REVIEW: The brilliant $399 EMOTIVA TA-100 integrated amplifier 

TA100 pairs beautifully with Monitor Audio Radius 180. I'm floored because these speakers are kind of laidback and surpisingly hard to drive. The review is spot on.

I’ve owned several Emotiva items, speakers, DAC, monitors and have always been pleased. Had one occasion to send in for repair and admitted up front the damage was my fault. Fixed it promptly at no charge. Awesome!

Thank you for mentioning the internal DAC. This should be an important part of any review. Most of us aren't ready to throw $1k at a DAC.

The menu system of the TA-100 is different, but not complicated. After living with it the MENU becomes very SIMPLE, a BETTER way of doing things -- and eventually INTUITIVE.

I have had my TA-100 for 2-1/2 years, love it! It makes a great preamp as well. Very versatile just have to get used to using the controls through the menu. Thing is after a couple weeks I never had any issues.

Beautiful and very timely review. I live in British Columbia and placed my order for this device with Emotiva at about 11 pm. I get out of bed the next day and check RU-vid and ..there's your review.

I have the PT-100...same thing but no power amplifier. Pros: nice sound & soundstage, everything one needs in one box: phone stage for mm/mc, DAC, tuner, high quality Bluetooth option. Yes Steve, there is a multi level dimmer for panel lights. Bass & treble controls on remote...great for low-level listening tweaks. Great build quality & appearance. Cons: As Steve mentioned..the remote menu system is god-awful. Yes one gets used to it, but forget about "Wife acceptance factor". Spend 10 minutes showing a casual listener how to simply select a radio station, adjust volume and select a different station and you'll usually hear a "F**k that"... I just wanna listen to the radio, not program the space shuttle. In spite of the menu system, it's an outstanding achievement in quality and features for the price!

I've had TA-100 for over a year now and it is awesome. And, to echo one or two of the previous comments, the remote and the menu structure takes some getting used to, but once you've done that it is very efficient. The only thing about the TA-100 that disappoints me is the tuner...not the greatest. The MM preamp and DAC are really quite good. I have it driving my beloved LS3/5a's and a small sub in my home office, which I have been practically living in during the shut-down. So appreciated. Great review Steve!

I just got my TA-100 last week! You’re dead right about the spacious soundstage and great imaging. The speakers I will be using with it havn’t arrived yet so I have it playing through some very cheap little Yamaha 3” sattelite speakers just to have some music in the room, and even through those I can hear the excellence coming from the TA-100. That’s right, I’m getting a deep and wide soundstage, beautiful centre image, instrument seperation and all, from two cheap 3” speakers, playing through bluetooth, from a lossy streaming service 😂 I’m very impressed!

I've owned this unit, paired with Elac D6.2s and the Sub 3010, for almost two years now. Couldn't be happier. And yes the remote is really, really bad.

I have a ton of Emotiva gear, including this piece. I am temporarily powering a pair of Elac Adante AF-61s with this. They are not the easiest speaker to drive and the TA100 performs flawlessly. I actually believe more audiophiles would take Emotiva's gear more seriously if they doubled the price. At $400 it's a ridiculous value.

Emotive has an impressive line of products that represent a great value.

Great, informative review. I'm in the process of putting together a system to play my hi def music as well as vinyl and CD and this amp sounds like it's a good foundation. Thanks Steve, I always learn a lot from your videos!

I've got one of these at my desk now with 2 of the S8 Airmotiv subs and I gotta say, the sound of the Ta100 is pretty astonishing, way, way better than I was expecting. Like he says *really good*.

Pair this with an Emotiva A300 amp and some good Klipsch speakers and you’ve got a serious system. I have this setup and it’s stellar

Bricolage is a fantastic Amon Tobin album, one of if not my favorite. Glad you like it too

Wow, that was an especially detailed and phenomenal review. That’s not necessarily my kind of gear, but after that, I wanna hear the Emotiva. Very well done review, Steve. Thank you! 👊💥🎶🔊😷

Thanks for the Amon Tobin suggestion. Great album.

