I own PASS 250, Hegal 390, Accuphase 380 and Macintosh 352 hybrid. I love the sound of all 4 and I rotate them. The Pass is the forever amp. You can’t go wrong with it if you can spend the dollars. I’ve owned the pass 60. Its a very warm sound amp that is very engaging but may not suite all taste. The 250 has all the audiophile qualities. Warm, detail, holographic. Non fatiguing. Very good bass control, without being too tight or too wooly. Class A sound up to 15 watts. There have been many good recommendations here so I don’t think your decision is any easier. I can say the pass is built like a tank. It’s built to last and holds its value. Superb support if that matters to you.
Retirement integrated amp for a “fiscal conservative”
I’ve taken the plunge and am now enjoying the 2nd week of retirement after 44 years of work, including 42 years with the company I just retired from.
One of the retirement goals I’m really looking forward to is spending much more time enjoying music with my main system!
I’ve pretty much gone digital (but do have a Linn Sondek LP12 to enjoy LPs purchased in the 60’s - 80’s).
My system consists of a Rose 150B streamer/DAC and a Primaluna CD player for digital playback. I use a Roon Nucleus for Roon/Tidal new music research and listening. Speakers are original Joseph Audio Perspectives.
I enjoy all types of music, but mostly listen to jazz (preferably smooth but am exploring all of the various forms of jazz).
I’m currently using a Primaluna Dialogue HP Premium integrated amp which I’ve enjoyed for many years. Here’s where the “fiscal conservative” part comes in; this amp has 8 power tubes. Even with Primaluna’s great low tube stress design concept, I’m not looking forward to replacing power tubes every couple years with my retirement bonus listening time. Also, I’d like to get additional damping factor bass control than my current amp provides. I love the tube midrange and treble range sound, but would like an upright bass to sound more like a wood instrument (hard to describe in words) and hear more natural note attack and decay
I’d like to get ideas/advice from A’gon music enjoyment experts on a replacement integrated that still provides the acoustic sound of tubes, but doesn’t require new tubes every couple years/2,000 hours and is a great match to enjoy jazz on the rest of my system which I plan to keep. I’m open to used or new with a cap of say $8,000.
Thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.
Eric