What sounds best integrated or separates?

Well fortunately for you, there is no deadline to make a decision. Take your time, search the archives, and have fun. The journey is the adventure.

Jmcgrogan2, I agree, the journey IS the adventure...here is a short observation: I bought a brand new Krell 300i integrated amp a few years ago. I loved it! It's a great amp. Then I bought pair of Dunlavy SC3's. Great speakers. I ended up buying a Krell KAV250a amp and snooped around for a "entry level" separate pre-amp. At the time Stereophile was recommending the now discontinued Adcom GFP-750. I bought it, hooked it up with some nice cables and, BAM, what a difference; more definition, separation, authority, and slam. The 300i was great. But I was amazed at the difference by changing over to the dedicated ciruitry of the separate pre-amp. It's almost 8 years later and I still have the same set-up. You can get great deals on used pre-amps. And the Adcom GFP 750 still comes up often for sale these days.
Good Luck.

I'm with David12 completely.

A simplified and budget preamplifier mated with good power amplifier very often can outperform integrated amps for the same price range.

Marankanetz; I disagree.

Assuming material, design integrity, etc. Are consistent between the two. Integrated will always sound better. Think about it...no extra cables...short signal path, etc...

gregm had it right. the poster wants to know 'what sounds best'. is there really any objective answer to this? design, signal paths, wattage,etc... ad infinitum have nothing to do with it as far as this particular question goes...in my humble opinion. which tastes better, filet or N.Y. strip? i like a pittsburgh style sirloin even tho it costs much less. i like the jolida you already own btw! snob appeal is more associated with seperates by and large and they do look impressive sitting amongst an array of wires, tubes, meters, cables, switches etc. in this marketing crazed industry this is a BIG plus for hi-ticket manufacturers.