I am not liking the dry sound of a class D, so as suggested have started looking for a tube pre-amp to put inline. I have been reading up on forums and it seems that i cannot just go with specs . Appreciate any suggestions/recommendations for a tube pre-amplifier.
I'm mostly into tube amps but I do have a few Class D amps. One of them is the popular Aiyima A-07 which I've used with a couple of tube preamps - one that I built and one that I bought.
I call the preamp I built the Boogie Factor. I'm new here and mostly post over at Audio Karma in the US. I was going to add a link to a thread I posted about it there but I checked the rules and I see that I'm not allowed to do that.
If you want to search there for '1626 preamp' you'll find it. I use the same moniker there. If anyone is interested I'll be happy to post more info here directly including why I chose the 1626, pics, schematics etc.
It's very simple and uses relatively inexpensive tubes. While it wasn't designed specifically for use with SS or Class D it works well with them. I plan on making a couple of minor parts changes to optimize it further for use with Class D. If you're interested I can describe them.
I've also been playing around with the Nobsound E6 which caught my attention because it uses directly heated tubes. I also started a thread there about it which can be found by searching for 'Nobsound E6'.
If you read through that thread you'll see that quality control has been an issue with some of these. Most of the issues are related to the stock Chinese tubes being microphonic and in most all cases using the Russian version of the tube solves the issues. A few units seem to have issues that go beyond the tubes though.
So, if you're interested in these I'd suggest that you buy it from a vendor that allows free returns. Amazon does this in the US. Not sure if they sell in India or have the same return policy there if they do. Most owners use them with SS and Class D amps and seem to like them a lot. If you're not into DIY and don't want to spend a lot of money, these are cheap ($50 to $60 including shipping) and worth looking into.
Although I didn't build it, I also breadboarded a simple design that uses the 2P29L, which is a cousin of the 2J27L used in the E6. Either of these tubes could be used in this design with only minor changes to the schematic.
If anyone is interested just let me know and I can start a new thread about any of them.