Recommendation for Class-A integrated amp

I do lean more towards either Pass or Luxman at the moment, but also curious if there are more choices available I should be considering.

I did think about the Luxman L595ASE, but can't find much internal difference to justify the higher cost, so any information about the internal improvement would be very helpful.

The amp will be dual used in main system that has Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, and the secondary system has Ascend tower with RAAL option.

Sugden Signature A21se was indeed on top of my list of amps to consider until I discovered the cost now is $3750 from the dealer covers my area, a $500 jump from the 2020 price, then I decided to look at other possibilities.

Luxman or Pass appears to be more capable in the lower impedance (4 ohm) region, although more costly, but appear to be a better selection.

Meanwhile, I am still hoping to check out other amps that is capable to provide 20-30W per channel of class-A output.

@twoleftears ,

Thank you for the suggestions, forgot those somehow, now I am going to find local dealer to see if I can demo them.

@celtic66 ,

Fully agreed on the financial side of logic, and I am not putting Sugden off yet, instead, I am still consider it could be a good possibility, but since I am not sure how well it will work with Ascend Sierra Tower that is in my secondary system, where the impedance will drop to 4 ohm, and the Sugden amp spec show 30W at 8 ohm, 40W at 4 ohm, which put a bit of concern whether there is enough power to sustain.  I could end up with one to test down the road anyway, where I know it will be fine with Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC used in my primary system, but I need to get a few more things tested with an amp that is capable to drive both so I can have a solid baseline to draw from.




@arafiq ,

Thank you for the Ayre suggestion.

@tom8999,

Not familiar with Krell K300i, but I will look into how they work in Class-A region.



@ tennisdoc56,

Interesting suggestion.  I will have to check out the Esoteric F03 too.



@kennyc,

OP: it's more a matter of personal sonic and feature preferences rather than one performing better than another.

Agreed, I am looking for suggestions that I may have missed, so I can go demo them.

@gubaface,

Thank you for the suggestion.



@georgehifi,

I am not familiar with Gryphon gear, could you describe further on how Diablo 120 sound compare to some of the Class-A integrated amps listed?