What is the best compact integrated amp without breaking the bank?

[Grasshopper]

I just picked up some Sonus Faber Cremonas for a 3rd system setup which will hopefully “live” in my living room.

WAF is a major factor for the living room. My wife really likes the look of the McIntosh MHA100 (or MHA150) and approves it because it will fit depth wise on narrower bookshelves.

(Full sized McIntosh integrated amps are out as they are too deep for the space).

I heard the MHA150 powering some full sized towers in the McIntosh room, which was a surprise how well they did.

My concern is if the 50WPC would be up to the task in my larger living room (18’ ceilings).

The MA252 looks interesting, but I’d need to buy a DAC as well since I’m all digital.

I’m hoping to buy used, and I really do like the McIntosh sound. If I could stay around $2000 +\- I’d be happy.

Thoughts/recommendations?

[Robert_Anderson]

From experience - either Moon Evolution, Pass, or ASR Emitter.

[doggiehowser]

Naim Uniti Nova?

[Mikado463]

Rouge Audio

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by Mikado463

Rouge Audio

I ment to add the model ........

http://www.rogueaudio.com/Products_sphinx.htm

[jdandy]

Jason.......You may want to consider PrimaLuna. Check out my PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium Integrated Amplifier Review. Great price point, solid build quality, and excellent sound.

Also check out my Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Review. A PrimaLuna ProLogue integrated amplifier and Yggdrasil DAC will deliver first rate audio for less than $5K total.

[PHC1]

PrimaLuna is outstanding. Very musical and engaging integrated. Step up to KT-150 tubes if need more oomph but unlikely to really need it unless you like to listen at very loud levels.

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Jason.......You may want to consider PrimaLuna. Check out my PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium Integrated Amplifier Review. Great price point, solid build quality, and excellent sound.

Also check out my Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Review. A PrimaLuna ProLogue integrated amplifier and Yggdrasil DAC will deliver first rate audio for less than $5K total.

Thanks!

I’ll have to check out primaluna

[Grasshopper]

Dan,

I just read through your review and the thread for the Yggdrasil.

I must say that I am impressed with your words, and intrigued at the product.

I had borrowed a friend’s Peachtree Nova300 in my system before I ultimately picked up my McIntosh MAC6700 for my living room system.

I was shocked at the difference a DAC makes as they are both a very different presentation.

The McIntosh has a very familiar sound to my main rig which has a D100 run off a Mac mini into a c2300 > mc402 > b&w signature 800s.

I used to have a Wyred4Sound Dac2 (non-se version). In fact, I think I might have owned your old one, as I bought it from Maks here on AA a few years ago (and I thought he bought it from you). In either case, I know you are familiar with the DAC2.

When I compared the W4S dac2 with my D100, I noted the w4s had a much wider soundstage. It also seemed more detailed but the trade off was it rendered a little brighter than the d100. The d100 is super easy to listen to and tends to smooth everything out (at the expense of some detail). I do miss the larger soundstage sometimes, but I have a major sensitivity to brightness.

My question is what would you expect I’d hear in my setup with a Yggdrasil streaming tidal/Audirvana off of a Mac mini into the c2300, vs my existing d100? (I’d also bring it upstairs once in a while as the DAC for my mac6700 for fun).

What would I expect in that scenario (contrasted with something like the d100 and an older dac2)?

Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by jdandy

Jason.......You may want to consider PrimaLuna. Check out my PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium Integrated Amplifier Review. Great price point, solid build quality, and excellent sound.

Also check out my Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Review. A PrimaLuna ProLogue integrated amplifier and Yggdrasil DAC will deliver first rate audio for less than $5K total.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

Dan,

I just read through your review and the thread for the Yggdrasil.

I must say that I am impressed with your words, and intrigued at the product.

I had borrowed a friend’s Peachtree Nova300 in my system before I ultimately picked up my McIntosh MAC6700 for my living room system.

I was shocked at the difference a DAC makes as they are both a very different presentation.

The McIntosh has a very familiar sound to my main rig which has a D100 run off a Mac mini into a c2300 > mc402 > b&w signature 800s.

I used to have a Wyred4Sound Dac2 (non-se version). In fact, I think I might have owned your old one, as I bought it from Maks here on AA a few years ago (and I thought he bought it from you). In either case, I know you are familiar with the DAC2.

When I compared the W4S dac2 with my D100, I noted the w4s had a much wider soundstage. It also seemed more detailed but the trade off was it rendered a little brighter than the d100. The d100 is super easy to listen to and tends to smooth everything out (at the expense of some detail). I do miss the larger soundstage sometimes, but I have a major sensitivity to brightness.

My question is what would you expect I’d hear in my setup with a Yggdrasil streaming tidal/Audirvana off of a Mac mini into the c2300, vs my existing d100? (I’d also bring it upstairs once in a while as the DAC for my mac6700 for fun).

What would I expect in that scenario (contrasted with something like the d100 and an older dac2)?

Thanks in advance.

Jason.......The McIntosh D100 and the Wyred 4 Sound DAC2 both employ delta-sigma DAC's. Neither of them are unpleasant to hear. The Schiit Audio Yggdrasil employs precision multi-bit ladder DAC's and Mike Moffat's well designed Closed-Form Digital Filter, a time and frequency-domain optimized digital filter with a true closed-form solution for bit-perfect conversion. The Yggdrasil is an entirely different approach to digital to analog conversion than the delta-sigma concept. The absolute bit perfect conversion creates a very realistic and pleasing to my ears reproduction of musical instruments and voices that transcends nearly all delta-sigma designs that I have experience with. The Yggdrasil DAC preserves the original samples all the way through from input to output.

As for streaming Tidal with Audirvana through a Mac mini I would suspect the Yggy to deliver a very convincing performance that will have you favoring the Yggdrasil over your other DAC's, but using the Mac mini, although a decent server rig, it is not delivering a premium level presentation. A true dedicated, purpose built music server will up your performance bar substantially.

Something else to consider is the modularity of the Yggdrasil DAC. The newest Analog 2 with Gen 5 USB version of the Yggdrasil DAC can be installed in all older Yggdrasil DAC's, thus allowing owners to remain at the leading edge of Schiit Audio's hardware and software updates. This will remain true for future updates if and when they may become available. In other words, you will never be stuck with a Yggdrasil DAC that has become obsolete.

I hope this helps clarify your questions. The new Yggdrasil DAC is an amazing D/A converter. It's sound is worth far more than it's price. Once you hear the Yggdrasil in your system I would be very surprised if your general impressions did not parallel mine.