Upgrade From Separates To Integrated Amp... Long Post

Smartphone cost?
OP, a side bar, since you brought up subject of smartphone cost. My family has two smartphones plus a third number on a stationary reciever plugged into house phone wiring. Inhouse phone wiring is disconnected from outside. All inhouse phones work like a landline, but with the reciever. Cost for all, no more than old landline, $55/mo no contract, when I use minimal data. I'm older and not tech savy.
Edit:There are low cost phones available, from less known manufacturers, that are quite capable but not cutting edge tech.
 
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Smartphone cost?
OP, a side bar, since you brought up subject of smartphone cost. My family has two smartphones plus a third number on a stationary reciever plugged into house phone wiring. Inhouse phone wiring is disconnected from outside. All inhouse phones work like a landline, but with the reciever. Cost for all, no more than old landline, $55/mo no contract, when I use minimal data. I'm older and not tech savy.
Edit:There are low cost phones available, from less known manufacturers, that are quite capable but not cutting edge tech.

Yeah, and I have my land-line bundled with my ATT Uverse internet access for $95/month and no data fees. Not tech savvy, either.
 
NAD has some integrated amps right now that are modular. You might could get close to what you need by adding the different options (some come with HDMI and/or RCA inputs). The C388 and C390 are the ones I've seen. The C388 starts around $1600.

Also, there are are few options for simplifying getting your CD collection to a digital audio format.

Bluesound Vault

Cocktail Audio


Food for thought.
 
NAD has some integrated amps right now that are modular. You might could get close to what you need by adding the different options (some come with HDMI and/or RCA inputs). The C388 and C390 are the ones I've seen. The C388 starts around $1600.

Also, there are are few options for simplifying getting your CD collection to a digital audio format.

Bluesound Vault

Cocktail Audio


Food for thought.

Interesting. Especially the HDMI connections. However, I've had a sort of paradigm-shift in my thinking, which in the end simply boils down to the fact that I think I'm worth owning what I consider to be top-tier amplification. After a doctor told me I had probably two years left - five years ago - that affected my purchase choices. Well, I am hanging in there very well (in good condition for the condition I'm in) and nobody's making any bets now, but as I began to think of buying an integrated amp, those thoughts creeped in again. After all, I can't even outlive a Bryston warranty though some of you my age will. And this stuff is expensive.

When it gets down to even consideration of calculating your dollar-per-year outlay by dividing price by the number of years you think you may have left to live - I didn't so calculate, but the idea occurred - I said phock this. So I want something with a higher build quality than NAD provides. I've owned a lot of NAD over the years, including their Monitor series when that was their TOTL. Bought one of their 2200 amps when it was a well-reviewed, current model. They offered great value, but they weren't ARC, McIntosh or Mark Levinson. Not nearly as ruggedly constructed, used less expensive electronics inside.

Chasing a dragon? No. Dragons are imaginary; I've never seen one. I have heard the sound of some great gear, though, and I assure you that I was not imagining the beauty. I just always went with the NADs, Emotivas, and Parasounds - which provide very good sound - but the better high-end gear transforms a recorded performance into a palpable presence, which I thought out of reach.

Now, maybe not. Just as many here want to own those expensive monster 70s receivers, and spend serious coin acquiring and restoring them, I want the gear I couldn't afford back when I was selling it. Except I want today's (or at least very recent) equivalents of the 90s equipment that impressed me. Is it stupid? Hedonistic? Wasteful? Screw all that, too. Whatever I have, and whatever I don't will all be left behind... might as well leave something very nice, and valuable... by which I mean both the gear, and the enjoyment I derive from it.
 
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NAD has some integrated amps right now that are modular. You might could get close to what you need by adding the different options (some come with HDMI and/or RCA inputs). The C388 and C390 are the ones I've seen. The C388 starts around $1600.

Also, there are are few options for simplifying getting your CD collection to a digital audio format.

Bluesound Vault

Cocktail Audio


Food for thought.

