Denny - please let me know if you have any questions about the amp that I may be able to assist you with. It truly does have extra reserves of power that mostly go unnoticed, until they are needed. The "velvet hammer" indeed.
Bob, thank you for offer. I'm sure I'll come back to you with questions as I have more time with it. I'm currently using balanced inputs from Pass Labs preamp, Weiss DAC2, Macbook as main source, and the Usher bookshelf speakers. I have several other speakers which I'll try in future. As I commented above, the Ushers have never sounded as nice when driven by other amps which I have owned. I also bought Mike's favorite power cord when I bought amp. So far, I couldn't be happier with this amp.