What Integrated Amps Are You Using (or what have you tried?)

[Projectman]

Pass Labs INT-30A - 30 watts per channel of pure Class A pristine power. My integrated will kick your under $10K integrated amp’s ass!

[freesole]

Originally Posted by Projectman

Pass Labs INT-30A x 30 watts per channel of pure Class A pristine power. My integrated will kick your under $10K integrated amp’s ass!

Would this best the Luxman 590AXII? Also 30W class A. I had the pleasure of using this for a week at home and it was fantastic.

[restock]

Originally Posted by freesole

You have 6 integrated amps?!

Hmm - but at least not multiple amps and preamps any more

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by freesole

Would this best the Luxman 590AXII? Also 30W class A. I had the pleasure of using this for a week at home and it was fantastic.

590AXII puts out well over 100w. The 30w/60w 4/8 ohm rating is misleading as that is pure Class A.

Nice review with some comparison to Line Magnetic and McIntosh. http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2018/1...by-steve-huff/

[GreginNH1]

Originally Posted by Projectman

Pass Labs INT-30A - 30 watts per channel of pure Class A pristine power. My integrated will kick your under $10K integrated amp’s ass!

LOL! I don’t think so!

[GreginNH1]

Originally Posted by PHC1

590AXII puts out well over 100w. The 30w/60w 4/8 ohm rating is misleading as that is pure Class A.

Nice review with some comparison to Line Magnetic and McIntosh. http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2018/1...by-steve-huff/

Serge - here is an excerpt from the article that describes the changes in characteristics of the integrated.

Did you by chance, experience the same thing? I only have 5 hours on mine so it will be interesting to see if what I experience.

"The 590 AXII from Day one to Day 30

The first 30 days with a fresh out of box 590AXII does bring changes to the sound. I will try my best to describe what those were. Burn in IS REAL when you have a revealing system with higher end cables, etc. Easy to hear differences at this level…so here we go….

Week One: Out of the box the sound is fantastic if not a tad warm and full. I love the way it sounded out of the box though it was a little full. After a few days it leaned out and sounded thin to me. I was starting to worry about it as THIN is not a sound I like. But I let it run as Luxman recommends 450 hours to fully get this amp to open up.

Week Two: Weird things were happening. One day it would sound amazing and the next it would be thin and lacking in bass. I thought I was going insane but knowing how these things go, I was patient. This was a strange week with the amp but I played it daily for 8-10 hours. Even if I was not in the room, I let it run.

Week Three: Noticing a lack of bass more than ever, has me worried! Even with my big Cornwall III speakers! Soundstage shrunk and I found myself needing to engage the loudness feature to get a fuller sound. This was NOT GOOD as I never use loudness, but only “direct” mode for the most pure signal! Eek! I forge ahead and hope week four brings some changes. If not, I will be very sad that I made this mistake.

Week Four: Hmmm. Changes are happening here. It’s crazy but week four had the amp opening up dramatically. Bass came back and I remember sitting and listening one night using Roon and Tidal Streaming. I said “This is as good as it can get with these speakers” and it was magical. A rich full sound, perfect bass which was tight and present, a mid bass that was fleshed out yet never even close to boomy and a sweet high end that was in no way flat or hard. It was like day one but much better with more transparency. With only 200-220 hours on the amp, it still may have some improvements in it but week four stopped my worry as at this point it was exceeding my 219ia with a different but more enjoyable listen.
"

[freesole]

Originally Posted by PHC1

590AXII puts out well over 100w. The 30w/60w 4/8 ohm rating is misleading as that is pure Class A.

Nice review with some comparison to Line Magnetic and McIntosh. http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2018/1...by-steve-huff/

Yup, it has reserves of power that will drive most of the speakers on the market today save for the really power hungry ones. When I was looking around for a solid state integrated, I referred to the Steve Huff review above (given he came from a Line Magnetic too) and spoke with a very nice guy named, Greg (whom may be posting here ).

Reading that review though, I wonder if I had kept it for another few more weeks, would I have liked it even more. The demo unit I got for testing was not broken in yet (maybe 50 hours) and I used it for maybe another 50. It sounds like the amp really opened up after 250 or so hours.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by GreginNH1

Serge - here is an excerpt from the article that describes the changes in characteristics of the integrated.

Did you by chance, experience the same thing? I only have 5 hours on mine so it will be interesting to see if what I experience.

"The 590 AXII from Day one to Day 30

The first 30 days with a fresh out of box 590AXII does bring changes to the sound. I will try my best to describe what those were. Burn in IS REAL when you have a revealing system with higher end cables, etc. Easy to hear differences at this level…so here we go….

Week One: Out of the box the sound is fantastic if not a tad warm and full. I love the way it sounded out of the box though it was a little full. After a few days it leaned out and sounded thin to me. I was starting to worry about it as THIN is not a sound I like. But I let it run as Luxman recommends 450 hours to fully get this amp to open up.

Week Two: Weird things were happening. One day it would sound amazing and the next it would be thin and lacking in bass. I thought I was going insane but knowing how these things go, I was patient. This was a strange week with the amp but I played it daily for 8-10 hours. Even if I was not in the room, I let it run.

Week Three: Noticing a lack of bass more than ever, has me worried! Even with my big Cornwall III speakers! Soundstage shrunk and I found myself needing to engage the loudness feature to get a fuller sound. This was NOT GOOD as I never use loudness, but only “direct” mode for the most pure signal! Eek! I forge ahead and hope week four brings some changes. If not, I will be very sad that I made this mistake.

Week Four: Hmmm. Changes are happening here. It’s crazy but week four had the amp opening up dramatically. Bass came back and I remember sitting and listening one night using Roon and Tidal Streaming. I said “This is as good as it can get with these speakers” and it was magical. A rich full sound, perfect bass which was tight and present, a mid bass that was fleshed out yet never even close to boomy and a sweet high end that was in no way flat or hard. It was like day one but much better with more transparency. With only 200-220 hours on the amp, it still may have some improvements in it but week four stopped my worry as at this point it was exceeding my 219ia with a different but more enjoyable listen.
"

Greg, yes, that would be a pretty fair assessment. The 590 went from sounding rich but laid back in presentation to sounding slightly leaner but still not aggressive by comparison to many other amps going through break in and finally settled or so I thought. After another few hundred hours and I lost count at that point it suddenly blossomed further with a deeper soundstage that finally brought another dimension to the presentation, specifically with palpability factor increasing by a substantial degree.

I have to add that shortly after the 590 was in my system, I added the Luxman D-06u which also needed time to burn in so at that point it was difficult to say which of them was really going through the break in and to what degree. Considering it's all just a matter of time, the end result is what is important. I waited much longer for the Schiit Gungnir and Yggdrasil dacs to burn in and settle down.

I seriously doubt anyone would be disappointed with the end result of a Luxman integrated, heck, it was perfectly enjoyable out of the box!

My Luxman system is definitely a keeper as I've already mentioned a few times before. I have no plans to upgrade to anything else in any foreseeable future so I think that pretty much sums it up to what my personal thoughts are on the Luxman/Harbeth combo I am currently enjoying.

[GreginNH1]

Thanks Serge.

I just approached HOUR 50 mark with mine so I have a long way to go!

[freesole]

Greg, didn't realize you got the 590AXII already. Congrats! How are you liking it compared with the ones that you have had in the past?