Rega IO Amplifier Review - Superb HiFi performance at a great price!

[@grayfool]

I've used Rega for many years. I still use an original Brio amp which still sounds great. The Io looks to be a terrificamp for a basic system.

[@robharvey-duffield8785]

I have bought an Io to replace a dead Marantz.. i am using it with a Linn LP12 and audiolab CD player hooked up to Q Acoustics Concept 20 speakers as I am on a bit of a tight budget at the moment.. this little amp is very impressive.. i was worried the source components would be a bit much for it but it delivers a really warm, engaging sound with plenty of depth and a big soundstage.. okay instrument separation could be a bit more refined but hey, that really is nit picking at this price.. is it a good buy! Hell no! At this price its not just a good buy but an absolute steal!

[@stevec3526]

They should have called it the BRO.. This might be good for an at office use.

[@michaelteague1371]

In this video the kyte speakers are shown with tweeter below but I have also seen them with woofer below? What will come with the system one? Are the pictures with the tweeter below outdated? Why the changed?

[@ThecrosseyedTexan]

Here in the States this amplifier is going for $650 bucks! It looked like a good deal at 350 or even 450 but I don't think it's a good deal at 650

[@pappyodanial]

Bidenflation

[@bradleydurbin6784]

I once had a nad 316 integrated amp I bought for 330.00 about 10 years ago. I was extremely disappointed with the sound of it. So I'm somewhat leery of budget designs. I bought a used Adcom gfa 535 amplifier for 250.00 and this old amp is a beast!

[@Audiorevue]

It is a good deal at 650 as a matter fact in terms of pure sound quality it is in my opinion the best sounding Integrated under $1000.

[@bradleydurbin6784]

Okay cool. Have you ever heard of New Rotel tribute integrated amp for 800.00

[@TD05SSLegacy]

And no way to hook up a subwoofer? Get psaudio sprout.

[@andresmunozramirez8735]

Dear Jonathan About you Rega IO review. Pleasse let me know if can you connect a floorstanding speaker (like Wharfedale D330) in a Rega IO amplifier? 30W is strong enough? Have your ever hear about Atoll IN 30 amplifier? could be better than IO in this scenario?

[@Audiorevue]

Yes you can, quality not quanity and its matter of french vs english , which do you prefer.

[@banginghats2]

I think a version of this with a dac instead of a mm stage would be great: iO d and iO a.

[@banginghats2]

@Jackie Bereham You're saying the only thing good about this amp is the mm stage?? Like a large number of people, I don't have a turntable any more, so I would want an amp with a dac, not a completely useless mm stage, so you are right, I have no reason to buy it, especially considering there are good amps that include a dac.

[@banginghats2]

@Jackie Bereham There are dozens of decent budget amps with phono stages: Cambridge AXA35, NAD D3020 V2, Marantz PM6007, Yamaha A-S301, etc, etc. No idea why you wouldn't like to see two versions of the IO so people with no cash or turntable could enjoy the Rega sound, the mm version would still be available, as I said in my original post they could make both versions to keep everyone happy.

[@banginghats2]

@Jackie Bereham I never said anything against your desire for an amp with an mm input, just that you couldn't see it from the POV of a digital only listener with little money and even less space for a record collection, but who still wanted the Rega sound on a budget. Like I keep saying, an extra version with dac and no mm would not affect turntable owners.

[@Audiorevue]

I think as you can imagine Rega by being a turntable manufacture probably don't have much impetus to install a dac inside one of their amplifiers. Furthermore I'm of the camp that digital audio or at least whats "hip" at the moment seems to change every couple of years and by not including a dac you're actually buying something that has more long-term value. Besides overall people tend to be extremely critical of a built in Dac, seemingly whenever a company includes one somebody's quick to point out that it doesn't do mqa or oh it doesn't do DSD or what do you mean it doesn't do 32 bit 384 kHz sample rate, man that thing is trash. I have one of these and as a matter fact I have two and I can tell you that playing music off of an iPhone 6 using an aux cable to RCA as the source sounds bloody fantastic and I applaud the company for not including something that wouldn't necessarily make a difference and in a few years would be outdated anyway.

