All-in-One units for retiring audiophile & music lovers in 2025, say what?


A good audio buddy friend closing in on his later parts of the golden years contacted me over the holidays. He started  talking rather excitedly about these new all-in-one units. [Please disregard if this is nothing new for you and/or not of any real interest]. This story and ask below might not resonate with some. Hopefully others who can relate might reply, understanding a lot of what this is really about. A winding down audiophile friend, looking for simplicity of listening to music is what I can share up front. 

I found my audiophile friend's [all of the sudden] inquiry interesting, me asking what he's looking at buying -  say what?, and starting to ask him "does it sound good, look good, is it light weight or heavy, could you see it replacing everything as your new center piece in your big room, and all the other stuff gone - really?", "Say more". He started to share more. Please read on if any of this is resonating, Thanks.  

We start talking and reminiscing about our early Go-To receivers from the mid 1970s. The big all-in-one boxes. Wider cases, big transformers, powerful, weighty, great FM tuners, tone controls, Big Stereo Sound.  How it was back then - simple to listen to FM, big roller dial, plug in your turntable, tape decks, and enjoy the music for days. No other worries, let it play. Remember doing that?  I bet many members here on Audiogon lived all of that too, and none of us will ever forget it. I won't. 

I also bring this up because It dawned on me, I started asking myself wow - is this really occurring all over again in some new and exciting way. Like a giddy kid  I start researching with him seeing more - woah, what? I did realize some of this [sort of an era renewal] was already occurring past few years, still not quite aware myself of what's out there, or coming back, maybe puzzled a bit and curious.

Seeing more videos, familiar reviewers, all touching on this topic past 1-2 yrs. Then you see some of the same new units popping up with all of the reviewers, hmmm. 

So my fairly extreme multi [tube/amp/component] audio buddy [past 60 years] starts showing me these new generation [mostly] solid state units he's been looking at, seemingly ready to hang up ALL of the separate components.  Says he simply wants "one box" now to "do it all", "getting rid of all this other stuff", to just "play music" and "be done". These were his exact words recently. Some may relate here. It kinda hit me. Something to be said for simplicity and just listening to music. Yes. 

Next Generation - 

Looking closely at these new units with my friend - seeing somewhat old-familiar design approaches, renewed, by real engineers. Ahhh, hey, there we see big transformers, a stout amplifier section, nice capacitors, thick copper wiring, big screws on power caps, robust binding posts, nice built in DAC, built-in streamer with tons of access, yep - tone controls, loudness control, low noise, meters, lighting - hmmm what's going on here.  I soon realized I too need to pay attention and look around more closely - to see what he's really looking at and why. It starts to make a lot of sense, it's coming into a focus, just like the '70s era receivers were.

Fast forward a few weeks -  Buddy just ordered his new all-in-one unit, maybe downsizing speakers. He's dropping back down to a new/familiar 70s style midsize speaker as well.  He was initially anxious, a little nervous maybe, wondering - and decided to just go forward and "not look back" he says. Some of you may already be well down this path, or even doing this in 2nd, 3rd systems now. The whole thing is sort of a throwback [in some ways] to me, sort of what it use to be like 50yrs ago. Or feels that way to me.  They say great ideas recycle back to themselves. Maybe so. Observing closer now.  

Wow, wouldn't it be really cool if it could be all done really well, in one-box, once again? No more separates component listening - just hit the power button one time, turn up the volume, and let it play in the big room, listen, walk around, no worries - just let it play for days on end. I bet many  here totally get why I posted this. It's for an audio friend.  

ASK:

Please share your story. It would be so cool for him to read any of your stories. I know he would be interested and appreciate your wind-back consolidation journey too - if you have one like his to share in some way.  Particularly those who've made great strides towards major consolidation and still enjoying the music.  Dear buddy is starting the journey now to separate himself from his vast array of separates, lots of stuff, selling everything else soon, and going back to "one box" for simple music in the big room. I'm supporting him along the way on this particularly journey.    

Thanks a million in advance for your replies - care to share your familiar story at all?

 

 

 

 

 

decooney

I was on the same vector—time to downsize (especially speakers). And this led me to audition the Atoll SDA200 mentioned above. Blew me away, and made me postpone my downsizing in my big room— bought an Atoll IN300 EVO instead. Keeping my Dali Mentor 6 floor standers and instead I’m going to set up a small rig in the bedroom. Dali Menuet SEs arriving soon and now on the hunt for a small all in one for them. I have a Cambridge EVO 75 driving my tv speakers but I think I need more grunt and more grunt. Will look at some of the units identified here.

"@tomaswv ...but I think I need more grunt and more grunt. Will look at some of the units identified here."

 

You might be in luck for your Dali Menuet’s about now. Looking inside a few of these new beast all-in-ones units caught my own attention originally for my friend’s research - him trying to make this transition in a mindful and semi-excited way.

Now I’m like "woah" myself - seeing some units with big toroidal transformers, big or multple groupings of power caps, upper line DAC chips inside, nice streaming service accesss, weighty units like the golden era receiver days.

Some nice integrateds with notable dacs/streaming services added, tube front-ends showing up inside now too. Some of those still retaining or adding reasonable quality phono preamp sections inside too. Coming together nicely.

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My all tube system is running this morning, playing some nondescript and beautiful streamed "morning coffee" albums, thinking hard about how nice it sounds right now, just super nice. Then wondering how I myself will struggle to give this up and consolidate. Its going to take a real gem all-in-one unit for me to make the move. This has been a fun journey helping my friend and working with all of you here on this. 

 

 

 

baconboy Have you considered a Hegel h400 or a Michi x3?

Not yet as all-in-one, thanks. Saw a 2022 review in this a while back, a few pics inside,

Michi X3, on Rotel sitehttps://www.rotel.com/product/x3

 

"The Michi X3 Integrated Amplifier delivers uncompromised audio performance conveniently packaged in an elegant industrial design. The X3 delivers 350 Watts of Class AB output power into 4 ohm loads maintaining musical accuracy with exceptional acoustic detail from the Analog, Digital, PC-USB, apt-X Bluetooth and Moving Magnet Phono Stage source inputs."

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Hegel

As for the Hegel, will leave that to the Hegel pros to weigh in. A few folks I know prefer external dacs for this, yet maybe they’ve upgraded it some more, who knows.

New page reads -

"EISA Premium Streaming Amplifier 2024 - 2025"

 

 

Power output: 2 x 250 W into 8 Ω @ 1kHz 1% THD, 100/120/230V AC, Dual Mono
Streaming: Spotify Connect, Roon Ready, Tidal Connect, Google Cast, AirPlay, airable Internet Radio and Podcast, UPnP

20kg 44lbs! Dayum and look inside, like a big powerful receiver amp plus -

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Clean and simple on back

 

Check this out for a speaker solution. Go to http://Musicalcocoon.com  This unconventional speaker goes way deep into how your system sounds. It’s amazing how you can feel the music like you’re in a giant bubble. It’s not an April fools joke it really is true. I have a friend whose wife was able to listen to music again, headphones didn’t work and regular room speakers didn’t work but the way that this fills your head with music is just exceptional and let her hear parts of the tracks that she had lost up to five years ago. Many of you who have lost some of your hearing might have an interest in this and those of you who are being always told to turn down the music or turn down the TV.