I went to Yodobashi Akiba today in Tokyo and had a chance to audition some of the integrated amps here. I have mentioned them along with their prices in Yen.
1 JPY is roughly 0.6 INR including the forex charges. So most of these are within my budget except only for the Onkyos.
Had done some research on Onkyo 9070 and 9000r before going. 9000r has good reviews on the net. 9070 has very few reviews but all of them have praised it.
I dont have a very well trained ears to tell the difference between these amps in detail. However I know that any amp with a 2.1 setup will easily sound better than my AVR when it comes to music.
I listened to most of these but concentrated more on the Onkyos and the Yamaha because of the price factor. Between the two Onkyos 9000r and 9070 I was'nt able to tell any difference as they sounded identical. I also did a real-time instant switching during the audition between these two amps using the amp selector. The speakers connected were Wharfedale Diamond 240 towers. These are 4 ohm speakers,I tried to bring a similarity as mine are also 4 ohm speakers. The 9000r has USB dac whereas the 9070 doesn't.
Then I auditioned Marantz 8005 next, liked the sound too but didn't find very different from above. But got to know that this provides just 100W in 4 ohms so lost interest.
Next I auditioned the Yamaha A-S801. This sounded as good as the Onkyos did. It provides 170W per channel at 4 ohm and it has USB DAC too. I read reviews on the net and the S801 has been received well. Liked the classic clean looks like from 70s-80s very much.
Audioholics review:
Yamaha A-S801 Integrated Amplifier Review | Audioholics
Buyer Opinions from Crutchfield
Yamaha A-S801 (Silver) Stereo integrated amplifier with built-in DAC at Crutchfield.com
List of the Integrated Amps I auditioned/looked at
Denon PMA1500RESP - 78,730 yen
Denon PMA2000RESP - 99,800 yen (Demo piece) new- 149,040 yen
Marantz PM8005 - 95,860 yen
Yamaha A-S801 (with USB DAC)- 70,750 yen
Onkyo A 9000R-S (with USB DAC)- 156,000 yen
Onlyo A9070R -S (with DAC but no USB i/p)- 148,000 yen.
After auditioning most of the above amps I could'nt tell one from the other, probably because I am not a seasoned audiophile and also could be because of the noisy environment of the showroom. Now I am totally confused and lost! The only sane thing I could say now is that Yamaha is the most value of money and performs equally well.
FMs your opinions and advise are highly valued.
Regards,
Sachin