Are integrated amps technically better than separates?

In a perfect world, where everything is equal, and for any given amount of money spent by the designer manufacturer, yes. Why? less money on chassis, better control of interfacing, fewer wires.

Now on the real world :-)

Nothing’s every equal. And separates have a cachet that means most designers' time will be spent on  separates, if the products are designed for  high end hobbyists.

That said i have a prototype integrated amp running right now, in my living room, and its every bit as good as the separates that it replaces, which cost at least 3x as much. Maybe more.
But that’s one of those cases where most of the major things ARE equal - because i made them so.

In terms of sound/dollar, if someone wants to make a better integrated, compared to equally priced separates, its pretty easy to do so, and very hard to do the opposite.  Consider that the chassis is the single most expensive part of every component, and the packaging + shipping is sometimes #2.

So this isn’t rocket science.

That said i have found few integrated amps that really perform at the very high end; which is why this prototype exists. And oh, is it ugly!

G

BTW someone justified the difference based on independent power supplies. And why can i not have multiple power supplies in one box? I once designed and manufactured a power amp with 5.  Why 5??? (insert old Audi ad joke "ya, because six vas too big" ) -- because it  was the best way to get great sound, keep separation, and optimize each supply to the circuit it was supporting.
yea, power supplies matter BIG TIME. And i’d rather spend more money on them and less on bent metal and extra jacks.