Integrated Amps

[anonymous-user]

Looking for a bit of advice, I am looking for an integrated amp to drive a pair of Focal 936's but also has a fixed gain mode so I can use the Focals as the front speakers in a home cinema setup.

Would like to have integrated network control with android app but not bothered about streaming as I have a Sonos to take care of that.

Thoughts appreciated.

[legzr1]

Budget?

Hegel are getting some excellent reviews recently.

[anonymous-user]

Tough question but I reckon up to £1.5k.

I like the functionality of the Cyrus 82 DAC Amplifier but this doesn't have the network control bit.

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 16th December 17:43

[legzr1]

There are a few great integrated amps with built in DACs (Primare are good) but why the need for network connection if streaming isn't going to be used?

I've got a top end Marantz AV pre/processor which does everything except the hoovering via an app but once the novelty wore off I just used volume up/down on the remote.

[gizlaroc]

I used a Bel Canto S300 for a while, it has a HT mode for exactly this.

It uses the B&O ICE Amps and is a pretty good amp.

It is incredibly refined sounding, very smooth so not fatiguing at all and can be listened to for hours, the sound stage is very accurate and big, well passed the speakers width wise and pretty deep. The main thing that stood out for me though was the bass, incredibly controlled and seriously deep as well.

For a £1500 amp it is very impressive.

I sold mine recently as I put my Meridian pre back in so a power amp worked better for me, but I would own another.
I sold it for £500, which is a hell of a lot of amp for the money.

The S300i version has a built in DAC btw, sonos direct in.

[hyphen]

You may also want to look out for amps with a 12v trigger, so they turn on automatically with the AV receiver (or have IR if using a multi-function remote).

Naim Uniti models also have AV bypass but not 12v iirc.