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Help w/ new Integrated

Newbie22

Newbie22

New Member
$800 +/- $200 to spend. Help me pick an integrated amp with a good dac. Denon pma 850, sprout, leak???? I'd love any input I can get. I'd like to be in the 6-700 range. I'm not interested in vinyl... Though, not totally out of the question. I don't own a single record and I don't see myself searching for them. Thanks in advance.
 
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In your price range you might want to check out the Yamaha A-S801 or A-S701. Both have enough power (100 wpc) to drive most speakers and both have pretty good DACs.
 
On their website and crutchfield the dac info is buried. It's not readily available which leads me to believe they aren't very good dacs.
 
Newbie22 said:
On their website and crutchfield the dac info is buried. It's not readily available which leads me to believe they aren't very good dacs.
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Not an unusual practice. McIntosh isn't usually forthcoming on what DAC chipsets they use. My D100 use an ESS chipset which is a very good chipset and a top performer to my ear. So your assumption is not entirely correct.
 
I'm having a hard time coming up with a better suggestion than the Yamaha units that have already been mentioned. If you're ok with Class D the Peachtree Decco125 is an option.
 
I had a Yamaha A-S801 and I returned it for a Peachtree Nova 150. The Yamaha is a terrific amp, but in my setup it was very bright. Couldn't listen to it for more than a few minutes before I became irritated. Paired with the right speakers the Yamaha probably sounds really good.
 
Im shopping foe a under $1000.00 integrated also.
I really like the Rotel A11 Tribute, but Im concerned with the Chinese manufacture.
 
KA2Z said:
Im shopping foe a under $1000.00 integrated also.
I really like the Rotel A11 Tribute, but Im concerned with the Chinese manufacture.
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There may be exceptions, but I'd think most of the mass market amps being discussed here is contract manufactured in China.
I wonder how many of these units are available cheaply under a generic Chinese Companies name.
Contract mfg in Asia is nothing new & not necessarily a bad thing product wise.
CEC made some very nice tables for multiple brands.
I'm sure there are plenty of examples.
 
KA2Z said:
That Rega looks a little weird. The size of the case I mean.
Do you have one? Do you like it?
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I do have one and it's a fantastic amp. I have always liked Rotel as well but I feel that that the Rega's are more musical. I'm presently using my Brio with speakers that cost 4 times what the amp costs and it is not outclassed.
 
Just a suggestion but would removing the DAC requirement open up your options? Seems like you’d be better off using an external DAC like the Schiit Modi 3+ ($100), then you can upgrade it in the future without having to upgrade your amp. Seems like DAC tech is moving pretty fast and changing quickly.
 
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