Recommendation for Class-A integrated amp

OP: All three contenders on your list are excellent amplifiers in their own right. I'm surprised that one particular dealer here is making a bold proclamation that Coda is better than Luxman without any supporting data. The truth is that at this price point, it's not about which one is better in general, BUT which one is a better fit for your preferences, speakers, and room. IMHO, it's silly for people to objectively state that one is better than others.

BTW, you should also include Ayre in your list. 

@celtic66 ,

Fully agreed on the financial side of logic, and I am not putting Sugden off yet, instead, I am still consider it could be a good possibility, but since I am not sure how well it will work with Ascend Sierra Tower that is in my secondary system, where the impedance will drop to 4 ohm, and the Sugden amp spec show 30W at 8 ohm, 40W at 4 ohm, which put a bit of concern whether there is enough power to sustain.  I could end up with one to test down the road anyway, where I know it will be fine with Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC used in my primary system, but I need to get a few more things tested with an amp that is capable to drive both so I can have a solid baseline to draw from.




@arafiq ,

Thank you for the Ayre suggestion.

Let me give some more props for the CODA. I now have the latest CODA 07x preamp and CODA #8 amp. I moved up from the CSiB integrated which I bought on A'gon used.

This gear is stuff I will never be selling. I think this 07x + #8 combo is good as the Luxman c900u preamp and m900u amp that I was so gaga about a few years ago. Luckily I could not afford them back then.

BTW - I bought the brand spanking new CODA from a CA dealer for a combined $11K. I also had some custom work done on the amp which added to the cost and likely killed any chance of resale (which I have no interest to do). So the guy buying used CODA pair for $6K sounds about right to me.

If you would love class A sound without the heat check out the new Technics integrated, based on GaN technology

OP - I am biased - but give the new Krell K300i a listen - uses new patent pending ‘sliding bias’ to stay in Class A longer. Pushes my Maggie 1.7i to new levels of clarity. If it can handle Maggie’s - any other speaker is a piece of cake. New the integrated runs $7k. Not cheap but build quality is great.