I find the statement that the First Watt J2 is "mid-fi" interesting but more importantly, I think you might be wasting your time and money. You don't want to make expensive changes and a month or so later find yourself in the same place - disinterested and not listening. In my experience loss of interest in listening to recorded music is rarely about the equipment. In any event, good luck.
After years of separates, I'm going integrated. Anyone else do the same?
I'm rethinking my listening room. I want my audio rack to be more minimalist vs lots of boxes, wires, and clutter. I know separates, in general, will sound better. However, at the level of my system, I'm not certain the difference would be as apparent. In the grand scheme of things of Audiophilia, my level of components are mid-fi at best (BHK Pre, First Watt J2, Elac PPA-2 phono, Pro-ject s2 Dac, ZU Omen Defs)
I'm favoring one of the Luxman Class A's (I know Luxman is getting out of the Class A business. The only way I would favor a built-in Dac is if it were upgradable like McIntosh or Accuphase. I'm guessing a Luxman or Mac built-in phono would sound just as good as to what I have now (Elac PPA-2).
So the question is, who else has gone to integrated? Do you regret the move or are you glad you did?
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@larry5729 I'm probably guessing that 99% people will not be able to tell a difference assuming all components are from the same model series (For example: Pass INT 25 vs Pass xa25 and XS pre). However, even within the models, there may be different "voicings" vs anything to do with quality. Now, taking the components to extreme volume conditions may be a different story. Of course, using measuring tools are sure to show some difference based on sharing a power supply. |
@garyalex I'm talking Price wise. Plus, it all depends on what part of the food chain you are looking from. If I said "First Watt is high end", I would hear "dude...you don't know what high end is...First Watt, although nice, is mid fi at best". From my perspective, I see my equipment as mid fi or even upper mid fi collectively PRICE WISE. I'm sure I could find $50,000 amps that I feel my First Watt blows away sound-wise. |
@aberyclark: I get what you mean about the "mid-fi" comment but in my opinion what's actually important is what you said earlier in this thread: "To be honest, I have not wanted to listen to anything the past month or so. I have forced myself and its just not clicking. Not because my current system does not sound good....it sounds great. However, siting in my listening chair, all I see is clutter. I know everyone goes thru an audiophile "funk". however, I've seen some real simple systems of late to where its just turn it on, and enjoy the music." Do you really think that the "clutter" is what's preventing you from enjoying the music? I'm not being sarcastic. I could understand it if you said yes, because I've been there myself. At least one or twice that kind of thinking has lead me to selling and purchasing decisions that, in hindsight, have proved not to be good ones. I'm just saying be careful. Be as sure as you can be about what you're doing and why you're doing it. |
I would go with Pass INT-25. Its best integrated amplifier pass ever made. New industrial transistors (700A 2 per channel), huge heatsinks, heavily biased into class A, the simplest pre-amp topology (Wayne masterpiece). Herb Reichardt from stereophile liked it more compared to his xs + xa combo. Just give it a listen this amp. Incredible details and deep black ground, very open but not bright or fatigue sound (The luxman may sound to you a bit veiled when compared to INT-25). Plenty of power (don't let the specs fool you) I drive Sonus Faber Olympica 2 speakers with moderate sensitivity (88db) and benign impedance (3 ohms) |
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