ok hoping for more than 1 reply. |
Hey man appreciate all the responses I got to look over all of this. I see somebody mentioned the Rega IO I kind of like it or the Rega Brio I know it's over my budget but I read nothing but good reviews and things about that amp but I'm going to look over all your guys suggestions today and see. |
Wow some great suggestions, i like that music fidelity for 499, heard good things about them. The Rega IO looks nice like the desktop idea, but 30 watts seem a bit weak. Now the Rega Brio im really liking at 50 watts, but its $1000, and thats over my budget. |
I don't know why but I'm really attracted to the Rega Brio, I like the idea of the small form factor and it would fit on my desk and I like the idea that it has a good headphone jack because I love listening to headphones also most amps don't have good headphones outputs I've heard this one is really good.
There's so many options to choose from but I kind of am attracted to the desktop solution does anybody here have the Rega Brio ? Would love some feedback but I'm still open to other amps I'm just trying to figure out what I want. |
Really dont like the look of the Nad amps at all, i think im off Nad. |
You think it'll drive my triangle Borea bro 2 speakers ? |
The best I can find for the Brio is $798 open box supposedly it's an excellent condition comes with warranty that's $200 off sounds like a pretty good deal. |
Wow I don't even know where to begin I got so many suggestions. I will say the marantz PM 606 does look pretty sick looking haven't heard the Moran sound in over 20 years.
I never knew choosing an amp would be this difficult. |
Very hard to find the sprout 100 even on eBay I think they don't come in till August of 2021 I was considering it too. |
I think I'm going to probably end up getting a used Rega Brio, it just seems to tick all the buttons and I'm looking for and the bonus is it's got a good headphone amp in it which is a must for me so I don't have to buy a separate amp.
There are other ones that people have mentioned that I am interested in but without being able to demo and hear them I guess I just have to pick something and go for it. |
I'm wondering how the Rega Brio compares to the sprout 100 I love to see those two go head to head. I know one has a hundred Watts one only has 50 but still sound wise feature wise I wonder which one's better. |
Well since I want a desktop solution and it's only between 2 amps the Rega Brio and the PS audio sprout 100 and you can't get the sprout so the sprout is out I'm going with the Riga Brio and for $799.
I want to thank everybody for all your suggestions I'm sure there are loads of amps in here that are good that I'm missing but I can only choose one for now. |
Aren't the io and the Brio the same amp just less power is there that much sound difference? I'll have to take a look into that. |
Okay because there's one on eBay the io for $450 and I spoke with the guy he owns a stereo store and he told me it's a decent amp it's not a kick-ass amp he says it's good but it's not great.
Opinions are going to probably vary from shop to shop to me the io just seemed a little on the underpowered side. |
So I spoke to John over at audio connection in New Jersey somebody here recommended that guy loves the io said it destroys the Brio and he said 30 Watts for my situation is plenty he said this thing is a little gem the IO now he's got me rethinking I may go with the io. |
And one other thing Johnny I never said I wasn't buying it from you just didn't have the money available on my card at the time still unsure really of what amp I want but the io is definitely in the top running thanks again. |
He told me oh I'm not trying to sell you nothing I just love this amp but then he's asking me for a $50 deposit. There's somebody selling one on eBay for $450 and it's been there quite a while nobody's even buying it and they all goes for $600 the guy that's selling on eBay just says nobody wants them in his shop don't know what to think. |
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Thank you for the phone call today Johnny I appreciate it I appreciate your insights into the io everybody's got an opinion you seem very enthusiastic about it some people aren't so enthusiastic so some people are going to love some amp some people ain't going to love them.
Yeah maybe the guy on eBay doesn't know what he's talking about then again maybe he does like I said everybody's got an opinion that's what makes the world go round.
Yeah I'll probably have to scrape some more money together before I can make a purchase thanks again.
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Well guys I bit the bullet and I bought the rega IO got to smoke and deal on it got like 10 hours of use I paid $450 for it . Basically it's brand new remote control box warranty everything that way if I don't like it I can turn around and flip it maybe only lose $50 off of it.
Thank you to everybody for their advice who knows I may return to this thread if I don't like this amp although I can't find one bad review on it. Should be here next week I'll let you guys know my impressions. |
Well specially I got it for $450 I don't think I can go wrong. |
The Keces Audio amp looks very interesting I think the DAC inside sucks and they should have put a better deck in it but most people have their own dac.
It gets very good reviews and it's pretty sweet looking I wish I would have new about that earlier it's got more power than the io too. I would love to hear it. |
You know what I love that outlaw amp I don't think they make it anymore you have to try to find one used I've heard a lot of good things about that and I love that retro look. I actually forgot all about that amp.
Why are you saying I need a hundred watts of power to drive those speakers the aisle that only has 30 watts is plenty so I'm getting a mixed bag of what people are telling me. |
Well my rega IO is on the way, but while I'm waiting I went out and bought myself a Cambridge audio axr 85. Got it all hooked up sounds okay sounded way different in my emotiva amp this amp is definitely on the warm side. I didn't like it at first it's actually starting to grow on me and sounds pretty damn good for $400.
It has just absolutely amazing mids vocals are crazy good it's got very well controlled and tight base I don't care for the highs that much they're a little rolled off. So I'm going to wait for the io to show up and see how the io compares to this I'm sure the iOS probably better but I want to hear them side by side and then one of them is going to become my keeper. |
I have to say im loving having 85 watts at hand for my Triangles Boreas, wow they love power. Now im afraid that Rega IO is going to be very underpowered.