Yes, adding a module or two would allow me to switch (select sources) everything I have, and that is a capability I've been complaining about not finding available for two-channel audio preamps. Even adding two modules, it's still a lot easier on the wallet, too. And NAD sound is excellent. Almost tempted to order one right now. Almost.

But... I'd rather not let features trump sound quality this time, and I don't really trust NAD's complex circuitry not to lock up. I had both a 160 and a 162 preamp both do it, and they were much, much simpler devices. Also, they have a rash of such failures among other HT components, historically.

Right or wrong, that is my perspective, and I do hate to razz on one of my favorite brands from back in the day.

I do like their analogue BEE integrated amps.
 
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Yes, the 400-disc Sony multi-disc players are slow - in every way. Slow to load, slow to label texts, slow to change discs and, with three players in one cabinet, exceedingly slow to switch from a disc in one machine to a selection in another machine. I ripped all my CDs to my laptop for my Zune mp3 player, at 320mbps. I use the Zune software to access my PC music, and I really like its skin. User-friendly in many ways, but doesn't support lossless, AFAIK. So my files aren't as good a source as my CDs.

Whenever I've tried to get some sort of handle on how to store and access lossless files, to figure out what I need, I am overwhelmed with choices and recommendations, strange acronyms, and IThis and android-that, and various software choices that must be made in order to transform these files somehow, for reasons I don't understand, using alien verbs to describe their action. We have no wireless phone service. I've never used a smartphone period. I chose to buy a Zune about 15 years ago because I wanted to avoid iTunes.

I am a dinosaur crashing clumsily through a digital world.

I'm not even sure whether lossless is doable at all without Android or iSumpin', but we decided long ago that we don't need cell-phones, nor their big service bills, nor keeping them charged. We are such homebodies - especially me with health issues (but Christine also, just by nature) - that I can't even recall the last time a cell-phone might have been even slightly helpful to us. So that is my first question, because I'm not paying for a cellular plan just to be able to play music via my stereo. I think that means a Raspberry wouldn't help, but I'm not even sure of that, thinking it's a smartphone - or close kin to one - which requires such service.

I know there is such a think as FLAC, but I don't understand how to get from here to there as far as ripping and playing them from my PC. I believe there are several other lossless file types, too. Not sure. It seems everybody has different software solutions, and threads in which various AKers discuss these things might as well be written in ancient Assyrian for me. Yes, I'd love to be able to copy my CDs and play them back more quickly than my clunky old CD players, but maybe I'm just sorta old and definitely clunky myself, making it a good fit.

But it isn't. And I can't figure out what may be, if anything. I do know that three Sony 400-disc CD/SACD/DVD players take up a great deal of real estate in my cabinet - each as big as a beefy amplifier. The best thing about them is I can put twelve hundred discs in them, store their jewel boxes in the attic, and access any one of them without rising from my chair, but I would dearly love to put all that music into a high-quality format in a smaller, faster device, but which format, what device, and how to get there elude me.

It's early Saturday morning, and I'm still a little mung-headed, so I had to read this post ^ about 4 times to understand it. If it were me, I'd be thinking about getting away from all that complication and clutter. I'd seriously start thinking about your "last amp" from all the fine suggestions in posts above, and I'd sell all the CD/SACD/DVD players and the stuff that gets shoved in them. I wouldn't worry about copying, ripping, archiving anything. I'd stream into the integrated, listen to it come out of the Khorns, and sit and grin at how lovely and tidy my handmade walnut rack is.
That is to say, you needn't be a dinosaur crashing through a digital world. Keep it simple. Spotify or Tidal are going to sound fine.
 
It's early Saturday morning, and I'm still a little mung-headed, so I had to read this post ^ about 4 times to understand it. If it were me, I'd be thinking about getting away from all that complication and clutter. I'd seriously start thinking about your "last amp" from all the fine suggestions in posts above, and I'd sell all the CD/SACD/DVD players and the stuff that gets shoved in them. I wouldn't worry about copying, ripping, archiving anything. I'd stream into the integrated, listen to it come out of the Khorns, and sit and grin at how lovely and tidy my handmade walnut rack is.
That is to say, you needn't be a dinosaur crashing through a digital world. Keep it simple. Spotify or Tidal are going to sound fine.

