Need help picking a streaming integrated amp


Need some help. I’m helping a nephew purchase his first real system. He already has good ProAc speakers so I need an all in one integrated amp that costs no more than 3k. It has to stream Tidal etc and be able to accept a phono amp. The Naim Unity Atom appears to fully fit the bill with its 40watts that are supposed to able to handle most speakers. He has a small living room. Of course he’d like tubes but I personally don’t know what streaming options are available for a non built streamer.. He’s very tech savvy. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
4425

Showing 1 response by kren0006

Several options depending on budget.  Since you're open to Naim, that'll give you plenty of choices.  These are ones I know of:

At low end of budget, Yamaha R-N803 - $700ish.

Bluesound Powernode 2i - $900 (I have the previous model Powernode 2).

Marantz pm7000n - $1,000.  I'm about to take delivery on this to replace my Powernode 2.

The NAD's mentioned above, I think under $2k.

Hegel H90 at $2k, or Rost at $3k.

NAD M10 at $2.7k.  NAD coming out also with an improved version of this soon.

Upcoming PS Audio Strata - $3k.  Probably available mid summer.

And the Naim family you mention.

That's what I know of in the budget envelope appropriate for the speakers you have (there are many other cheaper options but I wouldn't recommend them, especially if you are open to Naim level quality and don't need to skimp).

Note:  all of these are all-in-ones, so-call super integrateds.  If you are open to two-box solutions, there are many more possibilities, and I'm sure there are super-integrateds that I missed as well.