Audiophile Power Amplifier Reviews

Marantz’s Model 30 integrated amplifier ($2,999 buy at Crutchfield) has a blend of old-school features and design with modern technology, but perhaps not in the way most audiophiles might anticipate. The Model 30 has a classic, old-school interface and feel,… Read the Review »

Long before Classé became part of Masimo Consumer (the parent company that also owns Polk, Definitive Technology, Denon, Marantz, and Bowers & Wilkins), the company was making some of the highest-performance audiophile components in the market. I’ve owned past versions… Read the Review »

The first review published in Future Audiophile was an SMSL integrated amplifier (read the review) that cost less than $175. It is a great little amp with an extensive input and feature set in a small chassis. Today, I’m going… Read the Review »

Have you heard of Gallium Nitride (GaN) audiophile amplifier technology? If not, let me let you in on a little audiophile secret: unlike loudspeakers, which haven’t benefited from a major technological breakthrough in generations, GaN amplifiers represent a total rethinking of how… Read the Review »

The a25.3 is the latest integrated amplifier from Music Hall. This $650 integrated amplifier produces 50 watts of power per channel into 8 ohms, and 75 watts per channel into 4 ohms, and it comes equipped with Bluetooth, a moving… Read the Review »

Welcome to the age of the modern audiophile, where products like the SVS Prime Wireless Pro SoundBase (buy at Crutchfield) make it possible to buy an entire audiophile system for under a grand. Manufacturers have been clamoring to make one-box solutions since… Read the Review »

From my latest experiences, it is high time we stop discounting Class D amplification (learn more about Class D here) as a serious high-fidelity  option. Like the screaming metal-dome tweeters used in loudspeakers from the 1980s era that have been… Read the Review »

The PS Audio Stellar S300 stereo amplifier is PS Audio’s entry-level two-channel amplifier (buy at Amazon) targeted at those thinking of upgrading from a receiver or integrated to quality separates. Make no mistake, though: entry-level or not, this is a… Read the Review »

If you’re an audio hobbyist, you are probably aware of Pass Labs, its founder Nelson Pass, and the company’s reputation for innovative audiophile amplifiers, preamplifiers, and integrated amplifier designs. All the company’s amplifiers are solid-state designs (meaning that transistors amplify… Read the Review »

The NAD C 338 Hybrid Digital DAC Amplifier (buy at Crutchfield) is a budget friendly $799 integrated amplifier from one of the industry’s most storied audiophile brands. Its power section provides 50 continuous watts of output into both 4 and… Read the Review »

The Bricasti Design M30 monoblock audiophile amplifier is a rack-friendly version of the company’s beloved M28 amplifier, which is also a mono amplifier. The difference between the two is their form factor. The M30 carries the same award-winning differential amplification… Read the Review »

The PS Audio Sprout100 (buy at Amazon) is an entry level audiophile integrated amplifier made by the folks at PS Audio. Packed into one tiny little package (and I mean tiny) it measures at 6.2 inches wide by 1.9 inches… Read the Review »

You can’t find a product in the audio/video space that says “custom installation” more loudly than the Anthem MDX-8 distribution amplifier. It is an eight-channel power amplifier that has up to 200 Watts-per-channel of Class-D power waiting for any number… Read the Review »

For several years, the Parasound Halo A21 reigned as the amplification king in my listening/design space. It was an affordable monster that could drive any speaker one could throw at it. I shorted the outputs of the A21 several times… Read the Review »

An integrated amplifier doesn’t have to be physically large to be high performance and fully featured. When I read the initial press release for the Pro-Ject MaiA DS3 I thought, “There’s an amplifier that seems to fulfill all the requirements… Read the Review »

The Anthem MCA 225 Gen 2 (buy at Crutchfield) is a two-channel class A/B audiophile power amp from Anthem, which also has three- and five-channel siblings in the 325 and 525. It puts out 225 watts per channel into eight… Read the Review »

Most affordable Bluetooth or powered speakers simply don’t provide the musical experience that gives you the goosebumps. There is a point for many music fans who are looking for a more visceral audio experience when they need to upgrade to… Read the Review »

German audiophile manufacturer T+A has built a reputation for creating sophisticated and technologically advanced audio equipment designs ranging from the mid to extreme levels on the audiophile product spectrum. The A 3000 HV audiophile power amplifier reviewed here falls more… Read the Review »

When one embarks on their  audio journey – everybody needs a place to start. The Sony STR-DH190 integrated amp is a very reasonable starting point for nearly every aspiring audiophile. It’s not necessarily the sexiest piece of audio equipment, but as… Read the Review »

(originally published in The Audiophile Voice Magazine in print, December 2019) As I have mentioned before in recent reviews, modern audio is increasingly a world of streaming music. Now, as the subject for this review, here is another interesting new… Read the Review »