The four best stereo amplifiers of the year

News
By published

The amplifiers category has a familiar look about it, with four great models to choose from in the 2016 Awards.

Onkyo, Cambridge and Rega are responsible for our favourite performance-per-pound stereo amplifiers this year - and you may notice a striking similarity to last year's winners.

The Onkyo A-9010 (£229) is our entry-level winner, and takes that accolade for the second year in a row. It may not set the world alight in terms of design, and it keeps things simple when it comes to features, but for audio quality, it's a winner.

Move up a price-point and you arrive at our Product of the Year, the Cambridge CXA60 (£500). Something of a contrast to the Onkyo, it cuts a more stylish profile and also packs-in the functionality, including digital inputs, hi-res audio support and the option to add a Bluetooth dongle for wireless streaming.

Sonically it's always entertaining, helped in part by a slightly forward balance but driven home by a sound that offers big dynamics and plenty of detail. Its closest rival, the Arcam A19, may offer more refinement but it's more expensive and doesn’t have digital inputs. At £500, the CXA60 offers a more exciting and competitive package.

Completing our line-up of this year's best amps are two models from Rega.

On the right side of £1000 is the Rega Elex-R (£900), making it three years on the bounce. Seeing off fresh competition from the Audiolab M-One and Cyrus One, the Elex-R marries its trademark narrow form with terrific function and performance.

There's also the bonus of a good phono stage, and while there are no digital inputs, it's really all about the sound. Rega's familiar fast and agile delivery makes for a lively and authoritative listen. It will be hard to beat.

As will its Award-winning sibling, the Rega Elicit-R (£1600). Again, features and connections are kept to a minimum, with only analogue inputs and a phono stage on board, but the sound quality is without caveats.

Timing is impeccable, the level of transparency unarguable, and detail retrieval is unrivalled at this price. A simple but extremely effective stereo amplifier, it's a fine way to round off our Awards category.

Same again next year? We shall see.

MORE: Awards 2016: Best stereo amplifiers

See all our What Hi-Fi? Awards 2016 winners

Joe Cox
Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff and The Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).