All In One Recommendations


Our friend mechans aka The Doctor passed away in the early part of 2020.  He was an active, passionate, and knowledgeable contributor here and AA.  Although he acquired a lot of wonderful sounding audio kit, and his wife shares our demand for excellent sound, she now seeks a more streamlined solution.  That means integrated amplifier with MM / HOMC phono input, as well as on board streamer / DAC.

Looking around, I see NAD offers a line of integrateds that would suit.  I have a NAD streamer / DAC with preamplifier and phono input in one of my tertiary systems, and while certainly not the best sounding component I have, it's quite competent.  I really like its BluOS, and hard to fault overall at the $1750 price point.

Although she would consider taking a different route with that same model preamp, the preference at this time lies with an integrated that does it all.  Along those lines, any other recommendations when it comes to an all in one solution beyond the NAD lineup?

Thanks to all...

trelja

Perhaps a different approach???

 

Find an integrated amp with the "all" digital stuff that will mate well with her speakers and then add a decent outboard MM/HOMC preamp.

 

I'm thinking of Gram Slee (sp?) for the phono, but there are many options.

 

Are you Joe T?

 

If so - nice to see you posting, and if not then no problem here (yet;-).

 

DeKay

Hey Joe I don't have a recommendation just wanted to say RIP mechans I was unaware of his passing.

@dekay yes, I'm Joe T.  Great to see another 20+ year A'goner still around!  How have things been with you?  Hope you are great, my longtime friend.

She's considered what you suggested.  Believe it or not, she adores the lovely sound of the huge tube integrated amplifier she uses, The Doctor had exquisite discernment.  It developed an issue with the right channel, and that got us here, as she'd like to downsize to a much, much smaller form factor.  I'm going to give it a look, and outside of an output transformer should be able to get it back on the road. Coincidentally, I believe The Doctor actually had a Gram Slee, which he raved about, so we could dig that out.

We talked about streaming, and she decided that's where she wanted to be, along with her vinyl and favorite radio stations which broadcast online.  Her desire: "I just want everything in one box, all of it..."

@jond how have you been, my friend?  I'm still loving my Deja Vu 2A3 monos. 

Yes, it was truly a loss to have him pass at 61.  Likely merciful, as he had battled some incredible health issues in his time, and I fear what 2020 brought would have not allowed him to pass as peacefully as happened.  Great man.  We use the term genius as a common descriptor these days, but accurately here.  He specialized in ailments of the blood, and shined with those others couldn't help, and saved more people during what was supposedly their final hours of situations no one else was able to deal with than anyone would believe.  On a personal level, my father dealt with an increasingly difficult situation with his wrist over the course of many years, and though not his specialty, dad insisted on talking with The Doctor about it, and showing him the X-Rays.  Literally within 5 seconds, he diagnosed the issue with the shoulder radiating down to the wrist, and despite many years of orthopedists and other failing to help, my dad then sought different treatment, and got better in about 3 months.

Doing well Joe and funny thing I’m now running a Deja Vu 2a3 pushpull stereo amp and loving it. And I never realized mechans was a doctor nor such an eminent one, what a loss but 2020/21 has taught us all about loss.

And it's great to see you posting here even if for a sad reason.