Recommend me a Class A Integrated Amp (or sound like Class A amp)
I have been rocking a Cabasse Riga setup with a Sony TA-A1ES (a heavily biased Class A design outputting first 15 watts as Class A). I absolutely love the clarity and natural sound of it. I’ve decided to keep to Class A to upgrade if possible because the Riga does not need a lot of juice to drive.
Accuphase Class As are eye-watering expensive in my country, but thankfully Esoteric prices their Class A F-03A at much more reasonable $8600 USD. Luxman unfortunately has stopped producing Class As, so they are out of equation and besides strangely they are more expensive than Esoteric in my country. Pass Labs, well, way out of my budget.
So, for around $8600 USD or less what are my other options if I want a similar sound to Class A without going down the tube route?
I’ve heard the new HifiRose RA180 sounds quite class A like. And I think the Yamaha AS series sound quite close as well. Any more options should I consider? The pricing of other brands should be similar to US.
if the sony ta1 1 es is doing the job, why upgrade? it is one of the true sleepers out there, under the radar, but delivering the sound quality of units many times its cost, absolutely superb sounding amp, solid and impactful yet utterly liquid to beat it you will need to spend much much more $ and even then the s-q improvement will be fairly marginal |
+1 @jjss49 A typical question worth posing here is what kind of sound characteristics are you looking for? Why is an amplifier change the way to get there? $8600 or less can certainly get you Pass Labs stuff. Don't know why you're saying it's way out of your budget. But, again, gear changing may not be the answer to the question you're posing, unless you just want to buy more stuff, which happens around here, occasionally. |
I guess I just want to buy more stuff or scratch that itch of wanting the best gear? Anyway, I like my sound to be as realistic and pure as possible but still having a lot of liveliness and excitement. I listen to a lot of modern female vocals and classical music. Two speakers I'm considering in my upgrade path: Cabasse Baltic and Yamaha NS-3000. These speakers are balanced, neutral, and very fast. Pass Labs stuff in my city are very expensive. Teac, Esoteric, Yamaha, and Plinius stuff are quite a bit more cheaper so I am heavily leaning towards these 4 brands.
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part of the fun of the hobby is the scratch the itch, try new stuff we think is better. i would say though, knowing the ta1 1es very very well (i have one) that that amp is better than the speakers you currently have and mentioned you would try that said, the next level of amplifier quality may be obtained by going with a luxman class a unit, a gryphon, a modern accuphase or if obtainable, a belles sa30 class a unit (and of course class a pass) other one to consider is agd audion |
The only available brand new Luxman Class A left available to buy is a 595ASE and I don't think I want to pay the mark up for that. And I don't like the all buttons look anyway. I guess $8600 USD Esoteric F-03A seems like the best value; I checked the price of this in US and wow you guys are really getting the short end of the stick. I totally forgot about Krell and definitely is going to check it out. The highest end for Hautonga available here is Plinius Hautonga at around 3600 USD, but I guess I will give it a try anyway. |
I didn't see your location listed anywhere so this might not be helpful if you are not in the US. Belles makes a Class A integrated but there is no info on Dave's website. For info you need to speak to John Rutan at the Audio Connection in Verona NJ. He has one on display and it sounds great. I don't know the pricing for it. Good Luck! |
For around $8,600, AMP-5521 from Japan (modded by me, Wavetouch audio) is in your range. It is 35w/8ohm. (*I can’t publish their brand name in US.) I exhibited 25watts 7511A from Japan last audio show and I am very satisfied. Please check the sound of 7511A in below video. Alex/ Wavetouch Change setting to 1080p for the best audio quality.
Original video. Downloaded and playing above.
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I live in Florida and have the esoteric f03. Even with the demo it is thousands more here. That said, matched with efficient 8 ohm speakers the 30 wpc is more than adequate. You also get a dead silent phono section that powers my lomc. Demoed the luxman into kef blades and wasn’t my cup of tea. If you have the cash, the f03 is a keeper |
My Coda CSIB , stereo times best of 2020, and excellent accurate review. This integrated has many things a cut above ,many do not know they have been in business over 35 years and were fellow engineers with Nelson Pass with Threshold . in its lowest power option 150,300,600 wpc it’s 1st watts are 18-20: into pure class A . A 10 year warranty ,made in U.S.A The highest amp capability for control under $12 k,120 amps short term on tap and a class leading Huge 3,000 Va potted sealed transformer ,for super low noise floor ,all others open torroid ,and small around 750 Va , mosfet, fet ,and 40 Bipolor on the outputs ,and excellent linear active preamp section , for under $7k unmatched , Give Mike a call at Audio Archon , very good guy to purchase from and get a fair deal. |
I would buy used Accuphase E- 530 on ebay from Japan for about $3500, get acupwr.com transformer and be happy for a while. Accuphase E- 650 is step up, of course not to mention Accuphase E- 800. Coda is an interesting suggestion, I would say. Luxman, Plinius, Sugden are all below Accuphase. I don't like the sound of Pass equipment. |
http://www.claytonamp.com/claytonaudio.html Clayton Audio - Pure Class A amplifiers, but no integrated amplifiers. For integrated amplifiers check out Kinki Audio EX-M1+. Both are priced way below your max pricing. |
Great suggestions from all of you. I am located in Singapore btw. A dealer suggested to me I could actually get the entry level Accuphase Power Amp A-36 for $6500 USD and use the difference to upgrade my DAC to a DAC with a preamp like TEAC UD-701N ($2500 USD). That theoretically might give a better sonic upgrade compared to just getting an Esoteric F-03A.
