Warm, rich, smooth, 3d tube integrated amp, budget $6000

@drcjj thanks man... well written thoughts.. I have a local dealer who offered me a 1 week trial on the evo 400 so thinking about it

I second this recommendation!

The new Audio Research I-50 is an excellent.  $5,500.

Is the AR I-50 UL or triode? I'm guessing UL since I haven't been able to find any information saying it's either. 

Facten,Yes they dip to 3.5 ohms but that is in the treble region not the bass.In the bass they are more like a minimum of 4.5 ohms so are not a difficult load and that suggests they would be quite valve amp friendly.

Used Octave V70 se.

New Audio Research I-50 ! 😂

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Pl-RxG69Q8E

Ok so I actually enjoy my bottlehead moreplay more than my reference 5se. The moreplay has a richer tone, more forward mids and surprisingly more depth and sounds more holographic.

So I want to go more in the direction of that kind of sound and ideally have something with a remote and something that has decent resell value.

My front runners:
Jadis JPS2
Vac Renaissance Mk V

Conrad Johnson ET7 or something older like Act 2.

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Second tier options:

Cary SLP05

Prima luna evo 400