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Opinions on best integrated under 10k?

Father Christmas has been early and left me a very sizable bonus check!
So time to spend it before the other half can....

Looking at building another system but thinking of just a very high power integrated amp.
Wish list...
200w or more.
Balanced inputs
Digital inputs
Phono inputs

A quick look shows items like McIntosh ma7900 and Mark levinson ml585 which both seem to fulfill all or the majority of my wants.
Sure there are others.
So thoughts and any current or previous owners of suitable candidates please chime in
Thank you in advance
uberwaltz
jjue
104 posts
 

I think the attached Agon thread will give you a pretty comprehensive list of the top-notched integrated amplifiers. Some of the amplifiers in that thread may be above your price range though.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/upgrading-form-pass-integrated-amplifier-to-a-better-one

uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
@wolf_garcia 
No, would never suggest you shut the hell up!

@jjue 
Thank you for the link, very interesting reading!
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
@jjue 
Many of those fine amps will be WAY out of my range, they are at the pinnacle of integrated amp engineering.
While 10k is not insubstantial it will bring me high level not the lofty heights!
jjue
104 posts
 
@uberwaltz 

Not really if you are open to used units. $10k is a pretty generous budget for used units. The listening experience from these ‘elite’ integrated is in a totally different league is all I can say. The challenge is not many of them show up on the used market very often.

If you only want to buy new then yes, many of them are way above your budget.
inna
7,923 posts
 
Give the bonus check to "the other half". That's not enough for you. You need $16k for Gryphon Diablo 300. If you want to take some risk and ready to deal with European voltage, you might be able to find previous generation Diablo 250 watt/ch with phono stage in Europe. I see them available from Germany from time to time for about $6k. Not sure about onboard dac.
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