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It’s all subjective, and the speakers that are matched to the amp will play a part too. No right or wrong. From the list, I’ve owned Plinius Class A power amp and currently own a Class A Luxman. I’ve not heard the Accuphase but read that it has a warmer midrange glow than the Luxman. Between Plinius and Luxman, I would say the Plinius sound more like a Class A to me, warmer midrange and fuller bass. The Class A Luxman has a rather neutral presentation although it sounds slightly warm. I find the detail and refinement of the Luxman to be a step higher than the Plinius. With the Plinius, some of the details may be missing, toned down or smeared. The Luxman is a more transparent amp with higher levels of clarity and detail in comparison to the Plinius. The leading edge of notes are all sharp, defined and pin-point with good clarity. With the Plinius it sounds a bit smeared. If one prefers a punchy, full and thick bass, the Plinius will be better but it doesn’t have the agility and refinement of the Luxman. The bass of the Luxman is leaner but with better clarity and detail when compared to the Plinius. In my system, I wouldn’t want something that sounds warmer than the Luxman so I presume I won’t like the Accuphase which is generally regarded to have a warmer sound than the Luxman |
How about the Sugden A21 or A21se? The A21se was $3250, could be a bit higher thanks to inflation. 30 watts pure class A 8 ohms, 40 into 4 ohms. A wonderful amp with great reviews everywhere....sounds way more powerful than those specs suggest. You would save lots of money, yet have more actual power in class A. |
You've already captured the basic trade-ofs of class-A: the lowest distortion at the cost o vastly higher heat and consequently lower power (since ne needs to get rid of that heat). Note that there is no fundamental difference between a class-A and a class AB amp. you can take any of my designs turn a potentiometer and voila, go from hgih bias class AB to class A. It will then gradually either burst into flames or blow the fuse (it will do the latter). A good AB design will in fact be class A for small signals. All "nuance" and "detail" is, by definition, a small signal. So those are class-A anyway in a design like mine, and i am far from alone. So i would suggest that you look for a well designed, high biased AB design as well. I suspect they are indistinguishable from pure classA except by using a thermometer, fire extinguisher, or if you need a bunch of power and headroom ,when the AB will be superior, since the designer can make it more powerful. I wish i could say "buy mine" but with pandemic shipping and supply chain problems its sitting in pre-production land.
Oh, and "dont fix what aint broke" it sounds like you are very happy. Is there not a better place to therefore put your money? DAC? Turntable? Beaucastel Homage '89?
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I did not see anyone mention any tubed amps. I purchased a Rogers High Fidelity EHF 200 Mark II integrated direct from Rogers that was a trade in to him for his really big amp for right about your price range. Full Lifetime warranty!100+ all class A watts / channel ! It’s big, heavy, very well built w/ all point to point Teflon coated silver plated wiring & most importantly, sounds excellent! Very powerful, dynamic with the subtlety & nuance that very few but the best solid state amps can match. For myself, once I heard what a good tubed amp can sound like with good speakers in a good system, there was no going back to solid state. Sounds so much more like live music w/ “air” & space around each instrument or voice & not fatiguing at all. That all does come with a price of initial expense, tube replacement expenses & heat but I think worth it. The coming of a big, powerful amp ( 2-KT 150’s on each channel & classA operation means it foes put out plenty of heat so it needs to be well ventilated & not in a small room in Florida w/ no AC!
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ime plinius are on the darker side of neutral, as are the top ayres (less so than plinius, but still...) krells, mccormacks (smc modded ones) have more extended airy treble but can be a little revealing on less well recorded material most pass labs amps and accuphase have quite extended treble but add some warmth to the midband and midbass top hegels, classe, belles class a, exposure, and certain first watts are most balanced in sound, not lean not rich not bright not dark devialet and agd are a somewhat different breed, saturated yet very extended, ultra smooth, devialet a bit more colorful and forward, agd is fast rich silky smooth |
we have sold almost all the brands under discussion here
we have sold both luxman and plinius the coda csib beat both of those
the krell is warmer then the coda the krell has s a fantastic dac and streamer for 1k as a board upgrade. if you have any questions please reach out to us he have a huge range of integrated amps the k300is dac is extremely good you would have to spend 3to 5k to get a better dac and streamer.as a package the k300i with the dac board is a stunning value.
