What tier do you consider Anthem integrated?


Anthem has an STR integrated amp with the ARC room correction. The integrated teams loaded with a lot of features such as built in room correction, stable into low ohms, big toroidal transformer, etc. Would a 15 year old Pass labs amp walk all over a 3 year old anthem? The Anthem is newer and has more features, Anthem is rated class A by Stereophile review, but Stereophile seems to only give amps with phono stages class A ratings, and the Pass labs doesn't have that. So what would you grab? An older Pass labs that may have age issues, or a newer amp with good reviews and room correction? Looking for best sound, not to impress people with brand names. Thanks.

128x128labguy

Showing 1 response by jjss49

this is a hard call, anthem is good gear, quite well made, and arc room correction can be very impactful in some (actually many) rooms in terms of improving sound quality that is heard

that said, pass labs would sound a little nicer, warmer, less overtly solid state-ish, is built even better, but they simply don’t do room correction

if your room benefits from room correction the sonic impact of that would greatly outweigh the slightly better sound of the pass without arc, i would think...