Old Amp vs. New Amp

Okay, I have no direct experience with those brands you mentioned, but since they are top line brands, I think you'd be pretty safe with them.  My own experience with Nad is with the 326 and C356BEE.  The 356 is better at higher volumes, but when I compared it with a Parasound A21/P7 combo, the Parasounds kept their composure when the Nad was reaching its limits, and were only slightly better at lower volumes. This has made me curious about the Nad C375BEE.

Anyway, these brands are always suggesting that they've improved and have something better, but I agree that it's probably more marketing than anything else.  I am a believer in good cables, however!

At about 20 years old some amps will have capacitors that will need replacing, but that usually isn't too expensive or difficult. Tube amps obviously might need retubing at almost any age, but even if you just look at inflation and depreciation, the math quickly tells you that older amps can offer tremendous value. For the same money as new "entry level" amps you can be looking at older near SOTA amps that will perform at a much higher level. Cheers,
Spencer

I have been pretty happy with the NAD C375BEE.  I think it is a very good integrated for it's price range.  I don't really have much to compare it to though.  I recently purchased a Parasound P5 pre-amp and it seems to do very nicely.  Now I'm looking for a good amp to pair it with.

So I guess what I'm pondering is...  If I spend $3000-$5000 on an amp, am I better off with a new amp in that price range, or an older amp.  Given that a 3k-5k older amp may have originally sold for about 6k-12k, it seems like the older amp may be the better choice.

As for cables, I'm not completely sold on that yet.  While I do  believe that quality cables suitable for the amount of current being applied is a must, I think that the thought of spending $1000, $5000, etc for a cable is ridiculous and most likely way overpriced and over hyped.

I would venture to guess that the used $5k amp would even surpass the P5 in capability and you would be set for a long while with the amp.

A cable conversation could take your whole life to read the history. There are some inexpensive ones that work great for many of us, but I'd suggest discussing that in another thread or by first looking at cables in some posted systems you like. Cheers,
Spencer

I should probably qualify my cable comments.  Personally I'd never spend $1000 for a cable.  I currently have 2 pairs of IC's that cost about $300 for both.  My Wireworld speaker cables cost about the same.  These both brought improved sonics for me and I'm happy there.  

As far as amps go, I'd concur that you could get more value in a used one while not losing out on sound quality.  Amps are a mature technology and as long as you get a well built one, I'd suggest you'd be fine.  

The Parasound gear I have has a slightly warm sound, with the top end probably rolled off a little, and I suspect the P5 might have the same characteristics.  I've read that the Nad's sound is similar, so when amp shopping, you may want to avoid amps with a warm sound, and go for neutral or forward sounding instead.  Unless of course you prefer a warmer sound.