Best Integrated, period.

VAC 160i

Devialet 170

Musical Fidelity NuVista 800. I ended up buying it too.

Have you heard it?

In other words, no.

I have heard the Audio Note, Vitus and own the NuVista 800. The Audio Note has limited application due to its limited power and exorbitant price. The Vitus is excellent and my second favorite, but again, a little more power would be nice and the price increases here in NA continue to climb and climb. The brand is also, unfortunately, poorly represented here.

I've been on a mission the past 18 months trying to find the ultimate integrated for my family room system. I've tried several, including VAC, Devialet, Musical Fidelity, Line Magnetic, Rowland, Vitus, Mc, ARC, and many others.

We can agree on this much, when I owned my Magico S5's, there was simply no better synergy/match than Vitus.

The NuVista 800 may not be the best, since there truly can be no "best", but given its price, power and wonderful sonic characteristics, it is a terrific piece and the one I selected for my speakers.

Well said Calvinj.

Calvinj - your responses were bang on. Well said.

Since moving away from a major city to a smaller town, I've really missed having local dealers to work with. Not having a local dealer has really handcuffed me. I now have to buy & try....no more try before I buy. Its funny how you don't appreciate these things until there gone!

That being said, since moving to a smaller town, I've made an effort to get to know some great dealers in other states. You mentioned one of them with Mr. David Baskin at Design Audio in Texas. I have made a couple of visits to David's in the past couple of years and enjoyed his systems. I did get to hear his Raidho D5's with Soulution, Constellation, Hegel and Accuphase. David is one of the true honest gentleman in this business. I just wished he lived closer!

I've also worked with others like Mark at Reno HiFi and some other dealers around the country, but its not the same as having a local dealer. Therefore, I often have to purchase gear to try it, and lets face it, none of this gear is really terrible - so it all comes back to system synergy. In addition, not having local dealers has caused me to make it a mission to attend all the major shows each year: CES, RMAF, Axpona, TAVES, etc. Although far from ideal, the shows at least give me some ideas and exposure to great new products.

Getting beyond the nonsense of some and getting back to the topic at hand, the Soulution 530 seems like a world class integrated, and unless I'm mistaken, also has the excellent Soulution phonostage.

Another integrated to look at is the new Mark Levinson 585. I did get a chance to hear it at TAVES this year.

Also, VAC has the 160i SE coming out (if its not out already) and I believe that has some nice upgrades over the original 160i. The phonostage in the 160i SE is also no slouch.

There are several excellent integrated amps to fit most budgets. Let's just hope you can find the one that provides you with that great synergy you're after.