The more I listen to the 6000A, the more I love it. The spacious sound, sweet highs, and deep, controlled bass make inexpensive speakers sound better than they have any business sounding, and when you scale up to better speakers, you end up with a system that many audiophiles could live with for many years to come. I also love the bulletproof build quality and the elegant, no-nonsense way all the features are implemented. It makes it so easy and nice to use on a daily basis. Because of this, I plan to buy the unit I have right now, it will be my new reference amp for testing speakers. Great job, Audiolab.

Audiolab’s 6000A is a cracking budget integrated with just the right amount of facilities, a snappy and engaging sound, sufficient power and fine build. A great buy for the modern music fan who wants plenty of flexibility.

I listened to this amplifier for some time and realised that the basic presentation was supremely balanced in terms of how it delivered music to the ear. Some hi-fi components do one thing very well and if you’re looking at a budget component that can often be a fascinating experience because build budgets often preclude a generally good performance. The 6000A is one of those pieces of kit that does its best to do everything very well indeed.

There has never been a better time to look for an integrated amplifier; the competition below $2,000 is filled with a lot of great sounding products from NAD, Cambridge Audio, Rega, Marantz, Schiit Audio, Heed, Pro-Ject, and Audiolab. Figuring out which one to buy depends on your long-term needs and the type of loudspeaker you prefer. For its asking price, the Audiolab 6000A is a remarkable component that delivers excellent sound quality, build quality, functionality, and the composure to comfortably drive large floor-standing loudspeakers with any genre of music you might throw at it.

Audiolab 6000A has a fairly clear and transparent background, and the texture of the piano’s light touch keys and the friction of the cello bowstrings is also highlighted. Audiolab has been known for its warm mid-frequency in the past. This 6000A obviously has a wider frequency response transparency, sound density and a sense of vitality are also more excellent.

A well featured and entertaining streaming amplifier that delivers on almost all fronts

Hopefully, we reach this point of the review under no illusions about the good and bad bits of the Audiolab’s streaming capability and, as noted, you can make your own decisions about that. As a £200 addition to a superb amp, my take on this is that the overall package is more than worth the additional cost. This is a seriously capable ‘smart integrated’ that never loses sight of the amplifier part of its remit and delivers a performance that is never less than enjoyable. As such, the Audiolab 6000A Play comes enthusiastically Recommended.