Sony TA-F730ES vs Harman Kardon HK980

[Photoro]

Hello,

I am relatively new to the audiophile world, so I need your help deciding between two amplifiers.

I am on a limited budget and where I live the market for used amplifiers is also limited.
In my opinion the Sony TA-F730ES and the Harman Kardon HK980 are the only options worth considering.

So which one would you guys pick?

BTW my speakers are Elac BS-312 which are very small and inefficient, so they can benefit from bigger amplifier power.



Looking forward for your advice.

Thank you in advance!

 

[TooCool4]

Someone telling you which one they prefer, will not help you. Everyone has different taste. The only way to know is to listen to both and pick the one that sounds better to you. Happy auditioning.

 

[Photoro]

Someone telling you which one they prefer, will not help you. Everyone has different taste. The only way to know is to listen to both and pick the one that sounds better to you. Happy auditioning.

Thanks for the suggestion, but auditioning is out of my options, the sellers are to far from my town, and I don't really have the time. That's why I was looking for a suggestion from more experienced audiophiles.
Maybe I will try to flip a coin and let destiny decide for me.

 

[RnRmf]

Assuming both are working 100%, I'd go with the Sony.
It's more powerful and the insides look more the part of a classic integrated amp. The power supply and caps are beefier in the Sony.
One downside is the Sony is older than the HK, but the HK isn't entirely recent, either.

Sony:

HK:

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

Thanks for the suggestion, but auditioning is out of my options, the sellers are to far from my town, and I don't really have the time. That's why I was looking for a suggestion from more experienced audiophiles.
Maybe I will try to flip a coin and let destiny decide for me.

I would say go with Sony, I think it's a higher quality product. When buying an amplifier of this age, I also recommend doing a checkup on it:
switches
potentiometers
thermal compound for power transistors
capacitors.