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"Warm Sounding" Solid State Amplifiers

As a Canadian I am naturally a huge fan of Bryston products but not long ago I switched things up for a NAD C355BEE integrated amp and instantly realized what I had been missing in terms of warmth, sweetness and overall pleasant sound.

I'm interested in moving up from there into some Class A or A/B amps but I don't know of any other warm sounding Solid State amps other than Pass Labs which are out of my price range at the moment.

Tubes are obviously "where it's at" as they would say but the maintenance factor is somewhat of a deterrent for me. Should I just go for an M series NAD amp or is there another intermediate product between that and Pass Labs??
pontifex
ricred1
2,005 posts
 
I've compared the JR M525 to an Ayre VX-5 and purchased the JR 525. To my ears, in my system the JR M525 has a better soundstage and separation of instruments. I had many amps and the JR M525 is the best that I've ever had in my system. As a matter of fact I was thinking about going up to the JR 625.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,182 posts
 
Stick with nad.
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,306 posts
 
NAD is a good choice and also Plinius
ricred1
2,005 posts
 
My friend has access to several companies and really likes the NAD Masters series
nanotweeter
55 posts
 
I have found that, in general but not always, solid state amps with MOSFET outputs sound somewhat warmer althought slightly less transparent than bipolar output transistors. One relatively inexpensive power amp with bipolar output transistors that I think leans just a bit to the warmer side is the Cambridge 851w stereo power amp. And it mainains that transparancy and detail that I like. Naturally your system's MMV. Crutchfield and other retailers that sell this amp offer 30 or 60 day in-home trials. Don't wait for one to come up for sale used. I have looked since December and have not seen a single one for sale on any of the US preowned equipment sites.
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