Jolida 1501RC hybrid integrated vs. Rogue's Sphinx

The CM is great, and for my speakers I'll pick the CM over SS every time. However, my friend's shop has a Sphinx hooked up to Kingsound Prince electrostatic panels, and it just struck me as a really sweet combo. In fact it seemed a bit better of a match than the CM that was hooked up previously (the CM got sold).

I wouldn't expect that to be typical; it may be a electrostat thing -- and that being said, the panels aren't really my thing, either, though they do have their strong points. Speaker-to-amp matching does matter; were I in your shoes I'd roll the dice on the CM over the Sphinx.

Also, I have to reinforce that while the CM's (and I assume the Sphinx's) built-in phono stages are good starter or stopgap solutions, they'll increasingly become a bottleneck once you've upgraded your analog rig to say the $1K table/arm/cart level. It's very worthwhile it upgrade to an outboard stage at that point, which of course includes Rogue's own options. The 99 Magnum's built-in tube phono stage is also very good, btw, so I can't lump it in with the other built-ins.

To Mulveling. Thanks for the comment and the advice. I don't anticipate a problem using the CM with the AZ Adagios. I do play it loud, put TAS's review of the CM claimed it has good clout for 90RMS, with tight bass. More than likely the Sphinx may deliver more peak power because of the class D output stage...

Not concerned about the phono because I am not going to invest more money in analog; I currently have a Rega P3-24 with a Dynavector 10X5 high output cartridge which might be sold. Should I get back into analog, it would be with a less expensive TT like a Project Debut with the RED or Blue Ortofon MM cartridge.

I really want to put more money into a new CD player that is not tricked out to accomodate computer audio. So far, I have not found anything in a CD player under $5000. Esoteric and Ayon seem to now dominate the AG marketplace, but I can't go there in price

Class D amps are highly damped usually, a trait that will generally make them sound quite different than many though not all, tube amps.

Which sounds better case by case will be highly variable on many factors including personal preference.

Recording quality is always a big factor.

FWIW, I have my system using Class D amps tuned so that most lesser recordings still sound decent and more than just listenable, and the best recordings shine well beyond that. It does take some tweaking though usually to get to any target desired sound, so a straight out a/b comparison on a dealer system may not tell the whole story. Tube amps in general may be easier on the ears, but if its the amp that is enabling that with lesser recordings, the effects on others may not be as desirable. It all depends, YMMV, all the typical caveats apply.

FWIW, my local dealers system that uses high quality Rogue and ARC tube amplification (also high quality Rowland Class D amps) is one of the references I have used to get my system sounding the way I want using a CLass D amp best suited to get the most out of my particular speakers. So I palce way more value in getting the right combination of components in place and tweaking that from there as needed than I do in banking solely on tube versus SS amplification. I've found the best of each tend to sound more similar than not. THen there are all different flavors, many quite tasty, possible from there, in some cases flavors unique to the specific technology used.

I saw a photo of the innards of the Rogue Sphinx, and it seems to have about 17 parts...personally, I value the part count in my gear...I want these things crammed with little caps and resisters and diodes so I feel I'm getting my money's worth.

the sphinx weighs 25 lbs. compared to the 1501s 32 lbs. the 1501 is upgradable. and anyone serious about listening to vinyl might want to consider an external phono preamp. on board phono amps are usually not too great. jolida has a really nice one.