Ayre EX-8 2.0 integrated amplifier & CX-8 CD player The Ayre EX-8 2.0 and CX-8 are innocuous looking components, they do not inhabit heavy, machined aluminium cases and nor do they have much in the way of ornamentation, in black they look very restrained indeed. Yet beneath the plain exterior are electronics that ensure all […]
Moon 250i V2 integrated amplifier If first impressions count, then Moon’s new 250i V2 integrated amp makes a huge impact right from the start. It looks like a solid, well-constructed bit of kit from the Canadian company, and it’s classy to boot. What I like the most about it is that it instantly comes across […]
Moonriver Audio Model 404 Reference amplifier Before I discovered the Model 404 Reference I spent some time with the Moonriver Model 404 amplifier and I heaped a great deal of well-merited praise upon it. Our Editor added the cherry on the cake by awarding it the coveted Editor’s Choice award. The final sentence of my […]
PMC cor integrated amplifier “It is designed not to do anything” said the nice man as we discussed the arrival of the PMC cor integrated amplifier at Kelly Towers. He went on to explain that the design philosophy behind the cor (and yes, it meant to be all lower case) was that it should be […]
Rega Elex Mk4 integrated amplifier Rega Elex Mk4 is the latest and arguably the best value amplifier the company has made. Is there another independent British brand that has been making hi-fi for as long as Rega? I can think of a couple but none which have been making such a wide range of products […]
The best of the best that we have reviewed on the Ear over the last 12 months
Just how much do we need to spend to acquire a decent integrated amplifier? A budget of, say £1,000, will net a large number of candidates. But if we also want bona-fide high-end sonic credentials, then the number of options becomes markedly smaller. Readers who have read my short bio here on The Ear will already be […]
Rega Elicit Mk5 Long before the Elicit Mk5 I was running an all Rega system at home, and was very happy with it indeed. At its heart was the Brio-R integrated amplifier, which offered, if I recall correctly, 50 watts of output into an eight Ohm load, and which sounded fine in our modest 14’x12’ […]
Back in January 2021 our esteemed editor reviewed the Primaluna EVO400 integrated amplifier, which is currently the largest of the the Dutch brand’s all valve (or tube, depending on your locale) amplifiers. He was most complimentary about it and gave it our five star award. I had also had a chance to review the next […]
Built by brothers Carl and Neil Broomfield in Yorkshire the CAAS Audio electronics are pretty ambitious bits of kit by British standards. There aren’t many small companies making components with casework that’s milled from a single aluminium billet in these isles and even fewer who have developed their own amplification and volume control circuits. CAAS […]
Even if we like to style ourselves as purists, and in the main regard audio separates as the only way, there is still a lot to be said for the well-conceived all-in-one box. Take the Moon 340i D3PX for example. No, the product name doesn’t trip off of the tongue very elegantly, but this integrated amplifier […]
As the audio world absorbs what former Bakoon International designer Soo In Chae has achieved with the AMP-23R integrated amplifier, the first product from his new Enleum brand, the aphorism that good things come in small packages might become rather over-used. The AMP-23R is dinky. Coffee tables in the posher parts of west and north […]