2. amps-preamps
  3. 178295-175370

Recommend me a Class A Integrated Amp (or sound like Class A amp)

I have been rocking a Cabasse Riga setup with a Sony TA-A1ES (a heavily biased Class A design outputting first 15 watts as Class A). I absolutely love the clarity and natural sound of it. I’ve decided to keep to Class A to upgrade if possible because the Riga does not need a lot of juice to drive.

Accuphase Class As are eye-watering expensive in my country, but thankfully Esoteric prices their Class A F-03A at much more reasonable $8600 USD. Luxman unfortunately has stopped producing Class As, so they are out of equation and besides strangely they are more expensive than Esoteric in my country. Pass Labs, well, way out of my budget.

So, for around $8600 USD or less what are my other options if I want a similar sound to Class A without going down the tube route?

I’ve heard the new HifiRose RA180 sounds quite class A like. And I think the Yamaha AS series sound quite close as well. Any more options should I consider? The pricing of other brands should be similar to US.

128x128auroravengeance
auroravengeance's avatar
auroravengeance OP
128 posts
 

The Coda CSIB and the Krell K300i are available to demo in my city and I would try them out. 

Soulnote A2 and Yamaha AS3200 come highly recommended among my circle as well. 

I will be trying a TEAC UD-701 and AP0-701 stack soon with my speakers. I've heard it paired with a pair of Sonus Faber Lumina III and the speakers sounded much more expensive than they were. 

inna
7,190 posts
 

I didn't say a bad word about Luxman, I understand those who choose it. Accuphase class A just has more sophisticated sound. At least to me.

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,245 posts
 

@auroravengeance ,

 I‘be been very happy with a Hegel H390. It’s class A/B and has a pretty neutral sound to it. Check it out.

All the best.

JD

auroravengeance's avatar
auroravengeance OP
128 posts
 

I try to keep an open mind. Thankfully my speakers are light enough to carry around easily. I will probably audition Luxman 509X and see whether it would be good for me.

I’ve heard the Teac stack I mentioned above yesterday and I was really surprised at the sound despite AP-701 being just a class D. Sound is clear, balanced, and sweet, but a little laid back, but it could be just the Sonus Faber Lumina’s characteristic. I will bring my Riga to to the dealer to investigate further. The stack is priced at $4600 USD and seems like really bang for the buck. 

 

 

yyzsantabarbara
4,582 posts
 

The KRELL K-300i is excellent. The internal DAC in the unit is worth the $1K because of the HDMI input alone. However, a few dedicated DACs under $1700 were preferred by me over the KRELL's internal DAC.

Since the KRELL is a warm and very smooth sounding unit. I preferred a DAC that was transparent. Maybe not for everyone but transparent DACs are not expensive these days. I am referring to great measuring DACs like a Topping D90LE | Benchmark DAC3B | Matrix Audio. 

Saying all of that in the final few months I had the K-300i I used the unit with the built-in network streamer (ROON READY) and the internal DAC. So convenient and very good sound. 

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