Rega Brio Integrated Amplifier Review & Comments

marksovereign

Mines left on too and it gets warm like most amps but never hot!

Jefke13

Thank you guys! That seals the deal for me. Anything else you want to share about the amp. I have two questions left if you don't mind. How about the soundstage? Does the music 'leave' the speakers? And second any harshness at the top end. Sibilants?

Would be very grateful. My speakers are audiovector qr1. Anyway thanks again mark and gokce! Very helpful.

marksovereign

You obviously need to try it with your speakers mine is great with MA Apex 40s and and Bk sub. No trace of sibilance. Its a really good Amp that replaced my Arcam A19 and its night and day difference. You wouldn't believe the authority it has for a 50w amp!  You know you want to..........
Mine will be getting a good work out tonight!

GOKCE

same here, top end is nicely crisp without being harsh or tiring with my Dali Zensors.. In fact base authority and top end sweetness was the first thing I noticed when I switched from Marantz MCR 611 media player.

Adam72

What Zensor speakers do you have ?  I’m thinking of buying this, I’ve currently got a mcr510 and Zensor 5 set up.

GOKCE

I have the Dali Zensor 3s

Curly99

I use an older Brio-R with a Rega P3-24 and Mordaunt Short 916i speakers, as others have said it does get warm but never too hot as I have my head phone amp and Rega TT psu sitting on top of it.
@GOKCE & @marksovereign what are the reasons/advantages of leaving the amp on 24/7 ?

Curly

marksovereign

A warm amp is supposed to perform better than a cold amp and there is also less wear on the components if you leave it switched on. Whether or not this is true I don't know but my Airdac is also connected and it lives with the Rega Amp and Rega Cd player in the Kitchen, the only reason its left on is simply because I cant be bothered to turn it off!

Curly99

Thanks @marksovereign I shall leave it on overnight and see what the difference is in the morning.

Curly

ivayvr

My Brio replaced the NAD D3020. The main source was Bluesound Node 2 with Martin Logan LX16 speakers and NHT Super 8 sub. I really wanted to like it but I was unable to hear what all the fuss was about. It was really nice sounding with vocals-very refined and neutral. The moment the music material required some real energy delivered quickly, the sound was less impressive. A few months later I added Focal Aria 905 to my collection. The sound retained the same characteristics.
I made some calculations and figured that I could save some money and space, so I sold the Brio and Node 2 and purchased the Powernode 2. I am really happy with the results. The sound is still refined and neutral but there is a very clear improvement of the control and definition of the lower end. The Powernode 2 is 60W vs Brio's 50W so the comparison may not be totally fair but I am usually listening the music at relatively low sound levels and both speakers have declared sensitivity of 91dB.
Please note that I have no intention to influence your decision what amplifier you should buy or not. The main reason for expressing my opinion here was the number of reviews stating "Rega did it again!", "Product of the year" and other usual claims I was unable to verify in my system.
I am also not trying to endorse the Powernode 2. It may have a limited connectivity for your needs, no phono, no remote no volume control as such but it clearly sounds much better in my system.