Hi Steve, here in Australia, this amp costs us Australian Dollar's $849.00. Love your video's and article's, thanks.

Thanks for these affordable product discoveries! Nice to see it all getting 'mo better' all the time. :)

Being from an earlier generation, I like knobs and dials, and I’m not a big fan of remote controls. Every consumer electronics device today comes with a remote. I also am not a fan of multi-level Menu driven electronic devices. I’m sure it is a quality device but as with so many modern consumer electronic devices it most likely has an unknown limited life span built in. I enjoy my older analog electronics gear built like a tank, can take a power surge without frying some sensitive dsp integrated proprietary device, and easily repairable, and for those of you who may remember the famous commercials and it can “take a licking and keeps on ticking”. Fine quality sound and will be ticking even after I quit ticking! As always Steve, you work is always high quality and completely worth every episode!! Stay Safe Steve and all audiophiliacs world wide!!

Steve, I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal. I have shirts and Chias (traditional pants) that are exactly like your shirt today. Very, very cool. Great information and fashions!

I've been looking at the T 100 for awhile and your review convinced me to step up. This thing is stunning for the money! I hooked it up in my bedroom to a pair of $500 by mail Maggies I bought several years ago and an Elac 10 inch sub. It will drive the Magneplanars to the pain threshold if you like. I'm anxious to try some of the other speakers I have laying around with it. The remote is ridiculously confusing. Other than the remote I am very happy.

Great shout Steve!! It's truly exiting on my purchase list :)

I prefer the volume/tone controls be analog. Not only easier to use but my experience has been that digitally controlling the volume adds a lot of noise especially at low volume.

A knob will beat a menu every time, in my book, but oh yeah, the cost.

Fully Professional / Friendly Review! Great Integrated Amp! The Remote Control AND Menu get quickly easy to use. It just takes a bit of practice. It's an inspired design.

This will be ideal for a secondary or tertiary system or a great cornerstone for a beginner cutting their teeth into listening to music with greater fidelity. I would envision the (potential) owner/user to swap out components and speakers throughout the time this amp is being listened to. Probably for a college dorm too! I would use it for playing back the soundtracks off PC games. This amp looks so flexible. I hope someone (Mr Guttenberg?) will make a more in-depth review later on this really interesting offering from Emotiva.

That little Emotiva amp has a look that reminds me of the old Krell amps that I saw many years ago. : )

Beautiful self portrait.

My Magneplanars' driven by my Emotiva XPA- DR2 sound amazing !!! Never listened to a such amplifier , and I have 45 years of " audiophile career"... It has Mozilla inside..

Thanks for the info on the Wycliffe Gordon album.

Viewers, Steve's review of this product is spot on. I own the preamp version of this unit and my likes and dislikes align exactly with what Steve describes. Great looking, sounds great for the $, menus and interface will have you wanting to murder the product design team at Emotiva, and the remote is meh. I have also had great experience with Emotiva's service/support team in Tennessee and really like their E-Bucks program.

I've been running the ta-100 with ls50s and I love it. Great review Steve.

Steve listens to Amon Tobin? Amazing!!

I had two of the units. and I loved it. But that being said it had issues. Both of them ended up with the volume knob not working within around 2 years of use. Sad because other than that they were amazing. QC issues need to be addressed big time with Emotiva products.

