Using a K-12 tube amp with a NAD C542 CD player, there is no need for a buffer or visit page. music which the K-12 does so easily. There was always something missing when it came to a convincing delivery. I felt a little of that beautiful valve warmth was required, so I tried a very affordable Valve Preamp kit from Silicon Chip Online. The preamp kit is based around a common 12AX7 dual triode. The line level (Hi-Fi) version of the kit has the gain set at 4 (6 dB). What makes this kit very inexpensive is that power comes a switch mode power supply, fed from a 17 volt DC wall wart!...line level preamplifier. The K-12 is a very polite and sweet amp with all the warmth of it`s `hot bottle` heritage. However, when I compare the K-12 with my monoblock chip amps (LM3875), I was never convinced that the chips amps really delivered the passion of the
