Integrated Amp or Receiver suggestion for Prestige 95Fs

I used to have the 85f paired with the older Anthem 225 integrated and later a Micromega M100  because of the room correction it offered, they worked great with either. Before I sold them I thought about the new hybrid McIntosh that a dealer said worked wonderful with the prestige but decided to go a different direction because of downsizing and a difficult listening room. 

I’ve heard the 95, 85, and 75 quite a bit with NAIM gear and it is quite a good match.
NAIM is expensive and not easily demo’d.
great match if you can swing it.

Djones51 that’s crazy!  I have been looking at the Mac hybrid amp as well!  I have a mirrored table for it to go on...the LED tubes would look killer.  But of course, I need to listen to it.

Get the Hegel integrated amp either the 360 or higher like the 590.

Djones, we sell the Paradigm Prestige series plus many great intergrated amplifiers.

Personally sonically we don’t like the M32 with the Prestige as the M32’s direct digital amplifier is very clean with great bass control but we prefer a warmer sounding amp. The M32 is great with warmer loudspeakers, the Presitge are very clean and detailed but laid back they are not, so this combo could be construed as too much of a good thing.

Also we are puzzled at not liking the Blue sound app as most people find it terrific.

We also sell the Antem STR and Naim Uniti series, the Micromega

The Anthem STR is very powerful but too our ears lacks a bit of warmth that we would like to see with this pairing. Also the STR requires a separate streamer which people may or may not want to add an additional chaissis and cabling.

The Naim Nova and Star are fantastic but may not have enough power for you and are both more expensive.

That leads us to our favorite for the money the Micromega M100 which is 100 watts 8 ohm 150 watts 4 ohm.

The Micromega is a class A/B amplifier and the sound is warm and punchy. The Dac is fantastic, and you also have a built in Vtuner, USB connnectivity, a built in streamer and airplay as well.

Micromega is adding built in Tidal and Roon capability I have to check for our firmware update but that is what is either being promised or available now.

The Micromega is a stunning $4,500.00 integraed that has one of the best feature sets of anything on the market:

1: Clean warm punchy tonality
2: Built in Dac that plays high resolution files including DSD
3: Built in Streamer
4: Bulit in Phono
5: Built in Headphone amp
6: Room correction option
7: Analog and Digital Inputs
8: Built in steaming apps
9: Stunning looks

Fantastic match with the Prestige series, the Hegel stuff is great but they are not as warm so the Hegel although an excellent choice would not offer the same degree of musicality that the pairing with the Micromega would.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Prestige dealers

Hello Audiotroy,

Thanks for this information...very helpful! 

Does the Micromega have Airplay or possibly Airplay 2 functionality? I live in an Apple ecosphere so I want to make sure that is a part of it.  Also, is there any room correction available for the Micromega?

Separately, how do you feel about the McIntosh MA252 with the 95Fs?  I know I would need a separate streamer and other items but I bought a mirrored table for the M32 and it would just look so nice.  It has a bit more wattage the the Micromega but I don't listen to music loudly so that's not very important.  That would be a purely aesthetic choice but I am interested in what you think of it sonically.

Since I'm asking, what do you think of the Lyngdorf TDAI-3400?  There's no place for me to hear it where I live.

Thanks!

I think the Naim Uniti Nova should have no problem driving the Paradigm Prestige 95F. For my smaller bedroom setup I have the Naim Uniti Nova paired with the Sonus Faber Olympica 1 bookshelf (standmount) speakers and they are fantastic together. That Nova has guts eventhough it’s only rated at 80 wpc @ 8 ohms but it’s quality amplification current. I had no experience with the Prestige 95F though.

In regards to the Lyngdorf TDAI 3400, not sure if it would have right synergy with the Paradigm Prestige 95F it certainly have lots of power to drive the speakers with ease. The Lyngdorf uses class D amplifier design. The Lyngdorf might be on the very neutral brighter leaner thinner side. Might not be a good pairing with the Paradigm Prestige 95F.

I’ve never heard the Lyngdorf TDAI 3400 before but I do own the Lyngdorf MP-50 HT preamp surround processor in my dedicated HT room. I purchased the MP-50 this past summer and prior to that I had been using the Classe SSP 800 HT processor for the last 8 yrs. In comparison to the Classe SSP 800 the Lyngdorf MP-50 sounded brighter leaner thinner and could be fatiguing at times and lacking body and volume. The Classe has more body & volume has fuller sound and is more refined and smoother highs overall and it’s much more balanced tonally but without sacrificing details, clarity, resolution and transparency. Actually the Classe excels in these areas. At least that’s how it sounded in my own setup and system. But no doubt that the Lyngdorf MP-50 has excellent clarity & resolution and is better than the SSP 800 in this regard, might be partially due to the Lyngdorf’s awesome Room Perfect. The Room Perfect really helps better stir the overall surround sound experience and is more immersive than the Classe SSP 800 imo. But overall the Classe SSP 800 sounded just right with the right amount of bites without calling attention to itself like the Lyngdorf MP-50. 

So based on my experience with Lyngdorf in general that it tends to sound very neutral and somewhat sterile and is on the leaner thinner and a bit brighter side. But this is only the Lyngdorf MP 50, which is a preamp processor but I’m not using any Lyngdorf power amps in my dedicated theater room.