[@umbrollo]

Add a Cambridge Audio DAC magic and you have a great little setup

[@rossbeake5779]

Why do some amps not have treble, bass and tone dials?

[@stevec3526]

Tone controls add complexity and distortion.

[@athas12]

to be honest, you should never use those if you are listening to a good record on a good system. If you feel you need to tweak the sound then that means your system is lacking of the record you are listening to wasn't mastered correctly. Also, No High End product also uses them for the reason mentioned below.

[@gianlucabassi8853]

Because they spare on project, hardware and It Is a fashion. Tone controls are necessary because recordings are non perfect, often they are garbage.

[@davidmester9913]

Well, I want one. And it would probably pair well with the B&W 607 S2 AE, or the KEF LS50, used. But, by the time these come within my reach, the business and the 'luxury' audio market might have changed drastically. I have experience with things costing much less, and much more, over 40 years.

[@bluerev]

@smarthomesounds Question: does the Rega IO hum (the Rega Brio seems to have that issue)? If it does, what can this hum be attributed to? Thanks!

[@paulok2153]

Would this work just as well with a rga cd player and ifi zen blue?

[@Audiorevue]

Yes

[@ynnadk9859]

Audiolab 6000A or this for vinyl and tidal (separate DAC) ?

[@Audiorevue]

This

[@bradleydurbin6784]

Watts per channel has no creedence. It's high current and the ability to handle impedence loads down to 4 ohms or 3. Does this amplifier have these specifications?

[@Theoriginalramjammer]

Bit of a cop out answer not providing some examples of good speaker partners with this amp. Speaking from experience in the trade, I thought that was one of the primary functions of a HiFi dealer no?

[@tuffguy6852]

Anything with 8ohm and above 91db should work with this amp. I own the io and pair it with Tekton Mini Lore Monitor's that are 8ohm and 95db.

[@ibrahimmehkri]

Can i connect this directly to my computer?

[@carlosmorenorando8915]

con dac externo si

[@tompjohnstone]

After your review I went on your website to buy one. Your price is now £420 but in the video it states £379?

[@smarthomesounds]

Hi Tom, apologies about that. The RRPs of all Rega products were increased at the start of the year due to rising costs in all parts of the supply chain. It’s happened to a lot of manufacturers in this industry unfortunately.

[@tompjohnstone]

@@smarthomesounds thanks for the heads up. Sad as they’re completely British made, you’d perhaps think the UK customer would benefit from this - sadly not :-(

[@Audiorevue]

What's the difference, its only £41. Hell they could be charging 100 more and it would be worth it.

[@tompjohnstone]

@@Audiorevue every penny counts.

[@chanceyboy83]

@smarthomesounds Johnathan I have seen issues with badly fitting mains cables can we discuss?

[@Audiorevue]

Well the back panel is a little janky to say the least. But i have two io's and its fine. Now the back panel is held in place by two bolts on either side of the chassis and the back panel does flex when you remove RCA's or unplug the power cord and people have complained about this. But it's really not an issue once you get the amplifier set up, I mean how often are you moving your amplifier around? Do you unplug it every couple of days and move it around just for fun.

[@ColocasiaCorm]

What is “analog hifi”?

[@gianlucabassi8853]

It Is so simple but so incomplete...

[@Audiorevue]

Well your statement is nonsensical and implies something complete needs Complexity to achieve completeness. This is complete because it is simple and the sound quality is perfect for the money and adding more would take away from that simplicity that single-handedly achieves perfection. Sort of like a hotdog in that it achieves utter perfection when things are kept simple. Simply bun, mustard and frankfurter are all you need and adding more would take away from the beauty of that simplicity.

[@mu7765]

What a dumb comment. It is very complete.@@Audiorevue