I recently tried several tube amps, from $5000 to $20000. I found that price was not a great predictor of sound quality, in fact one of the most expensive was the worst by a margin. However visited a store that was closing down they had a Cayin CS55a that I got at half price? My advice, try as many as you can, but look out for a bargain. The CS 55a is very, very nice at less than half of all the ones I tried.
What's next after Luxman 550 AX/II with Harbeth C7
I recently bought and sold the Luxman (class A) 550 for my C7's. I won't waste all of your time with reasons, but let me sum it up with saying the pairing was good, but nothing special. I would go as far to say the Croft phono integrated I had prior engaged me a bit more. I'm now considering the Unison Unico integrated. I know this will sound odd, but the other integrated I'm considering is the Lab twelve integre. The latter cost $5K US, while the Unison is less than half the price of the all tube Lab twelve. No offense to anyone , but I'm not considering any all solid state units. The Unico is a hybrid, so I thought for the money, it would be worth trying. Just to avoid confusion, the Lab twelve actually used the numeral twelve, but it seems that audiogon flags my posts whenever I put in a number. So I spelled it out to avoid the aggravation. Life is hard enough (-: Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. Cheers -Don