Yeah, I could be a dinosaur streaming through a digital world - seems better than crashing through it. But then when I discovered I couldn't listen to an album because my service didn't provide that selection... it would be so much better to have it in lossless files, and stream, too. Well, I'm with E-Stat on that point. And it would eliminate the need for those huge, ancient players, yet retain all the music in them.

OTOH, what about the 250 or so DVDs, including concerts and movies? Guess they can be stored, too. Not sure what to use to do that because whether I stream, spin or flash, I'm still a dinosaur. I like phones with real buttons, PCs with a keyboard, and menus with OSD - just like in the 60s. :confused::biggrin:
 
"Yeah, I could be a dinosaur streaming through a digital world". That's pretty funny for a guy who's supposed to have checked out years ago.


I, too, am with E-Stat, 100% on everything he's said, except he's way more advanced than I am, and like you, I get lost on some of the "easy peasey" options he mentions for storage of your existing library. I have James River, and barely ever use it. But it seems easy enough, and versatile enough for storage (and playback) of all your existing library.

Have you streamed in the past? Have you experienced the absolutely amazing ability to explore, discover, mix and shuffle, etc. blah-blah-blah? Fascinating stuff, and oh, so easy. Do you remember the thread from several months ago from the guy who discovered streaming, and damn near quit his job because he was having so much fun?
That should be you. You, using your dream integrated, simple amp that doesn't need a baker's dozen inputs. Maybe the one on Agon that Mr. Pig linked to...gosh...
 
"Yeah, I could be a dinosaur streaming through a digital world". That's pretty funny for a guy who's supposed to have checked out years ago.


I, too, am with E-Stat, 100% on everything he's said, except he's way more advanced than I am, and like you, I get lost on some of the "easy peasey" options he mentions for storage of your existing library. I have James River, and barely ever use it. But it seems easy enough, and versatile enough for storage (and playback) of all your existing library.

Have you streamed in the past? Have you experienced the absolutely amazing ability to explore, discover, mix and shuffle, etc. blah-blah-blah? Fascinating stuff, and oh, so easy. Do you remember the thread from several months ago from the guy who discovered streaming, and damn near quit his job because he was having so much fun?
That should be you. You, using your dream integrated, simple amp that doesn't need a baker's dozen inputs. Maybe the one on Agon that Mr. Pig linked to...gosh...

MOG, Spotify, amazon cloud, Pandora Free, and internet radio. No, I missed the guy almost quitting his job. I use ROKU for streaming Netflix and amazon video, but ROKU and Spotify have issues, in that I could access all features with my PC but search only for ROKU which is a giant pita, so I cancelled it. I couldn't help but notice that a few major artists were missing, but that's the way it goes, first your money and then your clothes. I am lucky enough not to have a job to quit, and unlucky enough not to have a job to quit.
 
Hey I am a simple barnyard animal, and I was able to move past traditional CD playback also. And get an improvement in sound, even though I was using good digital playback gear. I think you could set up a streamer like a Pioneer N50 or N30 fairly easily. Rip your discs to a hard drive, and use a simple software system...even iTunes isn't that bad. MusicBee is supposed to be top shelf and its free. Load the library on a hard drive, and use the Pioneer as an interface. You get a remote to browse everything and you get better sound than the Sony changers. And its not horribly expensive, as on Amazon or Ebay you can often find the N-30 for under $300. Like in this link

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pioneer-N-3...hash=item23798332e3:m:mlH1Va1hBVcHDT5UtHUZW6Q

Of course other manufacturers offer something similar, like Marantz or Denon.

My solution was to use a Mac Mini with Pure Music and iTunes software, fed into my Audio Magic DAC. A streamer has on board DAC's so you are set. or you can feed it into the on board DAC of the Levinson you were considering. Of course there is a learning curve, and its not all wine and roses. But the results are worth the effort. And hey, every guy needs a hobby!

