NuForce addition did very specific things and was far from subtle about it.


Predictably the tables of preference turned with my favored organic ambient fare like Mercan Dede's Su, the Tulku canon, Bob Holroyd, Gaudi, Hector Zazou, Lisa Gerrard and similar. Here infrasonics feature strongly and are vital to both the very clever multi-layer soundstages the DJs or recording engineers have composited in the studio and the seductive lounge flair of groove such music thrives on. By elevating LF amplitude and overall grip, the NuForce addition won hands down. It didn't introduce any noise whatever. What did shift was subjective perception of resolution. Because the sonic fabric filled out and became more substantial, less wispy, the focus on fine detail was turned. It was still present. The obviousness of said detail was simply traded for greater mass and impact. A side effect thereof was a certain oppressiveness at higher levels. The sheer intensity of well-recorded stuff with very low bass became nearly too much in such nearfield distances but was easily adjusted by lowering the volume. The valve amp pure could be listened to at higher levels before the ear/brain 'overloaded'.

The verdict was simple. The HDP as active preamp did exactly what it should have done. Whether that material filling out and dynamic expander action will always be what's desired is a different issue. More is not always more. If you're energizing a bigger space than the single square meter of the usual desk top, I can pretty much guarantee that you'd prefer your T-amp or equivalent speaker engine preceded by the NuForce. Woofer control and extension from a given box become more relevant as more air has to be moved. On the desk top, your existing amp+pot rather than true integrated may not need more meat on its bones if your preference is for air over density, litheness over wallop.

NuForce website