Best Integrated, period.

I too believe that the BEST depends on one's taste, the associated equipment and the room. I like the Exemplar Audio for the sound and it's rather affordable price. I hope to hear the Musical Fidelity someday too but I wish the US suppliers would take a hint from their UK counterparts and offer a full purchase price of your current amp toward the purchase of a new Musical Fidelity Nu Vista 800. Oh well it is Christmas and maybe Christmas wishes do come true. Anyway Good Luck at finding your BEST integrated amp and happy listening!!!!

@everyone. System synergy is important. If you need a lot of power the musical fidelity is a great choice. I've heard a lot of gear. Like have have the revel studio 2 and they are power hungry. So some of the less powerful integrated amplifiers won't work. The Nu Vista 800 is the best piece of equipment I have heard from Musical Fidelity. In the right system it can be great. The KR audio 900 is also a beast. I've heard it with Gato Speakers and it flat out beat systems that were 7 times the price. Well synergy is at work always. Some guys throw the big names out and because it carries a reputation and in a lot of cases it might not be the right fit. There are a lot of great intergrateds at different price points that are great performers. Usually if you pay more you will get better but not always. If you put a high quality integrated in the right situation and you can get magic. Sometimes I hear expensive gear matched wrong and it doesn't get it done. I've heard systems like that and go wow not moving me. If you put some of that audio jewelry that some of these guys talk about in the wrong situation most of the time it doesn't work. That's just my opinion though I've only heard 10 systems that cost more than most people's nice houses cost. I've heard them blow me away or I've heard them lose to systems that cost 1/8th of what they cost.

The amp I mentioned earlier has *plenty* of power and can drive most speakers with ease. Heck it drives my 88db, 4 ohm S5's in a medium size room...no problem. But power without magic is is just impressive for a while, then the novelty wears away when you realize something is missing from the music. As an audiophile of 24 years, I've learnt judging an amplifiers ability to control a given speaker load based on headline figures like RMS power is folly. An amp's ability to produce high current, remain stable under load and operate as efficiently as possible are the more important factors imho. For example, most audiophile toroids lose up to 25% voltage, whilst the SIA-025's UI-core transformer lose 1.5% max (tested). But that's really only the start of the story of what makes an amp sound good.

Seems someone belly ached about me pointing out how a certain member here flips his gear more than Snoop Dog changes his shoes, and thus has no credibility. I actually don't care about other member's opinions. I'm content I know exactly what direction I want to take with my system and how to achieve it. I'm just methodically executing each step in the process. Effusive statements about how great the latest "flavor of the month" is don't impress me at all. I get bored and go back to my music.

The amp I mentioned earlier has *plenty* of power and can drive most speakers with ease. Heck it drives my 88db, 4 ohm S5's in a medium size room...no problem. But power without magic is is just impressive for a while, then the novelty wears away when you realize something is missing from the music. As an audiophile of 24 years, I've learnt judging an amplifiers ability to control a given speaker load based on headline figures like RMS power is folly. An amp's ability to produce high current, remain stable under load and operate as efficiently as possible are the more important factors imho. For example, most audiophile toroids lose up to 25% voltage, whilst the SIA-025's UI-core transformer lose 1.5% max (tested). But that's really only the start of the story of what makes an amp sound good.