Im liking this Axr 85 its nice, its has grown on me over the last 3 days. I will say the Rega is going to have to really be something special for me to keep it. Its going to have to wow me and be able to have some balls behind it. |
You know what I'm thinking is that the Rega IO it's probably going to sound better than my Cambridge 30 watts is 30 Watts I know it varies from amp to amp and it could play louder than it seems for 30 Watts but it ain't going to match the 85 Watts I got in my Cambridge I'm just thinking that 30 watts is going to be underpowered even for my little room I'm in.
And then there's the part where I don't know how well my speakers are going to match up with the io but I could tell you I've turned up the dial on my Cambridge quite a bit and they just scale so much better with power that's why I'm thinking the io is not going to have enough balls behind it. |
Well i got the Rega today and here are my first impressions. There is way more clarity, openness, loads more detail, more soundstage. Im am totally blown away buy the power, the kick this amp has, i mean im at 9 oclock and its blasting loud, the cambridge i had to go much higher, but it has 85 watts. The warmth of the cambridge is gone, the slaming bass of the cambridge is gone with the Rega.
I have to say im still checking it out, there 2 totally different sounds completly. I can say i miss the bass of the cambridge already, and that warmth. The Rega is so clear and defined and open, hmmmmmm tough call, need days of hearing both to decide, but its not a easy choice.. I was hoping the Rega would just destroy the cambridge and make it easy, but no. |
Well guys it's come down to trying to decide between my two amps. Things that I do and don't like about the Riga IO so far. The biggest Plus I think is if it's on my desktop I love that it seems like it's built very well very quality made good connectors on it and a surprising amount of power for only 30 Watts I think that's the most shocking thing about it to me. Things I don't like I don't like the volume knob it's really hard to turn it doesn't have an indicator on it it has a notch in it but you can't see it because it's black like the knob the numbers on the front that tell you what input your on you can't even see the numbers Hardly they're so small and they're not well defined.
I think my biggest gripe so far the thing I just don't know if I'm going to going to be able to get past to keep this amp is it has no Bass the bass that it has is good base but it doesn't have low in grunt it doesn't it's just lacking base and it has no sub out. Don't get me wrong I'm not a bass head but I do like Bass the io just seems seriously lacking. On the other hand the Cambridge audio axr 85 has got pounding good bass. What it is I want to take things from the Cambridge audio and put them into the Rega IO you can't do that I can't keep buying amps and shipping them back until I find the amp I want it's too expensive in return shipping.
I would have to say out of the emotiva bass x a100 the Cambridge audio axr 85 and the io I would say the best one I've heard so far believe it or not is the emotiva. I got a couple days off of work I'm going to switch back and forth between the Cambridge and the io for 2 days off and decide which one I want if the io had a sub out it would be over with I wouldn't even be having this conversation because I could add a sub. |
Okay I'll try that but I'm not a big believer in burning on amplifiers speakers yeah because there's moving parts but transistors heating up and cooling down I'll give it a try but I'm not a big believer in it.
I do like the sound of the io it's just lacking base I really wasn't planning on having to add a sub but we'll see I'll give it a little more time. |
I'll let you know if the sound changes but I won't hold my breath because I highly doubt it's going to change it is what it is. |
Been running my Rega IO for hours and hours and it had 15 hours on it when i bought it. I think the sound is what it is now it aint changing.
I like it for the most part, is it perfect no, but no amp is. It has little things that could use improving as far as function goes.
The sound is good, do i think it could be better yes, am i going to say this is a fantastic amp, no im not. Im going to say its very good, but not great. Like i said before it lacks bottom end to me, thats my opinion on it, your view may vary. There is bass of course and what bass it does produce is good and tight and works, theres just not enough of it.
Im searching for a sub to add, and no its not my Triangle speakers cause with other amps my Triangles have very very good bass, its the Rega. I dont want to sell the Rega and lose money and keep playing the search for amp game. I think adding a sub will address my issues, cause the mid range and treble are very good.
I will live with the small issues i have with function, like cant read the numbers hardly to tell what setting your on, dont like the on/off button, the volume dial very hard to turn. I can overcome those things, the amp is a little blah looking, i can deal with it. Love it fits on my desk and its small footprint, it has good very shocked power for only 35 watts. I am yet to try out the headphone jack, i have heard its good, i sure hope so.
I just realize trying different amps how much they vary between differant brands, i will say in my getting the Triangles Bro 2s speakers the best amp pairing so far is the Emotiva Basx A100. I sold it cause the headphone output sucked and i thought i could improve on it as far as sound, and now going down the audiophile rabbit hole. Im done sending amps back and losing money on return shipping chasing a perfect sound, im over it, i will keep the Rega IO. Is there a better amp out there that could fit on my desk or small footprint and out perform the Rega, im sure there is. Its time to content with what i have and enjoy it, im adding a sub and im done.
I thank all of you for your suggestions and input and helping me decide. |
Well guys i have decided to part with the REGA IO, i have listed if for sale on ebay. Im moving on from this amp if your interested in buy send me a message. It like new no more than 20 hours on it, no marks, scratches and comes with box and remote. |
I have moved on from Rega IO, i dont think im jumping the gun. Way harder than i thought it would be. Looking at other options. |
Because i have a only ok amp budget ?. The Burson sounds interesting i may look into that amp.
When your budget is limited you limit your choices for sure, maybe i need to save up more money and up my budget.
Im not saying the Rega IO was bad at all, it was quite good, just lacking in low end in MY OPINION, everything else sounded very good. I dont want to buy a sub, im in a very small room and dont really want to go the sub route. Maybe bigger speakers front ported would have gave me more bass, im limited how far i can come off the wall on a desk. I dont have a ideal or even close to ideal room and space to setup.
Im finding maybe i need a good headphone amp and call it a day, and when i move i will look for a larger more friendly audio room. Trust me my box of room sucks for audio, well amp and speaker wise. |
I have 2 burson V5I op amps already, could be a good thing, im looking into it.
Thanks |
