Thank you PENG, the A-S1100 would be an overkill right?
Not really, it depends how you define overkill, the A-S1100 is a totally different breed than the A-S801. The 801 is a glorified/dressed up receiver whereas the 1100 is a "real" integrated amp in my view.
I heard that the higher you go in the Yamaha line the better they sound at lower levels, and that is my goal, no to have to turn the volume dial that high and still listen to quality sound for hours.
As mentioned many times, people can say anything especially on the internet (fan boys etc..) or those who want to sell you something (dealers etc.). It is of course up to you to choose who to believe. I can only tell you my opinion based on my research on available facts that include specs and/or lab measurements, and most importantly,
logic.
For example, if going up the Yamaha line they sound better at lower levels, then there will be an identifiable specs and that could be verified by lab measurements. If whoever said such a thing was based on their ear/brains, then how would you know yours would hear/discern the same? And how they did they define "low level"?
And then again, I hate to repeat things so many times, but since you ask, then ask yourself if such claims are true, why then everything a serious doubt blind tests are done, people's perceived differences, let alone better or worse would disappear, or their impressions became inconsistent to be conclusive?
The most reliable way of telling whether an amp, and I mean one that is well designed, and have specs/measurements that indicate it is considered transparent, would not sound as good at low output level in theory, would be to look at their distortions/noise vs power output curve.
Take a look of the distortions at 1 W, that's an important one because it is an indicator for how well the amp performs at the so called low level. If you can find one that show the level at say 200 mW that would be even better. At the 1 W level, we should be able to see some signs of significant crossover distortion that is supposedly more objectionable to harmonic distortions.
AHB2 Crossover Distortion Measurements - Benchmark Media Systems
Not a test of how well you read measurements, but take a look of the following and can you tell which one performed better at 1 W level. All of them do show THD at 1 W into 8 ohms.
The first one was obviously Gene's.
The second one was for the A-S700, what I would consider a real integrated amp but unfortunately Yamaha replaced it with the A-S701 that is basically the same as the S801 but without the USB DAC. The reviewer did not produce the same graph so I have to use the FFT instead.
yamaha-a-s700-australian_hifi_03_10.pdf (excelia-hifi.cz)
If you give me the right answer, I will post the results of one that you would see "going up the Yamaha line.."
