30 Amplifiers Totaling $428,740.00 In Search of Audio Nirvana

@rsf507 

I do have the prices on a spreadsheet but no way of uploading here on the forum. 

The amp I have settled for the moment is the Audio Research 160S,  my number 2 choice from the list.

My ultimate personal favorite was Block Audio. These monos rang every bell imaginable. 
Holographic, wide soundstage, excellent imaging,  deep and wide detail that delivers backgrounds not normally heard, lots of power and head room, incredible bass mids and highs that will make your speakers disappear.

No question my favorite as of today!

@rsf507 

Here you go, copy and paste it!

 Anthem Integrated 225 $4,500.00
 Adcom 575SE $2,500.00
 Audio Research 160S $15,000.00
 Bell Canto 600M $5,000.00
 Block Audio $30,000.00
 Bryston 4BSST $2,995.00
 Bryston 7BSST2 $14,000.00
 Divalet Expert Pro 220 $9,995.00
 Emotiva XPA-2 $700.00
 Gryphon Diablo $16,000.00
 Krell Evolution $18,500.00
 Hegel H30 $15,000.00
 Luxman M900U $19,900.00
 Merril Eliment 118 $30,000.00
 Mcintosh 452 $7,500.00
 Mcintosh 601 $14,000.00
 Octave Audio V110 $8,900.00
 Musical Fidelity Titan $30,000.00
 Parasound A21 $2,500.00
 Parasound JC1 $6,000.00
 Pass Lads 250.5 $8,250.00
 Pass Labs 350.5 $11,000.00
 Pass Labs XA350.8 $15,000.00
 Pass Labs XA160.8 $30,000.00
 Pass labs XS300 $85,000.00
 Plinius SA-250 $9,500.00
 PS Audio BHK 300 Signature $1,500.00
 Primaluna Premium HP $4,200.00
 Primaluna Prologue $2,400.00
 Sim Audio W7 $8,900.00
 Total $428,740.00

@kren0006

Well you realize you have to give a sonic summation of each one, right?

Lol yes, will do, but for now I will volley them on a case by case basis in the meantime.

BHK 300 versus Hegel H30

Tough one, as I like them both but for different reasons.

Hegel H30 is a Beast of an amp as Mike Tyson was as a boxer. The H30 delivers a punch with authority that can drive most any speaker on the planet. The first thing that comes to mind is the BASS and its grip and control as well as its in your face front row sound. Mids where clear but i felt that it lacked a bit in the upper mid bass and highs where smooth and not brittle. The H30 plays well with a lot of different speakers and loves rock and metal and Techno. The mids are are a bit forward with great imaging and but suffers a bit with its narrow sound stage. I

BHK 300 is amazing and more like Mohamed Ali with substantial power yet more of a dance that is musical and more involving. The sound signature lends itself to a more euphoric and holographic sound as apposed to an in your face forward sound. Bass is totally there with the innate ability to deliver punch and gradients with in the lower spectrum. Mids are superb and lushes with great detail more to the Musical side rather than analytical. The highs are superb and natural with a clean and clear sound and not in any sense harsh, piercing. or brittle.

I must say that is one of my favorite mainly because its a hybrid, with the best of both worlds, Muscle, Force and Bass of the Class A/B world and the Finesse and Lushes Organic musicality in the mids and highs from the Tube world. The BHK 300 will play well in most all types of music both instrumental and voice.

Sorry to go off on a tangent with the BHK but it had very similar characteristics to the Block Audio Monos my #1 pick from the list.

Cheers!

@tomic601

Now that is LMAO Hysterical :)

@cal3713

There were 6 manufactures, B&W, Dynaudio, Focal, Martin Logan, Revel, Wilson and over 11 different speakers variations of those manufactures during the process. Please specify what amp so that I can be more specific.

Cheers

@millercarbon
Can't say I have had the opportunity but wish I could have.

@vavan

Here you go.

 B&W 805D
 B&W 802D2
 Dynaudio C1
 Dynaudio C4
 Focal Sopra l
 Focal Sopra lll
 Focal Evo Scala
 Marin Logan Motion 60xt
 Marin logan Monthis
 Martin Logan Renaissance
 Revel Salon Ultima ll
 Wilson Saha 2

@ricred1

My listening experience included PS Audio BHK Preamp PS Audio Direcstream Dac w/bridge 2 Speaker's were Focal Sopra 2.  Same gear on both amps.

Now tell me what gear you used in your evaluation and what was your findings?

@ricred1
Wireworld Platinum series 8 XLRs, now that is a wow factor. I remember auditioning those cables and it made me go wow that is a significant bump in clarity and separate.

@ranjithkp

Parasound A21 is a great 2 channel amp depending on your room size speaker and listening volume it might be just fine. Now if you want to drive your speakers at louder volume JC1 will be your better choice. The JC1 is in my opinion more muscle and more musical and you will most definitely hear a bump in Bass. The sound signature is John Curl no doubt but more of it with it operating in class A up to the 1st. 25 watts. 

I have not had the opportunity to play with the JC5 so I cant really comment.

As far as the the A21 VS Anthem both are great at that price point, my experience was with the Anthem 225 integrated which is an awesome combo similar from a price  power prospective but the Anthem comes with the built in pre which by the way is better than the  Parasound proposition. 

Enjoy 

@camb

That's a tough one as they are great depending on your room and speaker's  etc. My 1 st. Responce would be Grypon since it has everything you will need under 1 roof., 2and. Pass Labs x350 if you like separates. 3. Sim Audio if you have smaller room and need less power

@stringreen

Great answer, would have loved that but could no get them to perform in my listening room so I have been working on how it could be possible.

