recommend PRAT Integrated amplifiers (not Naim)

A quote about PRAT from member secretguy

@jmarini2 It's term given to qualities that golden ears think they can discern. Much like sightings of Bigfoot. It's meaningless.

Sorry I have  immensely disagree, how many here actually play an instrument, I play drums and have played in bands and recorded a cd all analogue, have played with people who have been on gold lps and a platinum lp even did a full gig with a nine time grammy nominee who turned to me and said "you guys can really play"

PRAT is the essence of music as My favorite lead singer Steven Tyler says "its 2s and 4s man 2s and 4s" and he nails them like nobodys business, anyway the audio world is full of words to describe systems, soundstage, air, etched, black background etc.......the list is endless....here is the problem, real musicians have no idea what you are talking about.

A truly musical system needs no words, when it is musical you nod your head tap your feet, sing along etc, just like when you hear real music played well.

In my opinion the more audiophile words that are used to describe something the truly less musical it is, I have heard a fair amount of gear in my home, and some do a great job of presenting the audiophile qualities but they turn the 2s and 4s into 2s and 2s.....not musical

100% @superhonestben. With music I know, I immediately hear the lack of PRaT. I used to play the violin and listen to a good amount of live music. The presence of PRaT allows what's going on in the music to make sense to me. I hear this in live music provided that the performers are skilled enough to convey the meaning of the music through interaction of different voices, instruments and parts of the music. To me, the lack of PRaT causes these relationships between different voices, instruments and parts of the music to be difficult to understand.

And yes, @tonywinga, I also hear clearly that some turntables have PRaT, namely Linn, Rega and typically lighter weight designs and some turntables typically don't, namely high mass designs. Though I have to admit that the TechDAS Air Force One that I heard had both the solidity of sound that high mass turntables provide together with PRaT. Very impressive, but I don't think I could ever justify spending $150k for a turntable.😁

Naim amplification does have PRaT, but I’ve now heard other brands that offer sufficient PRaT but with more tonal color and richness than what I’ve heard from Naim amps. Pass amps stand out to me in this respect. @ghdprentice I’ll have to check out Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, and VAC as I haven’t listened to amplifiers from those brands since the 90s.

Another lesser known brand that comes to mind for me is YBA, I listened to a YBA Integre DT integrated back in the 90s and the golden hued warmth of its sound (along with good PRaT) has stuck in my mind to this day. Unfortunately this French brand doesn’t have great distribution in the US.

Exposure from England might be another brand to check out. I find that small British integrateds often offer good PRaT, while big, powerful and complicated Class A/B American amplifiers don't seem to convey PRaT more frequently than not in my experience. I've heard that explained as the big power supplies that power these big amps can't turn on a dime.

Every component of a system contributes into conveying or not conveying PRaT. It is not the realm of only one component… although one component can kill it.

Kinki Studio EX-M1 on a budget

Boulder 866 next step up

Cost no object Soulution 330

I have a Gryphon Diablo 300 but I wouldn't say PRAT is a strong suit