I have have the PT100 which is the preamp section of this unit without the amplifier. It’s an excellent preamp! Has a great dac chip (AD 1955A DAC up to 24 bit 96hz). The digitally controlled analog resistor ladder volume control is silent and something unheard of at this price point. The USB receiver chip is a Bravo brand SA9023A and uses a GL8506 USB 2.0 hub, again nice quality. The unit has built in tone controls utilizing a NJW1194 chip. I love having bass and treble controls! The brightness of the display and volume ring can be dimmed easily in the menu system, which is where the bass and treble are controlled also. Tuner works great and is not too difficult to tune or set up presets. The entire set of menu options can either be controlled with the remote or the physical buttons on the preamp/integrated amp itself. For all intents and purposes the preamp section is the economy version of the highly regarded XSP-1 preamp. I do not know how Emotiva offers this amount of quality assembly and components at this price point. I had the A300 amp for a while too and it was very good, but I’ve since switched to Outlaw M2200 mono blocks (using the pt100 as the preamp) and wow those Outlaw mono blocks are a huge upgrade for not much more money. Endless power, smooth relaxed top end, unreal soundstage and center image. Plus the outlaw M2200’s are class A/B which I prefer and they are heavy and well well made!

This reminds me so much of IOTAVX SA3. Feature set and looks similar ,except the tuner. Same price range . Would love for someone to do a comparison on the SA3 and this one.

Thanks for the helpful review.

Thanks for the review, i bought the unit. I am happy as a huskie

Emotiva was very interesting in all its publicity, i purchased one to drive my magnepans 1.7 and was not impressed listening to a few of my favorite songs, well i replaced it with a Nad and my magnepans lightened up , try before you buy .

Yes I have that amp and you can reduce Or Dim the blue ring around the volume knob. I am Using Elac speakers. B6 .It is very nice.

Steve, thanks for another great review of an interesting product. Is there any chance you might do a listening comparison between the Cambridge AXA35, the NADC316BEE V2, and the Emotiva BasX TA-100? You thought pretty highly of the AXA35's sound (compared to the previous NAD316BEE I think) and I'm curious how the TA-100 stacks up in your opinion.

great-right after my return period ends on my new Denon PMA600s, steve reviews something he likes more

If this IA has a tuner, that makes it a receiver. Lots of nice features!

Steve, a rep from Emotiva recommended I get the power amp over this integrated for my Maggie SMGa's. I had asked if they were thinking of making the BasX A-300 into an integrated. They said no. They were more into separates.

I love mine, on my desktop setup with Elac b6.2, no need for DAC anymore, so I use it with MacBook and Bluetooth, very very happy,, the speakers have some extra bracing and damping, well positioned and I took off the tweeter grill, my system is good for long time!! I just wonder how those Q3030’s could sound, kinda want them 🤦🏽‍♂️

Been lookin st separates and think Emotiva is the way I'll be going. Made in America and good price plus always a good review on they're products! Thanks Steve

Thanks for the album tips.

Thanks for the review. I have the Emotiva PT-100 (preamp/DAC/tuner) and have the same issues with it that you do - cheap remote and screwy menu system especially on the rare occasions I want to listen to a FM station. I always have to review my handwritten notes on tuning the receiver part and the remote buttons will sometime "skip over" a menu listing if you are not really careful. I don't use the preamp's headphone jack.

I paired the ta-100 with elac debut b6.2s. Pretty good sound for not much coin. Could use more bass so I've ordered a baby elac sub (which might come today). Thanks Steve for spot on audio advice. I'm so happy with the advice I'm thinking about upgrading my main system with Maggie lrs and Schiit Vidar.

Nice review...Been following Emotiva since in business. They are a very good value company for what they do. I do have there Outside speakers and the sound is excellent. Never did go any further on purchasing as I am 2 Channel Analog Tube guy (PrimaLuna) and Luxman, Marantz 7T in Solid State. Focal Aria 936, 926 for speakers.

Hey Steve! I'd like to watch a tour of your audio room! It's packed!

This might seem obvious, but try reading the user manual first... The menu is a piece of cake. It’s no different to any other digital menu except for you use forward and backward instead of enter and return, and you don’t have to click on something to change it’s value or setting. Whatever item you navigate onto becomes adjustable just by being on it.

Sounds like a great value, especially with the Q Acoustics speakers. However, the menu issue would be a seeious turn-off to me. Never get tired of seeing those red LS50’s...since you have many choices....it speaks volumes ... Not sure why some consider bright as a negative? Just different strokes I guess. I do not consider my LS 50’s bright at all and surely enjoy them as much as you enjoy yours.