Regards
Mister Pig
 
No affiliation.
I can't believe no one has mentioned the new Outlaw RR2160. It's feature packed and you can't find a bad review. You buy direct from the company so they can make money at a much lower price point it exceeds most of it's stated specs and I believe you get to try it for 30 days. I'm half way there saving my pennies probably order one next month. There's lots of info and reviews of the 2150 + 2160. Styling either you dig or don't. Good thing I like Deco. If it's going to take the place of the Luxman it's gonna have to be good.
State-of-the-art stereo receiver

•High performance HD Radio
FM Stereo/FM/AM tuner

•Multiple inputs with separate record output bus

•USB-B input for Hi-Res playback from compatible computers

•High quality phono input for both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges

•Processor/equalizer loop

•Subwoofer output that includes selectable, analog bass management

•Front panel "speaker equalization" selector adds a half-octave of bass boost at a choice of frequencies to improve performance with compact bookshelf speakers

•Headphone jack with level control

•Front panel stereo mini-jack input for easy connection to portable devices such as iPod®

•Internet Radio

•5V DC Accessory Power for external devices

•USB-A Input for connecting
thumb-drives

•2 Digital Coax Inputs

•2 Digital Optical Inputs

•Tone control defeat

•Precision, motorized volume control

•A/B Speaker Output

•Pre-Out/Main-In connections

•IR In/Out jacks

•Removable IEC style power cord

•All Aluminum remote control
Specifications
Audio Section

• Continuous Average Power:
110 watts per channel, 20 Hz - 20kHz,<0.05% THD, both channels driven into 8 ohms
165 watts per channel, 20 Hz - 20kHz,<0.05% THD, both channels driven into 4 ohms

• Input Sensitivity/Impedance:
High Level: 200mV/47kohms
MM Phono: 3.3mV/47kohms
MC Phono: 0.6mV/47kohms

•S/N Ratio: 96dB

•Bass Management:
Adjustable 60/80/100/Bypass
High-Pass Slope 12 dB/octave (2nd order)
Low-Pass Slope 12 dB/octave (2nd order)

•Tone Control:
Bass Center Frequency/Range 50Hz ± 10dB
Treble Center Frequency/Range 10KHz ± 10db

FM Tuner Section

•Frequency Range:
87.5-108MHz

•Usable Sensitivity IHF: 12.8dBf

•Signal-to-Noise Ratio:
Mono/Stereo 75/70dB

•Stereo Distortion: 0.24%

•Stereo Separation:
37dB @ 19kHz

•Selectivity: +/-10kHz, 70dB

AM Tuner Section

•Frequency Range: 530-1710kHz

•Usable Sensitivity: 500uV/M

•Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >54dB

•Selectivity: +/-10kHz >25dB

General

•Supply Voltage 120V, 60Hz only

•Power Consumption:
0.4W Idle
400W maximum, both channels driven

•Dimensions:
(HxWxD) 5.75 x 17.1 x 15 in.
Weight 27 lbs
 
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I still buy CDs but use my laptop and EAC to rip to the laptop's hard-drive then the SONY HAP-Z1-ES for playback via analog RCA or balanced outputs. I prefer hi-res downloads but that scope of supply is relatively limited.

Really really easy! And there are less expensive players too, like the Pioneer. The Sony has one TB internally with a connection for an external drive if needed.

I made the plunge and recommend it.
 
Are you to the point of narrowing down to a short list? Or maybe even "The One"?

Right now, I'm still liking the No. 585. More saving to do, but it shouldn't take long... 3 or 4 months, maybe, as my audio kitty is already pretty good right now for a po' boy. Maybe sooner. And there's always a chance I may balk.
 
When I first saw this thread, I was all set to recommend a Luxman integrated, but it seems that it would be too big as well. They are splendid amps, though.

Have you looked at NuPrime? I've never heard one, but they seem like they might qualify...
 
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