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I've never heard an A400, but it does seem to have been praised to the
skies by certain magazines. I think it's the sort of product that you
either love or hate - many people have apparently found it bright and
fatiguing, while others praise its clarity.
A lot of the places that sell it aren't really recognised HiFi
dealers, so I think it's quite difficult to compare one against the
home grown competition.
Trevor
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| Yes, we do quite well here for good integrated amps. The Pioneer A400 is
certainly a nice amplifier but it's not the final word the hype may suggest.
It's a pretty decent power amp but its phono section is not at all hot. I've
heard that people get good results from an A400 coupled with an outboard Moth
phono stage - I can't remember what that costs but it's probably twice the
price of the Pioneer. I've never heard an A400 in a 'real' hi-fi system but
making allowances for the other kit I've heard it with it seemed to do a good
job. Detailed, perhaps a bit hard, but I wouldn't want to suggest problems
that are in fact caused by the other kit.
I reckon for a good, cheap, musical amp you can't do much better at the moment
than an Arcam Alpha (mark 3 I think it is). Not a vast amount of power, not
shockingly detailed, no surprises, but you can listen to it forever.
Nick
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