Intg Amps: Hegel 590 vs NAD M33 Masters vs Gryphon Diablo 120

In general in this pursuit you get what you pay for… particularly when you get to the ~ $7 - $10K or above. These are professionally designed, well reviewed and must be sonically of value or they are not going to sell for long.

Bringing in an audiophile component into your system will likely give it a big boost. My rule of thumb is you need to jump at least 2x in investment to get a clear and substantial improvement. So, I think the Gyphon meets that criteria.

However, you are talking about a system. While you can absolutely make good speakers sound great by investing more in electronics. In the end, you have a system and to have it perform well you need all equal performing carefully chosen components .

My rule of thumb in investment is 35% speakers, 15% streamer, 15% DAC, 20% preamp, and 15% amp. It is not a hard and fast rule. But I have gone through half a dozen upgrades over the last fifty years and usually ended up about there. My current system is $32K, $22K, $17K, $17K, $22K respectively… as an example.

Those of us that are really passionate about this tend to plan our upgrades to a new level, although it may take several years to get there.

I hope this is helpful.

I would take this one over the 3 mentioned. I used to own it and went up the lineup since I liked it so much.

Krell K - 300i Integrated Amp W/DAC MAKE OFFER! For Sale - US Audio Mart

Another vote against NAD M33 Masters.

Happy Listening!

Second sentence, "And no, I’m not presently interested in separating components that much further (e.g. separate DAC; separate amp; clock; etc. etc)."

Very first reply, "Have you considered an outboard DAC?"

Do people not read or just figure they’re going to disregard what’s been asked or already stated? Baffling.

Gryphon by miles

Agreed. @gill_benedek , if you can  get a used Gryphon within your budget, throw the Hegel and NAD in a ditch (it's a no brainer).