Best Integrated, period.

For around $1000 virtue audio sensation with upgarded power supply was pretty good option. I added granite audio tube buffer ( upgrade tubes). My sourse is sqeezebox duet with upgraded boulder power supply- anedio d 2 dac, speakers are Fritz audio monitors 7. Fritz himself was very impressed by combination of sensation with minotor 7's.
As most of us in this passion, I'm looking to upgrade, but so far, I haven't found anything that really stands out as a good reason to go trough the hassle of selling the sensation and (possibly) granite audio. I started reading this tread looking for more info for the APL ua s 4. Any of you have/had the Sensation? Any ideas for upgarde up to $2500? A little out of the scope of this tread, but I'll consider monoblocks too, since anedio can be used as apreamp and has balanced uotputs.

Blah Blah Bleet.

Every Jadis that I have ever heard sounded like a worn out ST-70 with new tubes. There... But not there.
The high end on a Jadis sounds like an old snake trying to whistle and the low end sounds like an in-estrous baboon bouncing up and down on an inner tube....... Soft bloated and damp..

You want to talk about the Best
How about Bermeister, Dartzeel,Vitus,Gryphon any ones of these
Will set you back from $15k to over $25k
These are in an other league most of us cannot ever afford these
RRoyce of products and for sure there is some Tube gear hand made in Japan that can hit $100k plus , even cables can set you back $100k
Where does it all end ? While on vacation I saw an I phone 4 with elaborate
14k and Platinum case for $16k - Including phone, now that is a bargain !

I don't put a monetary value on sound. That's where I lay down my ears. As an example, I auditioned the Ayre AX5 and chose the Hegel H200 over it. Believe me when I tell you that if I liked the Ayre better I would have made it happen. I got a email from a Hegel dealer who told me that he and everyone who works in his shop prefers the Hegel H200 over the H300. Now that's funny to me and I don't care because I love this amp and I don't need to hear the H300. All I can say about this particular amp is to run it balanced. Huge difference.

It's taken me a long time to finally get to the point where I don't care what any review or person says about anything. I am now so satisfied with my system it blows my mind. I'll never be off the merry go round but I only ride it every 5 years or so. All I have left is Oyaide banana plugs and a sub woofer and this will be my second to last system I ever own.

@Donjr
Regarding Hegel H200 vs H300, it's possible that a much better external DAC was used for the H200 over the H300's internal DAC. Thus the preference of the less expensive model over the more expensive one. Not saying price is always the determining factor but just want to explore the plausible explanations. I'm genuinely interested in what you have to say because I currently have the H100 and actively looking to move up. Thanks for your comments.