Best bang for buck integrated amp for $500

With time comes experience.

Welcome to the journey.

IMO, you are going to want to stay far away from *any * pre-owned Marantz on ebay.  Marantz on ebay are NOT the ones you want.

Rega is a great great choice IMO. 

You could get a used Brio-R in your price range.  They are truly excellent. No headphone jack tho. If you're patient you could get the newer model Used for $650-$700.  It will be well worth it - something that can remain in your system for a long time.

I've used my Brio-R to drive many different speakers - since it's small its easy to bring over to someone's house if you're demoing used speakers - it has never disappointed or failed to drive anything.  I've had Marantz, Rotel, NAD, Yamaha amps all in that price range and the Rega always sounded best.  It's super fun and always projects the rhythm and emotion of the music in a way the others don't.

I've loved my Brio-R for 3+ years and recently upgraded to the Elicit-R after trying several other $1.5k-$4k amps - again the Rega was the clear choice.   And still using the Brio-R for my kitchen speakers.

Also you'll be surprised how heavy it is, especially for it's size!

I think I'm going to probably end up getting a used Rega Brio, it just seems to tick all the buttons and I'm looking for and the bonus is it's got a good headphone amp in it which is a must for me so I don't have to buy a separate amp.

There are other ones that people have mentioned that I am interested in but without being able to demo and hear them I guess I just have to pick something and go for it.

+1 Rega Brio based on actual user experience.

Rethinking Marantz replacement in second system.

That’s why I come here...