Best Integrated Amplifiers: Over $20,000

High-end audio is so often about compromises, trading one characteristic for another. What sets the Soulution 330 integrated apart is its ability to strike just the right balance of musical elements without compromise—and to manage to do so across so many recordings and styles. The company has somehow succeeded in keeping many of its best sonic characteristics, while paring down parts and pricing. This integrated gets out of the way of the music in the right ways, but also delivers the right stuff. The exquisite Soulution 330 may still cost a pretty penny (especially if you add the superb, optional phonostage or DAC boards), but if you have the coin, we highly recommend auditioning it. JM, 294

Conventional wisdom states that integrated amps are hopelessly compromised at birth. Vitus Audio obviously didn’t get this memo when it created the SIA-25. Built to the same Olympian standards as its preamps and amps, this 25Wpc Class A (on-the-fly switching to 100Wpc Class AB) integrated gives you the best of separates in a single chassis—liquidity, presence, a 3-D soundstage, and the finest gradations of timbre and dynamics. It may not fill a cathedral (unless horns are your thing), but the SIA-25 is the pinnacle of a breed never again to be underestimated. NG, 218

This hybrid amplifier combines the tube preamp stage of Absolare’s superb Passion preamplifier with a newly designed 150Wpc solid-state output stage. Despite the transistors, the Integrated sounds remarkably like a pure-tube design—and not just any tube design. Specifically, the Integrated delivers much of the sonic character of Absolare’s Passion SET power amplifier, with a richness of texture, harmonic density, and a gorgeous and grain-free midrange that make this amplifier special. Beautiful leather-clad casework and minimalist controls exude class and elegance. RH, 280

Ypsilon has brilliantly grafted the electronic DNA from its flagship Aelius monoblocks and PST100mk2 preamp into its sole integrated amp. The result is a 110Wpc hybrid analog amplifier utilizing only three active gain stages. Few others capture the earthy sense of “being there” like the Phaethon. It does this with wide color and velvety textural contrasts, micro-detailing, harmonics, and a vise-like grip. Quality of construction is Herculean—70 heroic pounds of satin-finished aluminum and heat-sinking that would take the demigod himself to lug up Mt. Olympus. Includes a remote control, plus four inputs. NG, 278

In direct comparison with an exceptional preamp and amp that cost more than four times as much as it does, the $30k Goldmund Telos 590 Nextgen II didn’t just hold its own; it excelled, particularly in the bottom octaves, where it killed. When you add to this the fact that the 215Wpc into 8 ohms (350Wpc+ into 4) 590 II comes with an excellent built-in 384k/DSD128 DAC, it’s a single-box package that’s quite attractive—especially if astounding speed, neutrality, resolution, and realism are your priorities. Pity it doesn’t come with provision for a built-in phonostage or more than one output (so you could connect to speakers and subs simultaneously). Still and all, one of the best integrateds Old Graybeard has heard. JV, 316

The Argo integrated amplifier’s mission is to deliver the classic Constellation sound at a lower price point. To accomplish this, Constellation’s designers merged two existing Performance Series (one down from the ultimate Reference Series) components: the Virgo II preamplifier and half of a Centaur II power amp. The splicing was a solid success, as evidenced by the Argo’s seductive-yet-propulsive, forgiving-yet-detailed sound. Timbres are beautifully complex from top to bottom. Soon the Argo will support a phonostage and a DAC card, adding to its already impressive versatility and value. AT, 255

Though dubbed an integrated amplifier, CH Precision’s I1 barely resembles typical members of that ilk. Its modular nature allows users to configure it to handle virtually any combination of digital inputs, analog inputs, streaming audio, even a moving-coil cartridge. Moreover, the I1’s sound quality is every bit as sonically and musically revelatory as that of far more expensive CH standalone components, several of which it incorporates virtually intact. Dynamics, in particular, are extraordinary, and the excellent phono card obviates the need for an external phonostage. Overall, it’s hard to think of another $50k electronics choice—either integrated or separates—that boasts the same pedigree, versatility, footprint, value proposition, and sonics. AT, 289

The Humbolt grew out a project to pack as much performance as possible into a single chassis. It shares much of the technology of its more costly brethren, offers a full feature set, and can output a whopping 320Wpc into 8 ohms. The Humboldt delivers a bottomless noise floor that lets the music breath, and supreme dynamic prowess, conveying music with passion, soul, and energy. The sense of rhythm and pace are extraordinary, and the extremely low noise floor confers a see-through clarity and transparency that render tone colors more vivid and alive. Extreme bottom-end grip is not quite as convincing as state-of-the-art separates. MC, 316

The epitome of “form following function” electronic design, the Statement 450i iQ integrated amplifier sets new standards for the product class, and not just for tube-based designs. Its abilities to accurately render tonality, with its complex harmonic structure and texture, its broadband transparency, its astonishingly unconstrained transient fidelity, and its exceptional low-frequency performance make it the most accomplished offering in its class. If you think tube-based amplification can’t compete with, let alone compare to, solid-state power, go hear the 450i. Its exceptional clarity, superb resolution, unflappable transient fidelity, unswervingly authentic tone, and virtually perfect broadband pitch definition are only closely matched by some mega solid-state amplifiers. GW, 305