Are integrated amps technically better than separates?

Thanks Ralph.  That's very helpful.

It's very hard for the owner of separates to say an integrated is better, and vise a versa (SP?) I believe, so you have to factor that into how may grains of salt you take responses with. That being said, I have chosen a class D integrated, the best I could afford at the time, and a separate phone section. I am quite happy. But that's just me.

Hopefully you've spent a larger portion of your overall investment in tonearm/cartridge and table and your phono section you mentioned is a good one.

I think you've got the power section down as long as it can push your speakers effortlessly.

I compared the Luxman 509x integrated vs the Luxman c900u and m900u. The separates were so much better. Now maybe I should have compared with the Luxman c700u and m700u to make it an apples-to-apples comparison. 

I compared the Hegel 360 with the top end Hegel separates and the separates were better.

Another thing I like about separates is that they can fit better into a room. The room is a huge part of the sound we get. I like short speaker wire and long XLR interconnects. I also like to keep the space between the speakers clear of a rack, just the amp(s) residing there.

I compared the Luxman 509x integrated vs the Luxman c900u and m900u.

Oh for peete's sake.  You compared a $9,500 integrated to a combination that runs ~ $40k. How does this tell you anything?