Integrated vs. Separates on a Budget

Your speakers are worth around $ 500 so it’s overkill to match it with a 3K amp, integrated or not ... your Denon is probably a good match for them ... you can get another amp but I doubt you’ll hear a 3K difference because of your speaker’s limit ... and if you do get another amp, I’m pretty sure that you’ll want to change your speakers too ... and since it makes more sense to match an amp to a speaker then vice versa, I suggest you start looking for another pair of speakers and only then try to get a better amp ... speakers’ choice is very important because you buit your system around it... my 2¢...

untill the late 80's, phono stages in receivers and integrated amp we're pretty good because hifi manufacturers wanted people to buy their products and people would test these with a turntable... so my take is that the denon's phono stage is good enough for now... you could simply buy a cheap turntable and a DAC which has the streaming option... AL