I currently own the Wilsenton R8 and a former INT 25 owner (for a good 2.5 years). I have them both mated with a pair of Paradigm founders 100F. Vinyl duties are with a clearaudio concept turntable and streaming plus DAC duties are with a CA CXN V2 and Denafrips Pontus II. I did love the INT 25 while I had it and like what everybody said, a burn in time is required for the INT to open up more and lose a bit of its brightness. Warm up time is also needed (at least 30 min to an hour )for every listening session for the integrated amp to sound its best. I had the R8 simultaneously with INT at one point, for a period of time, and the R8 even with the stock tubes, is very impressive. Once I rolled all the tubes on the R8 to the PSVANE mkII variety , that pretty much convinced me that tube sound is what I’ve always been after. The highs are detailed yet not harsh and never fatiguing. Listening sessions have become day and night . Mid range is to die for. The bass is plenty and has a lot of weight and the PSVANE KT88 tubes brought speed and agility to the bottom end. Sound is very organize with vocals sounding very natural. It has a very engaging sound and just pulls you in . It has emotion and has that human touch to it. The R8 doesn’t need a warm up time to sound good. Even fresh from the box with the stock tubes, it sounded great to my ears. With the PSVANE tubes, it sounded better than the INT 25. I could never go back to solid state after getting a taste of the tube sound. I currently have an order in place for the Wilsenton r300B to put on a second system . The R8 runs all day and till late hours at night in our house , listening to different genres of music with all of them sounding good every time. If the Wilsenton R8 was made in the US and not directly sold from China Hi fi, it would cost (or be worth ) just as much as an INT 25 for it’s quality and performance.
