Amp Search and Upgrade

@dadork Funny you don't like the looks of the Kinki.  It is highly complemented in reviews.  I certainly don't think I have good taste in what looks good so my opinion isn't very valuable but I like the simplicity.  It is generally referred to as a swiss look as is the sound. But I agree you shouldn't buy it if you don't like it.

I'm just saying you should realize that the pre is really going to hold back any amp.  I don't know how you can evaluate any amp with a bad preamp.  think of perfection as total clarity and every amp or pre removes some of it.  Lets use some numbers I'll pull out of my armpit:  suppose your great amp removes 2% and your pre 1% of the "goodness".   Now you've got a 97% signal.  Now put a peamp removing 30% of the goodness and it doesn't matter much waht the amp does.  It will be hard to tell a 2% amp from a 10% amp on my arbitrary scale. 

I retired my parasound system when I switched from inefficient speakers to efficient speakers.  However, I wanted the HT bypass function on the Parasound preamp so I tried it in front of my new tube amp that I would call a 97% amp on my arbitrary scale above.  It was like putting up a thin wall between me and the speakers.  My amp couldn't shine. Lasted 5 minutes.

Jerry

Having the Node 2i also but using a reference external DAC is not the issue at all.  We also have the Aurender and we will compare this week also using an external DAC.

You can upgrade the amp for not that much and see how you like something when you purchase new.

IMO having had a ton of amplifiers and also we build our own, find a nice BEL SS power amp.  Musical, not that expensive, etc. These amps sound fantastic even the old early models.  They are also easy to upgrade when the time comes.  Other than that for SS you have the HK Citation power amps that are excellent and not very expensive.

Happy Listening.

You should get good money for your integrated, use that as part of your funds…I’ve got the anthem 225mk2, it’ll put out 400 w at 4 ohms and is very clean. I use the NAD C658 preamp / streamer / DAC and it’ll give you a great DAC plus nice preamp combo. Sound wonderful with MQA source tidal tracks on my Martin Logan EM-ESL’s.   Those two together are roughly $4k. 

What do you think of doing something like buying a good pair of monoblocks and using the Hint 6 as pre for the time being? There's a pair of Bryston 7B ST's used on audiomart for 2900. This would leave some $$ on the table so that when I sell the Parasound I could get a nice matching preamp. I was also looking at Teddy Pardo MB100 monos and their pre.

@tk21 I haven't really ever had a chance to listen to a Class D amp and from what I read I don't know if it's the route for me. It is probably more fantastic than I would imagine. It seems like an awful lot to cram into one unit and I would have concerns about all the processing. Tell me why I'm wrong.