Carey SLI 80 vs. Cayin A88T vs. Primaluna PL2?

Well, they're all nice, but do you have a source component and a pair of speakers in mind? It's all kind of relative; they all are quality amps. I would say the Cary is most overview gestalt of the three, the Cayin is the most cuddly muscially, and the Primaluna is most detailed. I would try and have a listen to a couple of speaker sets with each, if you can manage it, and a couple of sources as well. Definitely mix and match if you are just starting out in a dealer listening room - if you buy a couple of things from a dealer, they will not mind the rearranging, or shouldn't. All three work fairly well with 87-91dB speakers, so you shouldn't have too much of a problem matching.

Thank you Biomimetic. My speakers are Dali Ikon 6. 91.5db sensitive, 6ohm nominal, 4.2ohm minimum. Source is NAD 542 CD plyer. These may change in the future. I did'nt quite understand your description of the Cary. Another contender would be the Rogue Audio Tempest II or Cronus. Unfortunately I can only audition the Cary. Any further description of their respective sound would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much,
-Bill

I would probably look for a Cary here on 'gon after you audition - there are plenty of them floating around, mostly people like them so much they think they can do better (by moving up the Cary chain or decide to try their single ended amp the SEI-300). You get the big KT-88 bottles with the SLI-80 as well and they respond well to swapping. I was saying I think the Cary is the most audiophile/musical of the bunch although it does not do detail or warm and romantic quite as much. Some people will of course disagree with this, you can find many posts to this effect I'm sure but I think they are coming from a solid state perspective more or wanting more specific details to pop, but I find the Cary to be transparent and revealing, without necessarily focusing on making things palatable or making them sexier by pointing out little details. The other two do these things more, in my opinion, is all. I would think actually a NAD would be a good match with it or the Primaluna. It also sounds like your speakers will work quite well with any of them, so I bet you're set. The one thing I can say about the Cayin is at the price you really can't go wrong. I think the Cary will last you longest, and be the most versatile though. It also responds well to upgrades, and is built so that you can do them.