Picking a Tube integrated amp


Hey all. Trying to figure out my amp situation and am looking at a few integrated to upgrade to. 

I currently have a McIntosh integrated and want to move to tubes. I have the vivid v1.5speakers and a Clearaudio Concept. Looking at the following:

—Primaluna Dialogue premium or HP.
—Audio Research VSi60
—Octave v40SE

Question...does the AR still hold up? It’s likely it will be a used model, but curious if it’s still competing with the others I listed. Any others to consider?  

Thanks!


 
128x128rubytuesday
Kalali:

Prima Luna is made by Cayin in China (Cayin goes by Spark in China).

DeKay
You asked about the Cayin A-50T. I've had one for a few months and am very impressed, great build quality and great sound. I think it's better than any of the three tube amps I'd had before, a Cary/AES AE-25 Super Amp with an AE-3 preamp, a Cronus Magnum and a Cary Sli-80 F1. It's especially impressive considering its price but I still think it sounds better with my gear than any of those amps, even the Sli-80, which cost multiples of the A-50T
.
You're limited to El-34 or KT77 power tubes but even the stock Cayin El-34s sound good and the RFT/Siemens tubes I have are even better. I'll probably get some Gold Lion KT77s to try because I was very impressed with them in the Sli-80 and should have kept them when I sold the amp.
Since they have not been mentioned (in alphabetic order):

- Audio Space
- Ayon
- Line Magnetic
- Lyric Audio
- Melody

I recently ordered a Lyric Audio integrated...I’ll post early impressions once it is in system.