2. amps-preamps
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What Integrated Amps have the sonics of Separates?

I want to get off the $$$ bandwagon. I'm tired of spending money, and then in a year, the equipment has dropped in used value substantially, since the fickle audiophile community has moved on to new favorites.

There must be very good sounding integrateds, or more modestly priced separates that perform as well. I'm still looking for quality, weight and finish, so it doesn't have to be just modest priced gear.

Thoughts: Rowland, Plinius, Simaudio, Vincent, or others. Don't want cheap, plastic, light stuff with limited power either.

There must be audiophiles who have felt the same way, and found things that satisfied them as well, or nearly as well, because they were tired of spending and spending.
audiosoul

Showing 1 response by aljordan

aljordan
46 posts
 
Hi,

It sounds like you really know what you don't want, but I'm not sure what is left for you to listen to :)

I can say, having lived with a Pass Labs XP-10 for a while, their new preamps are not really damped and flat. They do, however, take a week to warm up. Still, I don't consider the current breed of Pass preamps to be tube like, however, the Pass B1 buffer has a lot of presence similat to tube preamps.

One of the heavy posters on Audio Asylum, who has a lot of tube equipment, wrote that the Pass Int-150 sounds very good. The quality of Pass gear is excellent, although it is costly. If Pass uses anything like their B1 buffer as the front end to the Int-150, then I bet it sounds quite good. Still, most of the lushness in the Pass sound seems to come from their amps.

I've never heard the Vincent stuff, but from what I've read they are a quality product.

What kind of speakers are you trying to drive? What do you have now and why don't you like it?
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