You need to determine how much power you need, ie speaker efficiency etc before you can even consider a Class A amp IMO. There are not many Pure Class A amp above 50wpc. Most newer ones are 20-30wpc anything above that is switching into Class A/B. yes there are a couple exceptions.
Higher-End Class A/B vs. Class A Integrateds
I’ve been thinking about downsizing from separates to an integrated amp. I’ve noticed that some companies have both class A and class A/B amps that are both pretty expensive such as Luxman for example. Hegel seems to be well received and they’re not true class A as far as I know.
I was kind of under the impression that class A was better than class A/B due to lower distortion yet again, there are some well reviewed class A/B amps that are as pricey as some class A amps.
To be clear, it’s really not the price I’m concerned about. It’s the fact that some integrated amps $5000 and up are still only Class AB.
How do these higher priced class AB amps sound in comparison to true class A amps?