Looking for recommendations for integrated with a more “organic” sound.

I love how people want a better piece of equipment and then they give you the budget and it’s WAY TOO SMALL TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE and you can’t have better for that price!

if your budget is $2500 that means the damn thing cost $500 to build there is zero room in that budget to make anything but the chassis of a good piece of equipment with no room in your budget for any electronics to go inside at audio grade levels!

if you want a decent integrated amplifier, you need a budget of at least 10-20 grand. I’m sorry anything under that your getting av receiver Best Buy level parts.

Many people here have put together budget and mid-priced systems that they enjoy by creating a pleasing, synergistic whole, often by trial and error.

Some sound like parrots indoctrinated by reviewers and sent out into the world to show us the light.

@pennfootball71 

if you want a decent integrated amplifier, you need a budget of at least 10-20 grand. I’m sorry anything under that your getting av receiver Best Buy level parts.

Respectully, the above statement is untrue. Certainly there are better devices at various escalating price tiers, but to say the OP’s efforts are futile to try to improve his/her system at the stated budget isn’t helpful and just isnt true. There are gains to be made and there have been many helpful suggestions.

@doyle3433 unfortunately, there are no Lebens at or even near the OP’s stated budget. Additionally, no inboard phono stage on any Lebens.

@earworm22 hang in there. You can accomplish your goal, just be patient. Find a Naim, Sugden, Rega and perhaps even a Unison Research in your price range with a phono stage. Buy from a reputable seller and recognize that many here are chirping their own gear or exercising that their definition of great is better than everyone else’s. With the Zu speakers, a little current will benefit the tonal balance and whatever you end up getting doesn’t have to be your final destination. You will learn along the way what checks your boxes and will inform your future upgrades. Everyone’s advice, especially mine, is worth exactly what you are paying for it….zero. Some is worth less than zero…LOL.

He must think very highly of my Dayens Ampino. Apparently, nothing under $10,000 is an improvement. 😉

I will add an anecdote from my own experience. When I picked up my Volti Razz speakers from Greg of Volti, we listened to music well into the night. First it was on a pair of prototype flagship's he has been working on to update the Vittora. A top hifi experience in my life for sure. He switched between Border Patrol power and a Cary SLI80HS. Then we did the same with a pair of Razz. Both power units sounded excellent to my ears. The control, the sweetness and refinement, the musical and open soundstage. What struck me was what I can only describe as the presence of the human voice floating in the room, right in front of me. The chest cavity sound of male voice.. Were there differences between the two amplifiers, sure. But were the differences necessicaily negative, not in my book. As I understand it the price difference between the Border Patrol and the Cary is about $5k.. I was so impressed with the synergy between the Cary and the Volti I ordered my own. I am thrilled I tell ya!

I look at it like this. Would I love to have a Porsche GT3 RS? You bet your sweet ass I would! However what I can afford is a Mazda MX-5 from the 2000's and a Triumph TR6 from the 70's. This does not diminish my enjoyment in the least, in fact I might argue that i enjoy them more since I've wrenched extensively on both of them, and I don't have a panic attack while driving, afraid someone immersed in their phone is going to hit me. 

As my daddy used to say... "It's more fun to drive a slower car quickly, than a fast car slowly". 

Anyway what do I know, I'm just a guy who likes pie.