Amp advice for Focal Aria Evo X No 3: Cambridge Evo 300?
Budget and location - ~$10,000 total, planning $6K for speakers + $2-4K for amp. Located in a United States metro with access to a few local shops that specialize in hifi.
How the gear will be used - music is most important; however, will be connected to a TV (games, movies). Streaming audio. No plans for vinyl... yet.
Room size is ~225 sq ft room. The room has a vaulted ceiling that slopes to the second floor. The speakers will have walls behind them, and a wall ~13 ft from their placement (prime seating is ~10-11 ft from speakers).
New or used - Prefer new. Goal is to buy something that I can stick with forever (yeah, yeah, I know...)
Past gear experience - Current set up is ~$1200 home theater, 7.1 with Atmos. We don't care about surround, and want to create a high-end music listening experience.
Anything else? - I've auditioned several speakers, and narrowed the options down to a favorite: the Focal Aria Evo X No 3. At $6K/pair, that leaves up to $4K for the amp. Amps have been much harder to navigate because no local carrier has them all, meaning direct comparisons are difficult.
Options I'm considering:
- Hegel h150: excellent technical match to the Focal speakers; however, very limited features (no WiFi, basic interface, optical only, etc.
- HiFi Rose RS520: slightly more expensive than Hegel; seems to provide what I'd need to drive the speakers, but I'm not sure if they're actually complementary because I haven't found anyone local that carries this model. I like the features a lot (WiFi, eARC, touchscreen). While admittedly gimmicky, I love the album art display and the ability to control the unit from an app.
- Cambridge Evo 300: Same price point as the Rose, with more power and a few more unit features (like the dedicated sub output); not quite as flashy as the Rose
- Lyngdorf TDAI-1120: This one makes the list because I wanted to compare to a great option that isn't at my max budget, and the Room Perfect correction is interesting.
It seems like the Cambridge Evo 300 should be the winner, and worth spending toward the top of my budget vs the lower cost Hegel or Lyngdorf. But before I commit, I wanted to get a second opinion. What am I missing?