What Integrated Amps have the sonics of Separates?

Naim Nait

Audiospace,Einstein,Graaf,VAC

The PASS INT-150, SimAudio I-7 and BAT VK-300xse are all nice sounding and moderately powerful Integrated Amplfiers that are reasonably priced at around $7K (msrp), with that said none will get you off the "amplfier merry-go-round" as mid-level seperates will. The excitment of these Integrateds wears-off rather quickly, and you soon start hearing, and overly-focusing on their sonic-compromises and power limitations. The main problem is that they are simply not powerful enough to cleanly/sufficiently drive most modern full-range loudspeakers in today's Home's over-sized Living Rooms.

What I've found in this hobby, is that it is best to wait and save, and then buy once and buy right - you'll save a lot of money and aggrevation in the long run.

You could easily get a decade's worth of listening enjoyment out of a near-reference (mid-level) Preamp. & Amp. vs swapping-out Int. Amps twice-a-year, as many people do. When you amortize the cost of buying quailty seperates, over 10-yrs of ownership, the cost becomes very reasonable, plus the happiness that comes with getting what you really want (virtually uncompromised sonics).

for example: I don't know of any Int. Amp. that sounds as good and is as powerful as a PASS X1 Preamp. and X250.5 Amp., and these 2 components can be had used (1-2-yrs old) for around $6K - that's just 50% more than a used PASS INT-150, even at only 5 short years of ownership - the difference is only $400 a year, and only $200 a year over a reasonable 10-yrs of ownership.

Mid-level (near-reference) seperates will get you a lot closer to the sonic performance of cost-no-object Amplifiers, than nearly any top-of-the-line Int. Amp. would...

note: The above opinion is based soley on my personal experiences in this hobby over the years, and is a non-scientific observation.

I can vouch for the MF Trivista or Nuvista amps as being highly satisfying and fully resolving. Heavenly sound, great dynamics, lots of watts etc. My old Nuvista would still be in my system if it had HT bypass. I bet the ASR or Dartzeel integrated can compete with the best as well.