unico or YBA integre?

Sugarbrie (or others).... what do you mean by "soft bass?"

The more natural sounding Unico is where lied my preference in regard with the more expensive YBA DT wich I have also owned. Vocals, soloists and the orchestra are more what they should be, with the Unico.

I have complimented both YBA and Creek gear. They both have different strengths. I can actually image lots of situations where the Creek would be preferrable, and the same for the Integre.

The Integre is a little slower/softer to my ears. Think of it as a French amp (which it is) in sound signature, in contrast to Creek's British roots. You have to decide what is best for you.

Creek gear is priced in line the YBA'a cheaper Audio Refinment gear (and lower); so the YBA should hopefully perform well. The Integre DT lists for 50% more than Creek's best integrated amp.

Nothing is bad in my book. Just remember....Even cheap Bose speakers are preferrable over Wilson Watt Puppies, B&W Nautilus 801's (or any large $10,000++ speaker), if your audio situation is hanging speakers on the outside of your house by your swimming pool!

I haven't heard the Unico, but the YBA Integre is fabulous. If you would like a softer bass, however, you should consider the Audio Refinement Complete Integrated (built by YBA). It's an excellent, very tube-like sounding intergrated, yet doesn't have quite the bass drive of the Integre.

Jeff Delman
Value Audio
www.value-audio.com

FWIW, I do not think the Creek is in the same league as the Integre DT. This is a VERY strong opinion. From my experience, I cannot imagine in a direct A/Bing; the Creek coming out on top. Never. The Integre is one beautiful piece of electronics. The build quality is better than....caught myself..is absolutely A+. warren

If my earlier post sounds like I don't like the Integre, my mistake. I like the Integre and the Integre DT. I will say that I don't think YBA makes new (non-DT) Integre's because their Audio Refinement Complete is fairly close in performance and cheaper. The Integre's build quality is much better than the Complete.

Never heard the Unico, but I owned the Integre for 7 glorious years. I'm a real fan of YBA products, and now own the Integre's big brother, the Passion. I'm sure the Unico is a great piece. You got a high class problem, there. Listen and let your tympanics decide.

An amp with some "bloom" may be counter productive to reducing soft bass. The Integre has nice bloom for a solid state amplifier. But I also consider the bass slightly to the soft side.

The best match for your Epos may just be a Creek amplifier. Mike Creek ownes Epos. Not sure if the ES-14 is one of his designs, or is before his involvement with Epos; but in any case I believe they are similar in performance.

FYI, Below is this notice from Creek on the ES-14 in case you ever have problems with them.......

ES14 Repairs

Epos can now offer a limited service for repairing ES14's.
ES14 bass driver faults that are due to being off centre or have bad glue joints, which cause rubbing noises or
distortion, can be fixed if the drive unit is returned to our service department.

We have capability now to dismantle drivers and re-glue and rebuild the faulty units, provided they are not physically
damaged or the voice coil is not burned out.

We can't promise that we will be able to fix every speaker we get back but there is now some hope for all you ES-14
lovers.