I don't want to steal the thunder from the OP, but of course it's better to audition if you can. In this case, I have had a brief listen to the Obelisk and also the Rega Brio. In my case, there is travel (6 hr minimum), and time involved in auditioning. In this price range, I'm thinking just give one a shot.
I purchased the Music Fidelity M6si and have paired with the Dynaudio Special 25,s connected via Tara labs The One speaker cable. The M6si is being fed thru a MacBook Pro with YBS USB cable with excellent results. Im a tweaker and have installed the SR Black fuses in the M6si ( 4 total ) which is a substantial upgrade like all the postings on the SR Black Fuses states I agree they are amazing. My house runs on an independent transformer from the main lines with fantastic sonic results on the M6si. My next tweak will be installing 10 ByBee filters, 6 off the secondary windings and 4 off the output signal to the speaker terminals.
I agree with the post above that the internal DAC is better then some are giving it credit for.
The M6si might not be the most revealing integrated out their but give it the proper set up and clean power and a few tweaks and it will surprise you on how good it is.
I have not listened to the Parasound, other choices in consideration were ,
Music Fidelity NV 800 Jeff Rowland MBL Vitus Pass Labs 60 & 150 DartZeel
At the end I chose the M6si for the simplicity of the one box solutions and didn't want to get caught up and the constant upgrade path that this hobby leads into.
melbguy1, only one potential problem with your recommendation as compared to the MF M6si. It's four times the MSRP. So instead of spending $3,000 by all means have it your way and spend $12,000. :)
I owned the Halo and was quite impressed. Again as stated, a swiss army knife of integrated amps. How some people say it sounded "bad" is beyond me but so be it. I did sell it to fund a Wyred 4 Sound ST500 integrated which I am extremely pleased with. I drive Magnepan .7's which like all maggies, love current. I owned one MuFi amp in the day, can't remember the model but very much enjoyed that amp as well. There are many good choices in your price range so features play a part too. I enjoyed the Yamaha 1000 series as well, not your Mom's box store Yamaha.
@gdhal , there is a Vitus RI-100 on the ’Gon right now with 50hrs. The guy is asking $8k, but you could probably bang that down to $7.5k. Still a stretch, but that would be a really nice upgrade.
NAD C317, Rogue Cronus Magnum, Hegel H200 and now the Accuphase E-600. All great integrated amplifiers which I'm thankful to have owned, I hope the Accuphase is the last I ever buy.
I would second the recommendation on the Belles Aria which I now own. I tried the Ayre AX-7E and the Hegel H160 in my system driving my Harbeth SHL5+ speakers and the Belles bested them both in my opinion.The Belles is rated at 75 watts per channel and may not have enough power for you but it drives my Harbeth's very well. I have heard it with the Ryan R610's, the Vandersteen Treo CT's and the Magnepan .7's and it drove them all very well.
Thanks joey54. Your input certainly helps. My sights are set on the Belles Aria with Vandersteen Treo. How did it best the other integrateds in your experience? What were your thoughts on it with the Vandersteen?
In my system, with my Harbeth's, the Hegel sounded dry and not very involving. The Ayre just didn't have the drive I was looking for. I really wanted to like the Ayre or the Hegel as they both have balanced inputs. I am also interested in the Ayre Codex which sounds much better via it's balanced outputs.
The Aria mates really well with the Treo CT's that I heard at Audio Connection. The midrange was outstanding as was the bass. I had thought you would need something like the Aesthetix Atlas or a tube amplifier to get a midrange like that on the Vandy's. The best integrated I have heard on the Treo's is the Ayre AX-5 but at $13,000 it was out of my price range. The Belles punches way above it's price point. I can't recommend it highly enough. I would try to go hear it before you make up your mind. I love the amp but everyone hears things differently and only you can decide if it works for you in your system.
I have had a bad experience with Heed so I did not even consider the Obelisk.
@joey54 .....thanks much for your response. Helps a lot! I had the Soloist 1 for a while, so I'm pretty sold on Belles. I'm planning on using the Aria with the Treos.
Have a KAV300il, anthem 225i, parasound a21, and my Hegel H360 driving my ancient ultima salons. The krell was great til the amp section melted leaving me with a decent pre. The 225I had the juice and didn't sound bad just maybe sterile would be a word especially when compared to the a21 halo driven by the kav the parasound sounded just like the reviews, musical, fun with strong bass, smooth highs and a decent midrange, but there's more there and the H360 brings more out making concerts sound live and studio recordings will give you the room reverberation. System matching still makes the biggest difference, but the hegel and I auditioned the rost and the H190 also and they all made my system sing
If you’re looking at SS, make sure power doubles exactly from 8 to 4 ohms. It’s pretty telling of the quality of the unit as a whole if it does (not many actually do). Beyond that, it’s taste.
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