Best bang for buck integrated amp for $500

Because i have a only ok amp budget ?.  The Burson sounds interesting i may look into that amp.  

When your budget is limited you limit your choices for sure, maybe i need to save up more money and up my budget. 

Im not saying the Rega IO was bad at all, it was quite good, just lacking in low end in MY OPINION, everything else sounded very good.  I dont want to buy a sub, im in a very small room and dont really want to go the sub route.  Maybe bigger speakers front ported would have gave me more bass, im limited how far i can come off the wall on a desk.  I dont have a ideal or even close to ideal room and space to setup.

Im finding maybe i need a good headphone amp and call it a day, and when i move i will look for a larger more friendly audio room.  Trust me my box of room sucks for audio, well amp and speaker wise.

The Burson took a price hike to 799? A review stated priced from $544, that’s quite a recent hike unless I’m missing something?

$544 is without the OP Amp upgrade or aluminum stand. $744 is fully loaded if you buy from Burson direct. 

Yes no DAC or variable outputs. I hi level connect a REL. 

I have 2 burson V5I  op amps already, could be a good thing, im looking into it.

Thanks

@seanheis1 I realize this is a latent thread, but I would like to offer an opinion on the Rega R for the record. I owned a couple of the small amps you list above - the Rega Brio R and the Audioengine N22, plus the NAD D 3045.

I generally agree with your evaluation of the Audioengine, nice little amp for the money - but no grunt. The NAD D 3045 is a typically (for NAD) smooth sounding amp with an incredible amount of features crammed into it.

I am currently using the first iteration Brio R in my desktop office system with JRiver on a PC and an Audioquest Drangonfly Red as the source, upper entry level Audioquest cabling throughout, and Wharfedale Diamond 12.0 speakers in near field. The Brio has remarkable PRAT and engagement. The treble is somewhat forward but not the last word in airiness. Midrange tone is "near perfect", and soundstage on the Wharfedales in near field is spot on. The bass that the Brio R produces in these little speakers is very good, I would go so far as to say "very engaging", down to their modest limit.

I would have to question the noise issue you bring up with the Brio R. It is dead silent in my system. I can turn the volume to 100% with the source paused and there is zero sound coming out of the speakers, nada, even with my ear right next to the drivers. My system is set up in a commercial office building that has very noisy power. I use an inexpensive Belken power conditioner and run the Brio off the "Amp" outlet of the conditioner. Perhaps that is the difference.

And a word about power cables. The Rega R comes with an 18 guage $5 "appliance quality" AC cable. I swapped this out immediately for a 12 gauge cable I assembled from the "very best" Chinese parts and it made a huge difference with the Brio R. More of everything good, especially bass loudness, speed and impact. YMMV

-kn