Thanks Steve. Amon Tobin makes the kind of music I look for. Went to Pandora and built a station around him. WOW!!! Maybe you can keep the Emotiva and use it to compare a Zu Dirty Weekend to a Tekton Lore.

I have the BasX PT-100 Stereo pre-amplifier. I am very happy with it! I would have no issue purchasing another one without a second thought. For under $300 US....nothing out there is in reach for this price...and exceptional quality components. The remote sucks and the menu system really sucks...but, once you have it setup....works great! I just wish it actually had blue tooth built in without purchasing Emotiva's usb dongle. It should have came with a full sized headphone jack. I also wish it came with bass management and balanced line outs as well. This would have made this item virtually perfect for a Stereo pre-amplifier...I would pay an extra $100 on this product if it included these upgrades in 2020.

Thanks for the informative review

Please review the 239USD BASx A-100!!!!! You will be amazed also for its amazing Headphone AMP!!

On their website Emotiva call this product, stereo preamp/DAC/tuner with integrated amplifier, shouldn't they call it a stereo receiver?

Steve in your 2018 review of this amp (along with the A-300) you seemed much less enthused about the TA-100 then you are here, in particular the DAC. Is this a newer version on this amp?

6:15 good call on the amon tobin album I don't have this integrated amp but training my ears to the sony sscs5 just to hear the music this is like some flylo with a hint of D&B. more jazzy then hip hop nice and spacey with bass

stylin’ with another great shirt 👍

3:40 Why would they put a 3.5mm jack input on it? I mean, most people do have a 6.3mm headphone or a 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapter, but nearly no one has a 6.3mm to 3.5mm adapter.

I've been looking at this for some time now to power my new Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2's. I've been looking for quite some time and had it narrowed down to Emotiva and Cambridge. Steve's review helped me make the final decision. The TA-100 seems to offer better versatility for input and expansion and reviews for sound are all very good plus the value/$ does seem almost to good to be true. I've been using a BIC America surround sound system since 2012 for both music and movies but recently moved and downsized so I'm selling all of the BIC equipment. I have a Yamaha RX-V571 which is ok for home theater. From what I understand, Emotiva sells on their website and through Amazon but it's not available on either site right now (May '20)! I'm bummed!

Hi Steve, With the Klipsch RP 600M would you recommend this vs the NAD C316 BEE? How about moving up to a Schiit Vidar with a Schiit preamp? Thank you!

I have the BasX , half that size. It sounds fine. As good as all the other decent amps I’ve heard, I do reach the limit if I push it testing volume levels. The TA looks great with more options

Remember when you were in retail & you got those customers that literally wouldn't take 90 seconds to check a manual or wouldn't listen to you? Maybe they stuck an EQ or some funky Dbx time delay/processor in an EQ or tape loop and bitched about how things sounded? Dude, you've become that guy! If your ADD won't let you look at a manual for a minute & a half that's got to be pretty rough. I high lighted the model # in your title, googled it, was dumped into the correct page at Emotiva, scrolled to the bottom and was in the product manual in a few seconds. No mention of dimmer for blue volume light, but there's one for the front display, another commenter says it dims the ring too... Push the volume control to get to menu, go to "trim" to get Bass/Treble Balance, Press three times to exit!!. Yeah, that's funky! Agreed, that's not great. The input buttons are on the front panel, a bit small though. You just gotta check the manual Steve, how do you know tone controls were flat, or some weird auto loudness contour wasn't engaged? It isn't the seventies anymore, new stuff is freaky deaky, you never know what crazy stuff modern electronics will feature (or be burdened with). Have you wandered around the menus in your Oppo? You can get crazy in there just playing a CD

Steve, you were very right about operating it. I took a look at the instruction manual. It looks like a operational complex nightmare. FAR TOO MANY things are only on the remote and appear unnecessarily hard to operate.