Cheers 

For those who focused more on the overwhelming amount of amps I have owned and "Auditioned"! Best you go back to the original post and "READ" it again, "Owned and Auditioned"!!!  Guess I should have been more specific, my mistake. So to clarify I have acutely owed a 1/3 of the amps listed and the rest I have had unlimited access to from a private owner Audiophile friend who like me has the time and energy to play and learn. We as hobbyists have conducted blind test with a mix of friend both private owners and other professionals in the industry.

Hope this will help.

Cheers 

The absolute best was the Merril Eliment 118 monos, 2. Block Audio Monos, and last but not least Gryphon Diablo Integrated. I really liked the Gryphon because it was excellent musicaly speaking with a built in preamp and Dac and Phono Stage option you can choose at the time of purchase. If you didn't want to go by way of separates than Gryphon Diablo would be the top pic in the line up. My experience was using it with their Dac option. Everything was built with its own system synergy and the power of the monos.

Hopefully you can audition 1 of the 3 mentioned. If by chance you do by all means let us know what you thought.

Cheers 

Looking at picking up a Plinius SA103 as I hear that they are a contender to my list of amp
collection. I had the SA250 Mk2 in my system and it was truly a great class A and A/B piece that can be toggled when you want to go from 1 to the other. The SA250 MK2 was very musical and holographic with great bass but suffered a tad in detail in the upper mids and highs. Of course that was maybe due to having it connected to my Sonus Faber Olympica Lilly's at the time more known for there silk dome tweeter or me maybe not playing enough with cables etc.

My setup today his will include Focal Sopra #2's with a titanium tweeter and bigger more detailed midrange.

Please keep me posted if you have any comments regarding this amp as I don't have a near by dealer where I can audition one. 

Cheers 

@ishkabibil

Interesting, I look into it.

@oddio

The purpose of the post was to engage with others who may have had questions and or exchange experiences. Again take a reading lesson, I have owned over a 3rd of the amps listed and have had unlimited access to the others on the list shared by a small but choice group of audiophiles friends who actually enjoy the hobby and thought it would be helpful to others. We for the most enjoy what we do and share our evaluation experiences and our quite happy to answer unbiased questions as it relates to them.

@oddio @tparr8

If you auditioned 30 amps on various systems or speakers then you didn't audition anything.

 

Just seems like a manic post. I glanced at it, but it's too much to even begin the effort of trying to make sense of or to place his post in any meaningful context.  

The purpose of the post was to engage with others who may have had questions and or exchange experiences. Again take a reading lesson, I have owned over a 3rd of the amps listed and have had unlimited access to the others on the list shared by a small but choice group of audiophiles friends who actually enjoy the hobby and thought it would be helpful to others. We for the most enjoy what we do and share our evaluation experiences and our quite happy to answer unbiased questions as it relates to them.

Cheers

Tough one as I love the pass 160.8. Luxman on the other hand is one hell of an amp as it lean's a bit more musical tube like imho than the 160.8 but again that's my opinion. The music you listen to, the volume that you listen at as well as your room size are also big factors.

Now as far as the Diablo is concerned it does alot right especially having the synergy of the power and preamp all under one roof "Done Right" is a great financial decision Sound to value proposition. That integrated is sweet and more power than the Pass or the luxman with the Synergy of the pre and power amp system matched is definitely another great option.

So the net is thathelp. Finances, room, music, speakers and volume level that you listen too will all a determining factor as all the above are awesome picks.

Cheers!

After careful review and 30 amplifiers later I have decided to stick with the Audio Research Reference 160S. As of today there is nothing out there that can come close the $20k plus price point and much above. I will admit that I was never a tube amp guy but after listening to this masterpiece I must say that I was humbled. For those who love the organic musicality and resolution sound along with a large sound stage of tube and Class A with the speed and bass slam of S/S than put this on your next must listen to list! 
 

My main system is Audio Research 160S with a P.S. Audio BHK Signature Preamp and Directstream Dac with Bridge ll playing through a pair of Focal Sopra ll in a room size 12x15. After quite a bit of system rolling this has been the best synergy in my room to date. My taste lean towards the musical side of things with just the right touch of detail, warmth, organic dimension, texture, and sound stage. My goal is to take the BHK Preamp out and go direct. I have kicked this around with my colleges and my gut is telling me to go MSB Discrete Dac with the optional power supply or the Lumin X1. 1st. up to the plate will be The MSB playing straight through to the Audio Research 160S if I can muster the energy I might also bring the BHK 300 Monos out to play as well. Stay tune as I will be keeping you posted.

Going to switch back to my P.S.Audio BHK 300 Monos today to compare my P.S.Audio DirectStream Dac running the latest Snowmass update direct to amp ti see if the effect will be the same as my ARC 160S without the Bhk Preamplifier. 

Stay tuned.

Ok so, this is what I found right iff the back was that you could use the PSA DirectStream as a DAC pre however at a cost of musicality and volume gain loss. Music at a lower volume seems conjested crying for more volume and when you do get it right it still lacks the musicality as is, however with the versatility of the BHK 300 and its tube change ease you can literally tune it to suit your liking.

You can also get my tube changes dac/preamp and dac only tweaks from my BHK 300, BHK Pream and PS Audio DirectStream Dac Post.

Cheers and Happy New Year's!