@soix Thank you for asking. I'd like to experience what I can practically afford in terms of a wider and deeper sound stage, more of the holographic sound experience some reviewers describe. I'm not sure I hear that now.
I have learned that I prefer slightly warmer than neutral tonality and honestly just want to hear what a tube preamp brings to the experience.
Unfortunately like many people, auditioning gear is not easy in my area. I tend to buy and sell gear here online in order to learn what I like and don't like.
Based on reviews I tried a class D integrated, the Marantz PM KI Ruby, and it was very clean and articulate, but not as emotionally engaging for me as I'd like.
Then I went a totally different direction and tried the Yamaha A-S2200 integrated and found that I really liked it's sound signature, it was warm and exciting to my ear, but I felt I needed a bit more power for the Dynaudio speakers. The Yamaha would get a bit grainy at times to my ear.
The Hegel H390 is the answer for me to the perceived power need, and I think it is filling it well. It does not seem to have any issue driving the Dynaudio speakers with it's 490 watts into 4ohms and incredibly high damping factor. It is very smooth and articulate and provides good instrument separation, but I feel I took a step backwards in terms of sound stage as compared to the Yamaha.
The fun part of this hobby for me is hearing music in a way that I did not before. Trying something new to learn if there is something else in the mix that I missed up until now. Each change in gear has provided a new opportunity to learn. I think I'm ready now to learn what tube gear brings to the party.