Rega Brio or...?

Just thought I'd update you all on my experience with the Rega Brio.  I'm running it with Wharfedale Reva 2 speakers, a VPI Traveler turntable and a Marantz SA 8004 SACD player.  

The Brio has been very impressive - it just pulls you in to the music.  After a few days powered up it smoothed out quite a bit, and I have absolutely no complaints.  The highs are very natural and non-fatiguing, which is something that is difficult to find at this price level.  Midrange has nice weight to instruments.  As my speakers are stand mounts, I can't say how it does really deep bass.  However, the bass that I get from my speakers is very full without being boomy.  The overall sound is very cohesive.

The phono stage is much like the amp itself - relaxed, musical, engaging.  One thing I wasn't expecting was the quality of the headphone amp.  I don't listen to headphones too much, but I might start.  It's very dynamic and clear with my Sennheiser 600s.  

For $1000 I can't think of anything that compares.  You could have an awfully engaging all-Rega system with a RP3, Brio, and RX1 speakers for about 3k.  

Anyway, I was reluctant to try it because of the complaints of hum issues, but mine is silent and makes great music.

Best, Scott

The brio is a solid choice, Sounds like much more than 50w into 8 ohms. I went with the elex-r because I wanted the better phono stage and power. Another reason I went elex-r was the price. They were $1875 until a few months ago- now they are $1395! Once rega announced the release of a new version in July the prices dropped. The new model is $2799. That is out of my league. take care- and don't worry about a tiny bit of bad rega reviews, most are pure crap. They put everything into every product they build- really high standards and a mostly hand made assembly line. My whole system is now rega except for the powerline conditioner. I am very pleased.

I had a rega brio and dac combo for quite awhile. I really liked that little setup. Truth be told I kinda miss them sometimes. I eventually moved on for more powerful pastures but I kinda wish I still had them around to build a smaller second system around.