The Burmester Rondo 991 integrated amplifier is one of the top two or three in this category that I've heard. It resides at the sonic crossroads between a pair of integrated amps that I regard highly: The Jeff Rowland Design Group's Concentra, with its butterscotch golden sonics and midnight quiet-an amp blessed with the finest craftsmanship this side of a Fabergé egg-and the Plinius 8200, cooler, extended, and dynamically explosive, a reference classic. The difference is that while the $5,600 Rowland and the $3,000 Plinius (which includes a phono stage) have a distinguishing characteristic or two, not blemishes, mind you but more like beauty marks, the Burmester has the least definable character. Perhaps it should be renamed "The Amplifier That Wasn't There."