Separates vs Integrated

Integrated amps have the advantage of being “integrated” by experts ( you would expect). Whereas you have to integrate separates. That provides flexibility but the flip side is there are more possible outcomes that are not all equal.

I am not an expert. With separates it took some trial and error to end up at a better place.

Integrated amp technology has come a long way. Definitely the lower risk option.

@jsalerno277  awesome you are in the Burmester club, its awesome gear and imo will run with the best of them

My destination integrated is a Dartzeel CTH 8550 MK2. = Close to Heaven 85% of the separates at 50% the price.

For what you get with a great phono stage at $43K it is a bargain.

The SQ, to me, puts it in a class all by itself. 
After 53 years at this, the Dart runs circles around any pricey separates I have owned. 
 

Maybe I will say a strange idea for the forum, but try to look at this topic from the point of view of your life. We will never find "that very sound", because we listen to different music and our perception of sound changes with age. But if you are interested in searching and experimenting and you can afford it, why deny yourself the pleasure of trying new different components? And when it stops bringing you happiness and you just want to listen to your favorite song, you can change the whole system to one good integrated amplifier and not dance with cables, etc. I also consider integrated amplifiers more of a lifestyle, one beautiful thing looks good on a modest stand or an expensive chest of drawers in a strict interior. But not everyone is interested in this. And there is a compromise option: deal only with the source that you listen to the most, for example, take an integrated preamplifier-amplifier, and select a DAC + streamer separately. For example, I listen to vinyl more, so I use a separate phono preamp, and the DAC, streamer and amplification are all in one integrated amplifier. It seems to me that you need to look at the needs, and not how it sounds, because everything sounds good in its own way in this price segment.

I’ve encountered integrateds that outperform many separates combos, but also the inverse. 
 

All else being equal, separates tend to be better. For example, Parasound separates outperform the Parasound integrated, as they should given the cost difference. 
 

OTOH, an integrated like the Gryphon Diablo, and to a lesser extent (I dare to say) my Yamaha A-S2100, can outperform quite a few separates systems. For example, my $1600 (used market price) Yamaha sounds better than many separates systems I’ve compiled that mated tube preamps to solid state amps, such as the Allnic L-1500 with a Benchmark AHB2 amp ($8500 combined retail) but the Benchmark LA4 preamp mated to the AHB2 amp is better than the Yamaha in a few regards. I’m pretty certain I would trade any of my current separates/integrateds for a Gryphon Diablo 300, however, even pre-owned Diablos sell for many times the price of my Yamaha. The performance delta is not worth it to me currently. What’s most amusing to me is that the Yamaha’s preamp section better creates all the normally sought tube sonics (lushness, decay, midrange, dimensionality) than any tube-based unit I’ve owned/tried regardless of price, all while being quieter and more resolving. 

I had a similar experience as @yyzsantabarbara and @zlone regarding a Coda preamp. I much preferred the dead-silent Benchmark LA4. It’s bizarre that Coda manufactures some very quiet power amps but then compromises the noise floor with their preamp designs. Baffling. They need a new preamp designer, maybe one from Guangzhou, China. 😂 

If you can do with a simple pre with only 2 inputs and outputs, the Topping A70 Pro preamp/HP amp is stupidly good and not just for its price. To my knowledge, it also happens to be the quietest, lowest distortion preamp in existence from an objective standpoint. 

My only noteworthy experience with Hegel is with their H190 integrated. It produced a very smooth but rather blunted sound. It was mostly underwhelming relative to other integrateds I’ve owned at its price point. If anything it performed better as a preamp/DAC than as a full integrated. One thing for certain is that its claimed noise spec is absolute horse manure. Bench tests I’ve seen for their products confirm that their specs are grossly exaggerated, and their feed-forward distortion/noise reduction “tech” is essentially ineffective.