I'm a big fan of Anthony Michaelson whom created Musical Fidelity. Now the Chinks own it, but much of the gear was being made in China anyway.
For me reliabilty is very high on my list and MF will always deliver.
They are a very underated company.
Integrated Amp Curiosity
This is triggered by a recent post by someone who is reportedly perpetually curious about amps, in general.
In the last several years, while shopping and auditioning integrated amps, speakers and TTs, I spent a fair amount of serious seat-time with several integrated amps in relatively well-controlled demoing conditions. There were four in the price range I was looking at that really stood out and impressed the heck out of me: Musical Fidelity M6si + McIntosh MA 5200 + Luxman (can't remember model but competitor to the MAC) + Simaudio Moon Neo 340 IX. I actually bought one of these, but I won't say which one in order to encourage honest feedback, if there is any. After that purchase, I spent a lot of serious seat time with one of these others auditioning speakers. That one keeps haunting me and making me wonder if I would have purchased it, instead, had heard it before buying the one I did. I'm sure you audiophiles out there will know exactly what I mean. So, I guess my question for the peanut gallery is this: Have any of you been able to do fair A/B comparisons of any of these amps and, if so, what did you think?