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B&W 805D3 - Amp recommendation (Peachtree, Parasound, Hegel or Schiit?)

Hi, I just bought a pair of B&W 805 D3 with the stand. I want to upgrade from my current Peachtree audio Decco 65, which sounds fine, but I am sure the B&W deserve better. I would like to spend around $2K for the amplification. I am OK buying used or refurbished. After reading a lot of reviews, I am considering another integrated amp, like the Peachtree Nova150 ($1800), Parasound Halo Integrated ($2500), Hegel H80 ($2000). Another possibility would be the  Schiit Audio Ragnarok ($1700) and a separated DAC maybe the Schiit Audio Gungnir.

Any recommendation?
stelo

Showing 1 response by williewonka

williewonka
3,063 posts
 
I’ll throw another amp into the mix - NAIM 5i

I have the 5i (mk II) (50w) which has a passive front end - the earlier mk1 had an active pre-amp and was not as good. The new 5i also has a passive front end and is a little more powerful (60w) - not that you’ll need it

Since I purchased the amp I’ve looked at other amps, but nothing under $5k comes close to the performance of the NAIM

It responds very well to nice cables and provides a very clean, detailed , neutral and very dynamic sound.

One word of caution - these amps do not like speaker cables that have a high capacitance - they can drive them to destruction - quite literally. Having said that I have tried a few different cables and they were all under 40 pF/meter and worked very well. (this also applies to many high current solid state amps)

Have a read of this review...
https://www.whathifi.com/naim/nait-5si/review

Regards...
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