tube pre amp or tube amp

Old wives’ tale. Tube bass is generally full, fat and juicy. Juicy like Lucy. Of course like everything else bass performance can vary from brand to brand obviously.

re-reading the initial choices per se, LLam pre  or  PL 60wpc monos as the only options then hearing Nola Metros were the transducers, I’d go with upgrading the source instead.

either via the addition of a new DAC which as well can double as a preamp perhaps, but not necessarily. JIC.

adding such a piece brings far more options for music than what is currently the norm. especially when streaming music is then on the table.

I only have a sub to Apple music presently for exploring and playing files I don’t own. that single option has kept me more sane and opened far more doors to new music, and new artists than I had thought would be the case going in!

however, could it be the apparent stagnation and thoughts for a hardware upgrade in the power train is aimed at just obtaining a different sound?

nothing wrong with that at all. been therre done that too.

I feel the addition of a current dAC along the lines of what either the Llamm or Pass amps cost  is best spent elsewhere given the current sQ is more than acceptable.

I saw recently here an EMM Labs dAC x2 was up for $7k. I would jump on that without hesitation were it me and I had the OP rig.

but there are more DAC options for sure…

adding a DAC to my former system (s) was  one of the, best moves I ever made. 

it changed the SQ. it changed the presentation remarkably. this was prior to all this streaming music explosion and file playback from hard drives was just getting going.  

1 adding a new dAC to even a very good CDP adds a new sound, often one with greater resolution and fidelity

2 new dAC can act as preamps very often settling at least one more score & yielding another option and a fail safe plan.

3 A new dAC capable of the latest formats and streaming opens new doors presetnly closed

4 having new music one doesn’t have to buy and inventory  is for many, a plus.

a different  preamp or amp adds exactly that, ’different’ sound, but not more musical options AND better/different sound as well. 

otherwise… loving the vAC amp, I’d seriously consider simply upgrading it and bringing in VAC’s latest effort in the 200 IQ amp.

there is a youtube video showing the Nola Metros running off a CDP/DAC driving one of the 200 IQs at a show. a simple setup but it sure seemed interesting.

regardless, good luck… 

Bass is the one thing that makes me hesitant about tube amps. I do use subwoofers, so I guess I really should not have a concern because I can always adjust it to make up for what I feel is missing on the low end.

The amp I play has full power bandwidth to 2Hz and my speakers go right to 20Hz (the woofers have a free air resonance at 22Hz). I've had solid state amps on these speakers (Classic Audio Loudspeakers T-3) and they just don't play bass as well. Less impact, less definition.
But that has a lot to do with how the amps and speakers play together. The CARs were designed to be easy on tubes and so are 16 ohms. Transistors have trouble making power into impedances like that (although the flip side is they have less distortion too and so sound smoother).

IMO rather than changing out the amps in the OP, a better move might be to get a speaker that is friendlier to tubes. There is no point (from the standpoint of an amplifier designer) to make the amp work hard regardless of what kind of amp you have. The easier the amp has it, the less distortion, the less distortion the smoother and more detailed.