How is the DAC on this? On your other short review, you mentioned that it would be better to use a Schitt modi3 than use the DAC on this.

Steve, you always give us something to think about. I'm starting from scratch again, planning on using either Magnepan LRS or .7 speakers. For amps I've kinda narrowed it down to the Dayens Menuetto, Schiit Vidar/Saga+ combo, or separate amp/preamp from Emotiva. I don't know if the Dayens will drive the Maggies as well. Hmm...need to ponder all this!

I concur. I have the 300 watt Emotiva, though, but driven by the PT-100 preamp -- which is pretty much the same as this except 3x the power. Sean @ Zero picked my name out of his laundry basket to win the A-300 (thanks much to Emotiva). This pair is driving a pair of your old love objects, the Klipsch RP-600M's. I am inputting USB, Coax (from a DVD player), an MC turntable, and a vintage R2R Pioneer 707 deck. There's also an Alexa Input for very (very) casual music streaming. This Emotiva stack replaces the Denon PMA-600E, which I bought at your recommendation, Steve. The Denon was really quite good, and I concur that the Emotiva stack seems to have the better sound stage. The Denon is redundant, primarily because it just isn't powerful enough to drive the large room I have. Otherwise, it was fine. I agree about the Emotiva menus. For example, I tried the FM tuner (it works) but have yet to figure out the tuning menus. Some software guy is laughing his ass off at what he created. To change the treble with the remote, it's (roughly) press menu, press right arrow, press up arrow, press up arrow again, and you're up 1 dB treble. For balance, do the same, except add a right arrow in there somewhere. Or was it a left arrow? And your chances of success without being able to read the readout on the face panel is roughly the chance of Warren Buffett going broke. I'm unqualified to report more, because this is some of the better stuff I've worked with in a few years. But a piano sounds just like a piano (jn a room), Diana Krall sounds like Diana, The Cleveland Orchestra sounds very much like they are in their Hall -- shoehorned into my room, and RUSH sounds like the proper combination of chemistry that worked for them and 50,000 watts. My opinion of the Emotiva is that it provides huge value for the price. Perhaps the BasX line lacks the snob appeal, but I'm satisfied with the sound. And it gets loud enough to want to turn it down.

I' don't know if I'm an audiophile but I have one coupled with my ProJect Debut Carbon TT driving 6 ohm Sony Sony SSCS3 towers and I love my system. The menu is okay once you know how to use it. The remote is kind of cheesy but you can't have everything at this price point. You can dim the LED's.

Nice review! Also try out 'Alone in Kyoto' by 'Talkie Walkie'. A very wide soundstage that even goes to the sides. A 3D-experience!

Mr Steve, loved this review. I'm on a journey to find the best budget integrated amp for my Wharefdale 11.2 bookshelves. Is this it? Considering the Marantz NR1200 or the PM6007 but both are around $600. Thank you for helping me for out the Denon. Happy New Year!

Thank you!

This looks like it has everything I need.

I'm guessing that the phono stage is functional but not much more. However the FM could potentially sound quite good for very little money. I have the Motorola FM app on my cell phone and it sounds really good! This is one of the very few reviews that you didn't really complete. The difficult to navigate menu might break the deal but I doubt the phono stage would. Anyone serious about LP playback will buy an external phono stage anyway.

Steve, remember that you can tuna fish but not tune a tuner.

Hi Steve. Two questions? Thanks. 1) This integrated amp could connect to my desktop computer? and 2) The picture in the background...who is it? (LOVE your shirt!)

Oh - that "killer blue" LED that Emotiva and everybody else insists on using! I actually got rid of my Emotiva XPA two-channel power amp and my Emotiva CD player because of that terrible, eye-killing blue. They lit up the whole room at night and I couldn't sit in the dark and enjoy my music. Both sounded great, however. Why, why, why? Haven't these manufacturers heard of the BMW study way, way back that determined orangey-red is the best color? (Like tubes!)

