Do Integrateds sound better than Receivers?

"Really good stuff" is available without the premium cost of seriously hyped items that may not be better sounding at all. So to people who still have their youth I say, don’t wait! "Sorry Marge, no sound until I get a few years of bonus checks saved up and then it’s D’Agostino all the way!" Get something gently used or new and less precious…Primaluna spends a lot of money to get noticed, as does ARC and many others, and you pay for that. Bigly. I feel buying carefully by reading about what you hope will work generally does…my upgraded Jolida 502p amp (actually bought new for 1200 bucks or something, although I have rolled about $162,000 of tubes around in it) is a case in point as it’s friggin’ great sounding, even when compared (did this comparison in my listening room by the way) to WAY more expensive tube amps…my serious (!) cables bought mostly previously owned, etc…do that…I think it’s more fun.

Good advice wolf_garcia,

always buy used/demo on everything. Get out to your local dealer/retailer and listen, listen, listen prior to any purchase. Happy Listening!

It's been my experience that similar priced products within a brand (similar priced integrated vs receiver) will sound about the same. A new $500 Yamaha Receiver and a new $500 Yamaha integrated, even with different s/n ratios, etc, probably will not make one think one is superior sounding. If companies save $50 by not adding a tuner or processor, I would not expect $50 in better components in the integrated. If one does a major price increase step in one or the other, then you may start to hear a difference. Again, just my experience from many years. I am assuming 2 similar aged components (same era) from same brand. Comparing two brands does not work since each one has a general "house sound".  If you prefer the house sound of Marantz, then you may like a $500 marantz receiver over a $2000 Yamaha integrated. 

When I was young I did save, save, save and go to retailers to listen, listen, listen. There wasn't as much of a used market because there was no internet. I don't remember ever seeing any desirable equipment in the newspaper classifieds. When I could, I bought some demo units. Reached a point where I was satisfied and then the kids took over my attention.

Things are much more fun now. You can get reliable opinions on a lot of quality used gear and get some real value. Unfortunately, I can't listen to much at retailers anymore. There seems to be nothing between the big box stores and ultra high-end in my area. Three of the high end audio dealers are great places run by great people who will help you put together a nice system at a reasonable cost. It's just that they don't have any tower speakers or pre-amps below $2,000 each on the floor. They'll be happy to order it for you; but you don't get to compare. So I guess, as Joni Mitchell said, something's lost but something's gained.

Either way, I;m much more obsessed now then I was 30 years ago!