Warmer sounding Solid State

I assume an integrated in the same price range (under $1k?).  Perhaps take a look at the NAD C 368.

Parasound Halo line

Yup, Parasound is definitely warm.  It generally has pretty good high frequency response (depending on speaker), but it will have a little slower attack on the midrange.

Digital Amplifier Company (DAC) does a great job with this. A meat on the bones digital amp. 30 day return policy.
Perhaps its not the amp but the source is a little "hot"?
ATC also makes very good class A and Class A/B biased into class A. I have owned both and prefer the sound, convenience, and price point of the DAC amps. Contact Tommy he's a great guy and will work with you.

https://www.cherryamp.com/

pass labsnothing is rolled off, tube like sounding midrange and very rich, textured, detailed bass. tube sound with transistor based reliability. very good control on pretty much any type of woofer and frequency response.

Musical Fidelity tends toward the warmer side of neutral.

Classe CA series amps

I’ve had a few Parasound Halo pieces, and I don’t concur with the above mentioned “slower attack on the mid-range” characterization.    I haven’t heard anything like that with several different loudspeakers.

But everything in the chain has a say in the resulting sound.  

I have been leaning towards the Parasound P6 paired with my modest Adcom 535ii then upgrading to a more legitimate power in the future.


I did look into the Musical Fidelity M3i as well.  I like the idea of a completely analog unit.  No DAC, dedicated preamp section and toroidal power transformer.  I think this has the potential to stick around in my system for many more years than the P6.  This is the reason I went with the PM8005 in the first place with all of the “Built like a tank” reviews I read.  


Soundwise I am not sure what differences I will see. 

I have the Musical Fidelity M6si and really like it.  The M3si should be cut from a similar sonic cloth, but I haven't had the chance to hear it.

Belles Aria integrated.

arcam

McIntosh (especially older) and Sugden (beautiful sound, and affordable if you don't buy Masterclass).

Luxman, Harmon Kardon Citiation 12 and XX (the HK XX is one of the best sounding SS amps I have heard if you can find one).  Any FM Acoustics amp.  Depends on your budget.  Older Sony FET power amps, etc.  All the vintage power amps offer that type of sound and you don't have to spend thousands to buy them.

Happy Listening.

Why "warm" sounding?  How about "honest to the signal" sounding?!?  

Electrocompaniet if you can find one used!  They are the most tubelike without the minors shortcomings and fuss of tubes. I was a dealer for them 2000-2002 until I closed my business and they were terrific.  I kept a pair of their 600wpc monoblocks in fact for some time. Best of luck!

Anything class A leans towards the warmer sound you’re looking for. Pass labs, luxman or accuphase class a will suit you but expensive. 

@bpoletti Warmer sounding because my speakers have a bit of gain in the upper registers.  I am looking for a power option that will balance them out.

@10000_hz_legend 

You using any thing to clean the power feeding your equipment?

An expert amp designer recently noted here someplace that harsh speaker treble with SS amps is simply the nature of transistors...I've owned SS amps that weren't harsh particularly, but the tube amps I've owned and prefer these days have a more natural treble response. 

I would not say the Marantz is the end all sound that you want to achieve. There are much better sounding integrated amps out there that are warm sounding, like from Classe and Mcintosh which are excellent companies. There are also  natural sounding integrated amps from Hegel that sound just right. You might want to look at a nice tube integrated that has enough power to drive your speakers, like the rogue Cronus magnum with the kt120 tubes. Or you might want to look at the new sprout100 from ps audio for $599.
i have owned or still own all of these products mentioned above and I have enjoyed/or still enjoy them.

Almost any Pass Labs  integrated amp will solve your problem.
About the best SS you can get with moving to tubes.

Clayton Audio,  which run class A and leans toward the warmish "organic" side...

Surprised no one has mentioned the Hegal Amps  or Krell. I have a Hegal H160 and have tested the Parasound Halo Integrated (did side by side comparison for one week) and to my ears and that of some experts - the Hegal won; https://www.soundstageaccess.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/691-parasound-halo-integrated-dac-integ... 

The Hegel 160 was stated in your link as having a somewhat forward sound.  This would be the wrong characteristic for someone looking for a warm sound.

Find a retro nad, you cant beat that for the price and rework.I build them up on a daily basis, run a retro repair center in ct sa.

@aniwolfe
Yes I have.  Will it help??  I ordered one and am actually expecting it to get delivered today.  A very modest Furman AC-215A.  On the cheap, but I just wanted to see if it would help the situation. 


You see, I have a Peachtree Nova 150 setup next to the Marantz PM8005 right now and have been going back and forth between the two.  The Peachtree pulls out those brittle top end tendencies a little more than the PM8005, and generally I like the sound of the Marantz quite a bit better.  It has a better sound stage and sounds a little more natural to my ear.  However, I am eager to see if a bit of power conditioning helps the Peachtree and evens the playing field. 

@213runnin you are correct, my apologies..guess that's why this forum is s ok important for us neophytes 😁

Would speaker cables help with this top end brittleness too?  I am currently using a some 12awg 99.95% Oxygen free cable that I put banana ends on.  Not the best, but not the worst either.  

