https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/1509-yamaha-a-s3200-integrated-amplifier

There’s much to be said for simple elegance, whether in a graceful haiku or Yamaha’s exquisite A-S3200. With the latter, you simply connect your turntable and CD player, or any source with analog outputs, connect your speakers, sit back, and enjoy impeccably musical sound. There’s no app to install, no digital inputs to configure, no calibration to be done. To sound its best it needs quite a bit of burn-in, as well as time to warm up each time it’s turned on—but as I sat there watching the needles of its beautiful level meters dancing along in time to the sublimely reproduced music, I knew it was worth the wait. The A-S3200 isn’t cheap, but considering the quality of its construction, the uniqueness of its handsome, classic visual design, and the quality of its sound, it’s a stunning integrated amplifier that I’d be proud to own and prominently display in my audio system.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/moonriver-404-reference-integrated-amplifier

For more longevity, he made the 404 Reference easily serviceable: It has a removable bottom that gives access to both sides. “When you have through-hole components rather than surface-mount components, and you have access to both sides of the PCB [printed circuit board], you can service the amplifier very easily,” he said. “The chip I use has a very short signal path and doesn’t have crosstalk or interference between the discrete transistors that are usually used in a power amplifier. It also includes essential protection circuits that guard against damage from overheating, short circuits, and voltage spikes. This creates the kind of transparency that only single-ended amplifiers have.

REVIEW: The PrimaLuna EVO 100 Integrated Amplifier

The different sonic characters available with different tubes, is more than another article, so perhaps we’ll pick that up in an upcoming article or video, so stay tuned. Either way, this is another aspect of PrimaLuna ownership that really ups the fun factor. With it so easy to swap tubes, both small signal and output – it’s easy to fine tune your EVO100 exactly to your taste. Me, I’m not a big tube roller anymore, and vintage NOS EL34s are prohibitively expensive. But if you have to go down that rabbit hole, it can be as long of a journey as you’d like it to be. Not to mention Kevin Deal and Upscale Audio have the biggest stash of tubes on the planet, so their staff can help you with your journey.

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/1002-vinnie-rossi-l2i-signature-edition-integrated-amplifier-dac

Finding a suitable point of comparison for the L2i Signature Edition was difficult, given its uniqueness. No one will be cross-shopping the far-more-boutique Vinnie Rossi against my reference integrated amp-DAC, Hegel’s H590, with its whopping 301Wpc (8 ohms) output and its Scandinavian minimalism. The same goes for other high-priced integrateds I’ve recently reviewed, such as Simaudio’s Moon 700i V2 and Constellation Audio’s Inspiration Integrated 1.0. As good as those amps are, they’re not, well, special.

Gryphon Audio Designs’ Diablo 300 ($15,990), by contrast, is special. Like the Vinnie Rossi, this massive integrated can be ordered with an optional DAC ($5990) or phono ($2250) stage—but unlike the L2i-SE, not with both. The powerful Diablo boasts 300/600/900Wpc into 8/4/2 ohms, and is nominally class-AB but biased into class-A for the first 10W. It’s been several years since I’ve had the Gryphon in my listening room, but it made a strong impression on me. Its obvious power advantage means that it can be paired with any speakers in any room. It was a current monster, with staggering control of the bass, and its sound through its optional digital inputs was similar to the L2i-SE’s. But the Diablo’s appearance, best described as gothic noir, is the opposite of classy or elegant—it looks like an amp that demands respect, speaking more to the owner’s fight-or-flight response than does the Vinnie Rossi’s greater décor-friendliness.

“I found the Strata to be quite robust operationally. In digital playback, it never failed to swiftly lock-in and play the digital signals fed through it. Using its USB input, high-resolution PCM signals up to 384 kHz and DSD signals up to 5.6 MHz (DSD128) were processed reliably. Even in streaming mode (Bridge), I found that the Strata worked well, although a bit sluggish in buffering tracks in comparison to a specialty streaming device like the Auralic Aries G1. This might be attributed to the smaller buffer capacity of the Strata’s Bridge as compared to the Aries G1. The PS Audio Connect streaming app was quite easy to use and it had an appealing interface. It had only basic streaming control functions, but it was quite sufficient for streaming control of the Strata”

https://www.stereophile.com/content/mcintosh-mac7200-stereo-receiver

I was shocked by the sudden crashing transients that open “2049” from Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch’s score for Blade Runner 2049 (CD, Epic 19075800852), followed by eerie reverberant echoes and sustained new-age synth chords. The MAC7200 delivered the same explosive dynamics, beginning with a faint, staticky whine followed by crashing heavy-metal chords on another Hans Zimmer soundtrack, The Dark Knight (CD, Warner Sunset 511103-2)—specifically the track “Why So Serious?”

I enjoyed the line stage and amplifier’s tubelike warmth and highly detailed imaging in the title track “Going Home” from a CD reissue of The L.A. Four: Going Home (CD, East Wind 32-JD-10043), which placed Laurindo Almeida’s guitar to the left, Ray Brown’s standing bass just left of center, Shelly Manne’s drums slightly to the right of center, and Bud Shank’s alto flute and saxophone far right.

The Ref160 gives off a lot of heat, but that comes with powerful tube-amp territory. ARC uses cooling fans to keep operating temperatures within optimal range and extend tube life. Since I placed the Ref160S in front of my equipment rack to make connecting it to and from my system easier, I did hear the fan during very quiet music passages, even with the fan speed set to low. I believe most users would place the amp in a more room-friendly position, and that would, no doubt, be farther away from the listening position. Let me add, the Ref160M/S aesthetics are a welcome change for ARC whose typical look has tended to be more industrial and functional. I liked the see-through faceplate, but I turned off the lighted VU meters, as I found them to be a little distracting. A friend thought they looked really cool and wanted to see them with their light level all the way up.