Caphill the Lyndorf and the Nad M32 are kissing cousins the direct digital amplifier in the M32 is basically the same design as what is in the Lyngdorf.  

If the OP didn't like the sound quality of the M32 he is not going to love the sound quality of the Lyndorf.

Sterile sounding amp and a forward sounding speaker is not going to be our recipe for a musically satifying setup.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Audiotroy...my apologies.  My
phone did not load the remainder of your first post.  I saw all of the additional information which answered all of my questions.

@audiotroy

That was my point. I was trying to tell the OP that the Lyngdorf TDAI 3400 will not be a good choice for his Paradigm Prestige 95F. It is a class D amplifier design after all which can sound sterile lean thinner and on the brighter and cooler side of neutral. I think for his Paradigm Prestige 95F speakers he would need a warmer fuller sounding integrated amp.

Plus based on my own experience currently using the Lyngdorf MP-50 HT processor after previously been using the Classe SSP 800, I can confirm your findings about the Lyngdorf TDAI 3400 digital stereo integrated amp. Yup....even the Lyngdorf MP-50 HT processor sounding somewhat lean thin and a bit bright and can be fatiguing at times in comparison to the Classe SSP 800 that I had in my dedicated HT room. However, the clarity and resolution of the Lyngdorf MP-50 is excellent but lacking body and volume in comparison to the Classe SSP 800. Overall tonally the Classe SSP 800 sounded more balanced than the Lyngdorf MP-50. The reason I got rid of the Classe SSP 800 and bought the Lyngdorf MP-50 was because I wanted Dolby Atmos, DTS-X & Auro 3-D, which the SSP 800 cannot support.
Frankly, I missed the SSP 800 sound, it sounded just right. Especially when watching bluray concert films or musical films on bluray & 4k UHD discs, the Classe SSP 800 was more musical and was better than the Lyngdorf MP-50.

I used the Micromega with the Paradigm prestige 85F and the room correction  worked really well with them. The only thing it couldn't do which is why I sold the Paradigms was expand the sweet spot enough. Sit in that sweet spot and the Micromega and Paradigms made for some great music. I a m sure other amps will work great with them as well but I would stick with class A or A/B or even tubes with those speakers. Just my opinion. 

Agreed with djones51. Stick with class A or AB amps or tube for the Prestige 95F. 
Get a warmer full sounding integrated amp for those speakers.

Immediately buy a Rogers EHF 100 MK2 tube integrated, an amp so good it renders all other suggestions worthless, thus saving you some time.  And please, enough with all these posts!

DJones51/Caphill - Taking your Class A advice, I just set an appointment to audition my 95Fs with the McIntosh MA252 coupled with a Cambridge Audio CXN (V2).  Those together seem to be in my price range and fit all of my needs (power rating; amplification type; balanced XLRs, streaming-only; AirPlay; no additional DAC interconnections, etc. - I prefer simplicity.)  I'm excited to report back the results!  Thanks so much for your opinions.    

Depeche, I have heard the Mac 252 and I was disappointed to say the least there are way better hybrids amps, the build quality and sound quality of the 252 was nothing spectacular in our opinion and the glowing leds under the tubes was such a gimmick also at 28 lbs the amp doesn’t have a massive power supply we heard it clip at another dealers showroom and it wasn’t even that loud.

Compare that integrated with a Unison Research Unico Primo or the higher end Unico 90 the Unico 90 is a newer version of the older Unico series which bested all other $5k integrated amps we tested at the time which included the Luxman and the Hegel..

http://www.unisonresearch.com/en/products/unico-series/integrated-amplifiers/unico-90.html

The Unico 90 weighs 40lbs is also a hybrid with the same power rating of 100watts. Much harder to find then the Mcintosh but really amazing sounding warm, punchy, huge sound stage. Just awesome.

Also the CXN is an okay streamer yes for roughly a $1,000 it is decent but both the CXN and the 851N get easily bested the the Lumin D2.

Hence the original recommendation of the Micromega M100 you get a very warm midrange, incredible bass and a superior dac all for $4,500.00

So before you get seduced by the Mcintosh, look at other hybrids and also consider that just because a device uses tubes it may or not be better then the Micromega.

Also if you are going to look at a straight integrated try to demo the Luxman class A 20 watt even though it is a 20 watt amp it was fantastic we thought the Unison was still better howerver, the Luxman might be easier to find depending on what part of the country you are in.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

If you are looking for a hybrid the Vincent SV-237MK looks interesting it's about $1000 cheaper than the McIntosh. 

We sold the Vincent the Unison Primo killed it.

The Vincent was a tad grainy but had fantastic bass slam.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

@depeche1 

The McIntosh MA252 is not class A design.

The McIntosh ma252 has a dedicated Class AB amplifier coupled to a Tube based Pre-Amplifier section. It is a hybrid, but it is all classic McIntosh. In fact, in bench testing it hits 200+ watts at 8ohms and is almost 320 watts per channel 4 ohms. That is plenty of power and at its price point (+/- $5,000), this Integrated is a beast. No built in DAC or optical outlet slop, this retro amp can have a outside streamer be added (Marantz ND8006) to stay current.