I have gotten what I think is very good mid-fi sound with a Rotel RMB-1585 5-Channel amp (200w), so I have Rotel love. I feel like I have very good dynamics and sound staging. Instruments and vocals do all the magic things that decent speakers and an amp should make them do as they appear in the middle of the room and the speakers disappear. I get good bass impact to make it fun, and I haven’t ever felt like it lacks for naturalness. It is my rainy day English countryside amp. I mostly listen to Jazz and I am very pleased with it.
My Rotel was a compromise though, because I needed 5 channels of amplification and no space or budget for a separate 2 channel amp. I would dearly love a dedicated 2 channel amp for music, and if I were buying one I would probably look at something other than Rotel. There is just so much more out there that I would like to try. Pass comes to mind. My Rotel is also their top of the line offering, so I’m getting the best sound they offer. And above everything else, I believe my upstream components and system synergy are what really determines how things sound. I use a multi-bit dac and a tube pre for music, and I have carefully chosen cables to improve sound quality, I’ve done what I can for good impedance matching. Blah blah blah, I'm rambling, Point is I like my Rotel amp, but I don't know how much credit to give to Rotel. I owned the Rotel RMB-1075 (120w) a few years ago and it didn’t do much for me, but that was before I upgraded my front end. It was fine, but my inner audiophile wasn’t stirred by the music until I stepped up my game in a lot of other areas. Is the difference because I went from their budget amp to their best multi-channel amp? Probably/somewhat. I know the extra watts and the XLR input path helped. If I were buying Rotel, I would buy the best they offer and not choose something from the lower end of their line.
So yeah, lots of Rotel love here, but I would also love to try other brands. I like my sound, but you never know how good it can get until you try something else. Most owners think their systems sound awesome because they haven’t tried something from the next level up. I know that is true in my case. My next level probably wouldn’t be Rotel, just because I’m already at the top of the Rotel heap and I’ve read about so many more interesting amps on the market.