For those of you who actually checked out Amon Tobin's album and perhaps were a little disappointed - why don't you give Younger Brother's "The Last Days of Gravity" a try, because it's much more than a gear testing thing, although it uses similar techniques.

Hello Steve and greetings from Costa Rica. I would like to ask you. Could you make a short comparison between this and the PS Audio Sprout 100? What are the main differences? What about sound quality? Thank you so much.

Hi Steve I have the TA 100 and it is pretty fantastic and then I got the A-300 and man that is a power house amp... lol. Then I went one step further to the XPA 2 gen 3 and my JBLS s310 could not be happier and of course I'm finally content until I hook up my McIntosh LS350 and man I've haven't heard anything better......if I wasn't so computer Illiterate I would of taken pictures and sent them to your email but I could not figure that out. Anyway great video love this one and many of your other videos as well.....Oh Steve you said in your video that you didn't listen to the FM it sounds pretty damn good just a heads up....I think you should listen to the XPA 2 GEN 3

Warmer side? Brighter side? I think I missed that part. Sounds like it's a great piece of gear, overall.

Great beginner amp. Once you move up in price and quality, you will see and hear the difference. I love emotiva and its great stuff, but try other brands and you'll hear a some small differences.

i ordered a pair of magnepan LRS, looking forward to see how they preform. maybe i will use this as my amp. seems like a convenient system regardless of the price. personally what do you use Steve? curious to see what you use with your LRS.

Wow, that Wycliffe Gordon Cd will cost you more than the Emotiva amp here in the UK.

Here in the UK the pricing of the Emotiva vs. Denon is wildly different: £600 ($738 USD as of 12th May 2020) for the Emotiva, whereas the denon PMA-600NE is about half that price at £327. I'm wondering why two products are the same price in the US but one is twice the price of the other over pond. I've noticed many of the good affordable hifi components you have in the US double in price or aren't available here in the UK (especially speakers, like the JBL AIRs & Pioneer SP-BS22-LR (neither sold in the UK), or the Emotiva B1 selling for a massive $467 USD here). This can't all be shipping: Q Acoustics are made 2 hours drive from me here in the UK yet they'd cost me the same $400 USD as they go for in NYC. What's going on with these prices? Are UK audiophiles being ripped-off?

Is NAD C 316BEE V2 better sounding?

I'm really confused about this piece of gear, how can it be so cheap? I know i'm late to the party, but I love the shirt!

Let It Bleed!

I've been watching this channel for a while and I like it. I'm renewing my interest in this world of what seems like disposable music and disposable audio components. But I would like this channel to make a video that talks about price. One thing I have a difficult time understanding is what makes things worth $500 vs $1k vs $5k vs $10k vs $30k. I can understand that a well built well designed amp, for instance can cost 500 instead of 200, or even 1000. I can understand hearing the difference. But often it seems when something is reviewed at say 1000 descriptors point out how it is so much better than the other lower price amps. But then, there might be another newer version that is $1200 where they made something ... better. What? How is that possible? Can you really keep going up, improving? What is actually perceived 'better' with a $5k amp or $10k amp etc? Eventually, the sound described as superior in one unit start to feel meaningless. A video to help understand this would be helpful. I suppose it would be a video on grounding! How to feel grounded when everything better than the previous better, and better, but now a higher model of better is just a little better....

Nice review. I’ve always wondered about this piece and what your opinion would be. Heard from other sources that the user menu is kooky. Dongle sold separate.

Steve: What albums/CDs would be a list of preferred music to test a new system I am thinking of purchasing. (Think of your 1,250 system) Many thanks, Steve

And it's sold out everywhere forever lol

So Zu makes titanium bars to break into cars? Awesome.

Steve would it match up to the OUTLAW RR2160?.... OR NO NEED.

Steve, for a small to medium sized listening room utilizing 600m's, what would be better considering these speakers are a little bright, this amp or the Iotavx sa3?

Great review and great product .. in terms of sound quality does it stand up to the Vista Spark ⚡️ .. any ideas 💡