Integrated amp suggestions.

Vitus are a Danish high-end company who make three fabulous integrated amps. I have demoed all three and own two of them and all sound wonderful. Their latest, the SIA-030, has received numerous awards in Asia and Europe recently. Class A to 30W and AB to 200W, it is an extraordinary amp. The Vitus ’sound’ is  neutral although with a  slightly warm, analogue sound. Not the velvety smoothness of a Luxman, and more precise than a McIntosh, but not the dry Hi-Fi sound of a D’Agostino. Think a more valve sound In the mids and top end but with rigid tight and deep bass.
I demoed Sonas Faber speakers with the Vitus SIA-025 and the combination was wonderful, especially with Classical music where the instruments were precisely located in 3 dimensional space and the sound was almost ’live’.

@erik_squires

How do the Luxman and Ayre house sounds differ from each other? I am interested in both brands but have not had the opportunity to listen to either. How does a brand like Simaudio compare to both?

Ayre has a certain darkness, like it pulls noise out of the room.  It's kind of a funny effect.  Very smooth, touch warm in the sense of Parasound.

Luxman is closer to D'Agostino.  Extended on both ends, liquid midrange.

Have never heard Simaudio so I can't help you. 

The Luxman/D'Agostino/Ayre triad represent amps I'd be happy with for the rest of my life.

There's a great selection of integrated amps these days.  

McIntosh has both solid state and tube - if you are willing to consider them.  Not sure about your CD transport but most likely one remote could operate them both if that's important to you.

My experience with Simaudio is related to their DAC - I have the 280D.  I'd consider their other components and my McIntosh C2600 and MC 301 are relatively new and I'm extremely happy with them at this time.

If you like tubes, I've been impressed with a Rogue demo.  The store I frequent decided not to renew the AR contract because of the performance and customer reaction to Rogue.

Good luck and happy listening.

I have owned a Simaudio Neo Ace 240i for well over a year, and I like it it a lot, playing into Dali 5's and a Dynaudio subwoofer. It has a built in DAC that sounds pretty good to me as well, a tiny bit better than the DAC within my Innuos Zen Mini, in case you change your mind and downsize all those CDs and rip them, as I did. The Simaudio was a demo model, and my local dealer sold it to me for a fair price. At 50W/ch, I do not know how well it will drive your big Sonus Faber Novas, but if you have a chance to find one to audition, it is worth a try. My same same local dealer has a Vinnie Rossi L2i integrated amp, playing into Dynaudio Confidence 20s and 50s. I think it is some of the best sound I have ever heard, but the Vinnie Rossi, even without the DAC or phono stage cards that are add-ons, still costs over $12,000. I don't know what your budget looks like. If the price of the Vinnie does not scare you off, I would highly recommend an audition if you can arrange it. There is a Vinnie Rossi L2i-SE, the fully loaded big brother, for sale on Audiogon right now for 21K (no disclaimers: I do not know the owner of said amplifier at all or have any interest in its sale, other than I like to look at it on Audiogon and will be saddened to see it dropped as a listing). Good luck in the hunt. I wish you well. Keep us updated!