Musical A3.2 pre&amp or A308 integrated?


Hi everyone,

I want to upgrade my M.F A3.2 integrated to M.F A3.2 pre& or A308 integrated. Could anybody give me some advice? Thanks.
heyanming
Bring a few intergrated amps home and see what you like. THen you can be sure you have heard differenct amps and make your own decision.
I own the A308 integrated and I'm thrilled with it. I throw some of the hardest music at it there is--Mahler and Strauss, for instance, with their gargantuan orchestras. It's extremely clean and clear in the high end, very important if you listen to music with a lot of strings, it yields a huge soundstage, tactile bass, and great imaging. If I had a choice between separates, I would go with the integrated. Why introduce more interconnects and more plugs to plug in, esp. if you need higher end accessories to keep everything buzz-free. (I wrote previously about a noisy phono stage, changing plugs calmed it down.)
I might as well add that going from a Rega Planet 2000 to the A308 CD player added a marked increase in soundstage and transparency.
308 has more bass and said to be more tube-like. 3.2 is probably more accurate to the source.
It comes down to preference.
I own the A308 integraded and love it. I asked the same question when I bought it of both my dealer and the MF importer. All three of us reached the same conclusion. The A3.2 integrated just doesn't compare, but between the A308 integrated and A3.2 separates, it's a matter of taste. The A3.2's are really quiet and detail oriented, while the A308 has a full, musical sound. In a small room, or with only low volumes, the A3.2's might be ideal, but for my tastes, the A308 offers an amazing musicality missing in the A3.2. Instruments just sound right, more so than with anything else in the price range. It ended my quest for an amplifier. To follow up on jdaniels comments, I too had/have a Rega Planet, which sounded nice with the A308, but just added a Trivista 21 DAC. Together, the Rega and the DAC cast a soundstage that drips from every wall, and all the detail of the A3.2 pre/power is there, plus the musicality of the A308.