Bel Canto eOne amps - Is this the future?

Eldaford,

Every ears and every system is different. What makes you so sure that the uCD will outperorm Ice-based in general and the H2O in particular. And more importantly, that Muralman1 will like it better on his Scintillas. There is one case that Nuforce was preferred over the H2O stereo. And in other cases, The H2O slaughter both the Nuforce and the uCD-based D200 as well.....YES THE CIA D200! What Ice-based amps have you heard may I ask?

Read my system review Eldartford. If you ever find yourself in my vicinity give me a ring for a listen that will knock your socks off.

You guys can ice-out all you want. I'll keep tubin!

No mfg will will ask audiophiles if its ok with them to dispense with the analog power supply and go to one that switches. They will promote it as a major advancement since it will be cheaper to build & is considerable lighter. However in the end it will be left up to the consumer if this fairly new technology is acceptable.

There is no question that digital amps are in our future because they eliminate large expensive heatsinking & some of them sound pretty darn good! My current amp is digital with a linear (analog) power supply. But there are still some very good analog amps around that sound excellent, including tube power amps!

Muralman1...You do realize that I am pulling your leg a bit? Of course I have read your many comments about the H2O. I have also read many comments by others, who don't always agree with you. As Scintilla sez "Every ears and every system is different".

I confess that I have had only slight listening exposure to ICE based amps. One reason that I lost interest in ICE is that you and some others insisted that the on-board switched power supply is no good and the ICE module requires a conventional power supply (which you call "linear"). If the on-board supply is not used the price of the amp gets out of line.