So far I've considered these options seriously:
Going back to Pass Labs. Love the refined sound of Pass gear. With my budget I could go for 60.8 monoblocks. Or go for a 30.8 and with a XP-20.
Ayre.
Mcintosh mc462 or mc452. I was contacted by a member and told that the 462 is noticeably worse sounding. Anybody know anything about that? Since the mc452 is a discontinued model, I could probably acquire one cheaper... but my goal was to buy new. I don't know if I want to get a mc452 on the used market, and I'm not sure if any dealer is going to have one in stock since its discontinued.
Luxman 509x or Accuphase e-480. Both seem really awesome. Still no idea which one I'd go for but I'm leaning towards Accuphase just based on the fact it seems to get recommended slightly more often over the Luxman.
Accuphase e-650. Yeah this is probably over my budget but I have to consider its an integrated, so I don't need to budget money on a preamp later on.
Going back to Pass Labs. Love the refined sound of Pass gear. With my budget I could go for 60.8 monoblocks. Or go for a 30.8 and with a XP-20.
Ayre.
Mcintosh mc462 or mc452. I was contacted by a member and told that the 462 is noticeably worse sounding. Anybody know anything about that? Since the mc452 is a discontinued model, I could probably acquire one cheaper... but my goal was to buy new. I don't know if I want to get a mc452 on the used market, and I'm not sure if any dealer is going to have one in stock since its discontinued.
Luxman 509x or Accuphase e-480. Both seem really awesome. Still no idea which one I'd go for but I'm leaning towards Accuphase just based on the fact it seems to get recommended slightly more often over the Luxman.
Accuphase e-650. Yeah this is probably over my budget but I have to consider its an integrated, so I don't need to budget money on a preamp later on.

