Just my thought, no claim to fame of being absolutely right.
How on earth, can we accept the powersupply alone, of a power amp of say the 350 watt per channel like e.g. my X350.5 to have much in common with an e.g. 35 watt class A pre-amp powersupply requirement?
Next, the signal level is one heck of a lot more tiny, more delicate to interference than that of the poweramp.
Followed by, the weight of such an amp as the example is around 75kg i.e. over 150 pounds, plus about 18kg around 40 pounds for a pre-amp like e.g. my ML326S, using an alu chasis, no heavy metal.
Adding those two up, we'd be pushing some pretty heavy integrated, just to replace the 5' IC between these two, in this example.
To lug 150 pound is borderline acceptable for one strong person, so how about say 170—180 pounds?
One now can argue for e.g. class D power, and not that I'd tried with some like Mola Mola monos. Didn't cut it, PASS item has simply more authority, with my 89db speakers. (2 x 8" woofers).
So far, this clearly answers the OPs question for me in the negative.
Oh, ok I'm invested in a nice Transparent pre to amp IC.
Will any integrated solution sound better?
No, as also e.g. that former ML 383 offering could not nearly do it either.
Bottom line, much depends on your speaker type of course.
Michélle
How on earth, can we accept the powersupply alone, of a power amp of say the 350 watt per channel like e.g. my X350.5 to have much in common with an e.g. 35 watt class A pre-amp powersupply requirement?
Next, the signal level is one heck of a lot more tiny, more delicate to interference than that of the poweramp.
Followed by, the weight of such an amp as the example is around 75kg i.e. over 150 pounds, plus about 18kg around 40 pounds for a pre-amp like e.g. my ML326S, using an alu chasis, no heavy metal.
Adding those two up, we'd be pushing some pretty heavy integrated, just to replace the 5' IC between these two, in this example.
To lug 150 pound is borderline acceptable for one strong person, so how about say 170—180 pounds?
One now can argue for e.g. class D power, and not that I'd tried with some like Mola Mola monos. Didn't cut it, PASS item has simply more authority, with my 89db speakers. (2 x 8" woofers).
So far, this clearly answers the OPs question for me in the negative.
Oh, ok I'm invested in a nice Transparent pre to amp IC.
Will any integrated solution sound better?
No, as also e.g. that former ML 383 offering could not nearly do it either.
Bottom line, much depends on your speaker type of course.
Michélle