I've heard the expensive Marantz quite a bit , I would buy the 5K ones if they lowered the price to 500 bucks .

@10000_hz_legend  saod" @bpoletti Warmer sounding because my speakers have a bit of gain in the upper registers.  I am looking for a power option that will balance them out."

Sounds like it would be better to get new speakers rather than to mask one problem with another.

You could try an eq like the Schiit Loki. I hear it's pretty transparent and it's only 150 bucks. 

@bpoletti

That's a bummer.  I just ordered these speakers.  I gotta give them a little more time before I off them. 


I just tried them using a Nuforce DDA-120 that was powering my desktop setup and they sounded much better.  I then added the power conditioner which got delivered today and they really opened up.  Much better sound stage, transparency and depth.  The highs are still forward, but controlled not.


I then tried the Peachtree on the power conditioner and got some pretty good results.  Again, much better detailed highs.  Nice and accurate and definitely less abrasive.  Sound stage was much better and I also saw the same increase in transparency and depth.  Now we are getting somewhere!

I have some technical issues with the Peachtree as well.  The high frequency noise that some others on the internet reported coming from the unit itself is indeed real.  It is not an issue when listening, but a thorn in my subconscious non the less.  I also sometimes get a burst of white noise when switching from active digital inputs.  Cringe-worthy. 

10000_hz_legend... maybe everyone else here knows what you mean by “Having some technical issues with my Marantz PM8005 interferring with other gear in my setup.” but I’m not sure the problem you are wanting to solve. Could you please elaborate? 

 I am using the Pm8005 in home theater bypass mode, and unfortunately to switch it in and out of this mode you need to hold down the button on the front of the unit for three seconds. which is a minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience none the less.



The main problem though is that the remote controls For both my receiver and the pm8005 control both units.  So it is impossible  to control the volume of  The PM 8005 without controlling the volume of the receiver as well.  Changing inputs on the receiver remote also results in input changes on the PM8005

Tweaks can only take you so far.  I too desired the warm, organic tube sound and ended up selling a Peachtree 150 in order to transition into tube gear.  If you want warm, tube-like sound you should get tubes instead of trying to "fix" your SS sound.

Hello,
Audio-GD is an chinese brand with incredibly ridiculous price-quality ratios in its products. 
I've had the Marantz PM-7005 and it sounded ok, not bad, but nothing ot of this world.
IMHO, you get much more for your money with Audio-Gd than with Marantz and many other brands. 
You can buy from them directly from their web page and get the product in a week or so. 

"Tres Payments" makes a point I've carped (that's right...carped!) about here and there...all the amp makers claiming a "tube like sound"...tubes are more tube-like than otherwise. Example: I, along with other older guitar players, was tricked (that's right...tricked!) into trying some SS guitar amps back in the day (that's right...the day!) and after an initial seduction period said, "no no no" and went right back to Boogies and Marshalls and Fenders, etc. I like tube hifi more than ANY SS stuff, and so should everybody else...I do have a Class D Ampeg bass amp though...it's actually kind of cool and weighs exactly 1/67th of an SVT, but ignore that for the purposes of this post.

I am liking the way the Nuforce DDA-120 Sounds with the power conditioner on it. 



Like I mentioned before, I'm beginning to believe that the top end (treble) problem I've been having wasn't really that there was too much top end or that the top end was too "forward' or "harsh", but more so that it was uncontrolled. 



I think now that I have this power conditioner in my setup I am hearing the same AMOUNT of treble, but it is no longer harsh because it is more controlled and the signal is cleaned up.  It now sounds more "delicate" up top. 



I still need to find something else to power these because the Nuforce will eventually have to go back into my desktop setup and I would like to have a little more power for these Dali Oberon's than the modest 50watts into 8ohms that the DDA-120 puts out.  I DO like the simplicity of the DDA.  Will the NAD C368 sound similar? 

Sunfire 300x2

Plinius SA 100 MkIII. Beefy, switchable between A/B and A.  Paired with a Plinius preamp . . . a great combo.

Warmer sounding SS is/are finely designed and executed devices that have very low distortion levels. Both odd & even order harmonic distortions are essentially negligible.
That's what makes them sound "different" and often more engaging and listenable. 

If you're committed to a new amp to achieve the results you're looking for ( priced lowest to highest):

McCormack DNA 0.5
Jeff Rowland Model 2
Pass Labs XA 30.5 

None offer monster truck power, but are terrific sounding amps that lean in that direction.

if you can address it from the source, look into the Musical Paradise MP-D2 DAC. Tubed rectifier and output, swappable caps and DAC chips. It'll warm the hell out of your system for $880, and it almost infinitely tweakable.

Im still liking my modwright kwi 200...descent power w/warmth....some earlier posts about guitar amps/tubes vs ss...come on I love my dr z amps...but this is audio...lol...aight!

One brief mention of Sunfire above, but worth repeating. They have two sets of outputs, one "voltage" and one "current" so you can use for a more tube-like sound if needed and change it if you ever go to a different speaker. Bob Carver is a somewhat controversial designer, but these are amps that punch above their weight.
Odyssey and Pass are other good choices, with the Pass costing more and arguably for good reason. Cheers,
Spencer