Dave and Troy Audio intellect nj integrated amplifier specialists krell coda hegel unison research anthem rega are just some of the integrated amps we have on active display
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The Coda CSIB and the Krell K300i are available to demo in my city and I would try them out. Soulnote A2 and Yamaha AS3200 come highly recommended among my circle as well. I will be trying a TEAC UD-701 and AP0-701 stack soon with my speakers. I've heard it paired with a pair of Sonus Faber Lumina III and the speakers sounded much more expensive than they were. |
I try to keep an open mind. Thankfully my speakers are light enough to carry around easily. I will probably audition Luxman 509X and see whether it would be good for me. I’ve heard the Teac stack I mentioned above yesterday and I was really surprised at the sound despite AP-701 being just a class D. Sound is clear, balanced, and sweet, but a little laid back, but it could be just the Sonus Faber Lumina’s characteristic. I will bring my Riga to to the dealer to investigate further. The stack is priced at $4600 USD and seems like really bang for the buck.
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The KRELL K-300i is excellent. The internal DAC in the unit is worth the $1K because of the HDMI input alone. However, a few dedicated DACs under $1700 were preferred by me over the KRELL's internal DAC. Since the KRELL is a warm and very smooth sounding unit. I preferred a DAC that was transparent. Maybe not for everyone but transparent DACs are not expensive these days. I am referring to great measuring DACs like a Topping D90LE | Benchmark DAC3B | Matrix Audio. Saying all of that in the final few months I had the K-300i I used the unit with the built-in network streamer (ROON READY) and the internal DAC. So convenient and very good sound. |
I have a soft spot for Sugden ClassA amps. I have an IA-4 in the basement, and I just bought a pair of Sugden MPA-4 mono blocks for my main listing room. I sold my Sugden SPA-4 power amp and kept the LA-4 pre amp. I did however have a Kinki EX-M1 , and installed the Sparkos op amp kit chips. That was an amazing little amp with the upgrade. I was prepared to keep that until this IA-4 came up for sale at a great deal from my dealer. |
I have had the CODA 07x premap with the KRELL 175XD and put them in my small room with my ancient KEF LS50;s and the new KEF KC62 sub. This is a killer combo. The 07x preamp’s XLR out into my sub (using a Cardas adapter to RCA) is the best sounding sub setup I have heard in my home. I mention this because the OP is looking at the Yamaha NS3000. I am down to the NS5000 or KEF Blade 2 META for a bigger room. I have demoed the NS5000. The 07x preamp with the NS3000 and a sub would be amazing. My Benchmark LA4 preamp is not as good as the CODA 07x when considering sub setup. Likely due to XLR vs RCA. I have owned the CODA CSiB (circ Sept 2019) and the KRELL K-300i and the combo listed above is much better than both of these integrated amps (and more costly).
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Dude, first up it is best practice to say what speakers you are running. This is because Class A is spectacularly inefficient that this becomes highly relevant. (I run Pass X150.8). Two really fabulously options: Perreaux - these are stonkingly good somehow manage to produce less heat that Pass. Second is Plinius. Again every benefit of Class A but have a cool (and I really mean 'cool') trick. You can adjust the bias so that you have a high and a medium class A bias. Watching movies - low bias. Critical listening - High bias. Actually I should mention Pure Audio (thb, not heard in person, but same designer as Plinius). This has all the advantages Plinius but a fabulous design aesthetic. One more option: ATC. A tiny smidge less than Pass but an uncorresponding tiny price. |
Dude, first up it is best practice to say what speakers you are running. This is because Class A is spectacularly inefficient that this becomes highly relevant. (I run Pass X150.8). Two really fabulously options: Perreaux - these are stonkingly good somehow manage to produce less heat that Pass. Second is Plinius. Again every benefit of Class A but have a cool (and I really mean 'cool') trick. You can adjust the bias so that you have a high and a medium class A bias. Watching movies - low bias. Critical listening - High bias. Actually I should mention Pure Audio (thb, not heard in person, but same designer as Plinius). This has all the advantages Plinius but a fabulous design aesthetic. One more option: ATC. A tiny smidge less than Pass but an uncorresponding tiny price. |
@andrei_nz , uh, I literally said that my speakers are Cabasse Riga on the first line of my post. Understandable though, when I went to the dealers and I mentioned about my speakers most did just go "ummm, what are those?" until I explained that it's a pair of high-end spherical coaxial satellites. As I mentioned earlier, they are very easy to drive therefore I feel safe to limit my option to only Class As. Plinius is definitely on my short list. For Perreaux, only 80i is available to purchase in my city. |
