Audiophilepure

https://www.stereophile.com/content/rotel-ra-6000-integrated-amplifier

Neither Rotel’s website nor the RA-6000 owner’s manual give any specifications (power, gain, and output impedance for example) for their 1/8″ front-panel headphone output. So I asked Coates for more information. “The headphone output on the RA-6000 is designed to be used with most lower-impedance headphone designs. 32 ohms is the design reference, but there’s plenty of drive for headphones of slightly higher impedances as well,” he wrote in an email. “600 ohm, low sensitivity monsters need not apply, though! The rated output is 120mW into 32 ohms full bandwidth at less than 0.02% THD. Distortion rises quickly beyond that point, with a maximum rated output of 140mW [also into 32 ohms]. Output impedance of the headphone amplifier circuit is rated at 680 ohms.” (footnote 1) The specified gain at the headphone output is 14.8dB.

Those specifications caused me to wonder: What headphones might a typical RA-6000 owner use? I didn’t have a ¼” to 1/8″ adapter, so I reached for my use-it-all-the-time, works-with-every-amp Sony MDR-Z1R headphones, which employ dynamic drivers, cost $1798, and come stock with a 1/8″ plug. Their 100dB/ mW sensitivity and 64 ohm impedance classifies them as easy to drive, and their style suggests something a Brooklyn hipster might use if they owned a Rotel integrated.

Toward the conclusion of this evaluation, I challenged the S300 a final time. Thanks to the generosity of MBL’s North American distributor (for which I’m forever grateful) I still had the remarkable MBL 126 compact Radialstrahlers on hand. And if there was an octave range where the S300 might show a little temperament, it would be through one of the most transparent midrange/tweeter combinations I’ve ever experienced. Few loudspeakers are more revealing of timbre and texture or as transparent and sensitive to low-level detail as these marvelous omnidirectional three-way compacts. However, they are sensitive to electronics, demanding accurate, reliable. and generous amounts of power. I typically drive them with MBL’s own Cadenza C51 180Wpc integrated ($9800), a Jürgen Reis-designed Linear Analog Switching Amplifier (LASA). The Stellar S300 put forth an excellent effort driving the Radialstrahlers. On larger-scale brass and wind pieces like the sweeping Liberty Fanfare [Wilson Audio], they demonstrated superb command and control over the barrage of heavy percussion. But in direct comparison, the S300 lacked the epic bass extension and hard-core slam of the MBL C51, a trademark of Reis designs. The top end might have been a little drier, too, lacking the effortless harmonic bloom of the MBL amp. Nonetheless, the S300 put on an impressive show, to say the least.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/ps-audio-bhk-m600-power-amplifier

More controlled aggression was also in evidence with The Stone Roses’ cheekily titled sophomore album The Second Coming [Geffen 424 503-2], which might be blighted by vocalist Ian Brown’s slap-dash approach to singing in tune but has a thrilling ‘in-the-live-room’ production. The standout track ‘Daybreak’ benefited from the BHK M600’s out-of-the-blocks slam, giving the loose-limbed rhythm section an epic scale to match the spotlight shone on John Squire’s outro guitar solo.

From the same album, ‘Good Times’ ends in a glorious upbeat jam, drummer John ‘Reni’ Wren flitting between ride and crash cymbals, bassist Mani running up and down the fretboard and Squire again squealing away on his Les Paul. It was a performance of extravagant energy, detail and panache. These amps let the good times roll.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/halcro-dm58-monoblock

But Halcro isn’t tunnel-visioned, so the company also recognises that there are other benefits, including the way that separated, screened boxes perfectly suit vertical stacking to create a small footprint. Well, ‘Aussie small’ at least, because however much Halcro wants to boast that each 56.75kg unit occupies less floor space than most conventional amplifiers, a 400x400mm footprint is hardly Cinderella-esque. Height, by the way, is an awe-inspiring 790mm, so a pair of dm58s monoblocks is a sight to behold.

Cleverly, the company also points out that this ‘aesthetically relates well to the typical vertical speaker formats’, and I have to admit that they looked right at home next to the Wilson WATT Puppy System 6 they were driving. Also mentioned on the unit’s behalf were the fact that freestanding amps don’t require support stands and that the sheer acreage provides maximum surface area for heat dissipation. No matter how hard these were driven, they never got more than lukewarm.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/ps-audio-bhk-m600-power-amplifier

More controlled aggression was also in evidence with The Stone Roses’ cheekily titled sophomore album The Second Coming [Geffen 424 503-2], which might be blighted by vocalist Ian Brown’s slap-dash approach to singing in tune but has a thrilling ‘in-the-live-room’ production. The standout track ‘Daybreak’ benefited from the BHK M600’s out-of-the-blocks slam, giving the loose-limbed rhythm section an epic scale to match the spotlight shone on John Squire’s outro guitar solo.

From the same album, ‘Good Times’ ends in a glorious upbeat jam, drummer John ‘Reni’ Wren flitting between ride and crash cymbals, bassist Mani running up and down the fretboard and Squire again squealing away on his Les Paul. It was a performance of extravagant energy, detail and panache. These amps let the good times roll.

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/marantz-cinema-50-av-receiver-review

The one complaint I mustered is that the Cinema 50’s porthole display includes no telltale for surround mode, including Atmos or DTS:X, so when streaming content from a television’s internal app (as I do for Netflix and others), there’s no visual confirmation that you’re actually getting what you expect. And because the receiver’s on-screen “Info” page is, of course, not visible with the TV sourcing its own video, and “Info” data does not appear or scroll across the receiver’s front-panel circle, you’re left wholly in the dark.

But if this is the only remaining niggle I can come up with, you might conclude that the Marantz is a strong choice for a thoroughly modern home-theater control center. And given the Cinema 50’s fine audio and video results, broad feature list, and generally solid ergonomics, you’d be correct.

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/1752-rotel-diamond-series-ra-6000-integrated-amplifier-dac

My favorite integrated amplifier-DAC in this price range is still the NAD Masters M33 ($5999), which features 200Wpc of pristine power from its Purifi Eigentakt amplifier modules, Dirac Live room correction, and BluOS streaming capability. To my ears, Eigentakt-based amplifiers provide the most satisfying sound in this price range. However, this isn’t to say that there aren’t many other excellent-sounding, similarly priced integrated amplifiers, and the Eigentakt’s ultraclean sound might not suit everyone’s taste. The RA-6000 doesn’t have as many features as the M33, but it costs $1500 less and has a similar, if not quite as dead-neutral sound.

Diamond jubilee

The Rotel RA-6000 absolutely deserves to be considered one of the best integrated amplifier-DACs around the $5k price point. It may lack a couple of features, the most notable being a room-correction system, but if you don’t want or don’t need room correction, it offers a ton of performance and flexibility for the money. This new Diamond Series RA-6000 really takes Rotel’s classic amplification products to the next level of performance; updated, but still maintaining their familiar, classic look, and coming in at a price below that of Rotel’s highly regarded Michi products.