Very musical, build quality, styling

None

This is the most involving, musical amp I have ever heard,
for the price it is one of the true bargains in audio. I listen to all genres and the Mira does a fantastic job of bringing across the essence of the music. It just makes you want to get out of your chair and move with the music. At sixty watts a side it more than brings my Tannoys to concert levels with no loss of detail or listener fatigue.

System-Rega Mira, Creek CD player, Tannoy M5 speakers, Thorens TT.

Similar Products Used:

Krell, Classe, Linn

musicality, timing, compact size, flexibility, phono stage

connectors cramped and not high grade (original model), line preamp section maybe a relative weakness

This is a follow up to the review I posted more than two years ago now. Yes, I still have the Mira and I still enjoy it. But here are a couple of observations relating to some recent upgrading that I did:

1. My speakers when I bought the Mira were B&W dm602's. I thought about upgrading from these to B&W cdm1 nt. Listened to those open-tweetered boxes at a local store driven by some big Carver amp and enjoyed. Listened with the Mira. What a mess! The midrange dissolved in mud, image collapsed, and there were huge, apparently uncontrolled, cone excursions. I'm sure the dealer (who doesn't stock Rega) must have thought that my amp was a piece of ... not very good equipment. The CDM1 NT is rated, if I remember right, to have a sensitivity of 90dB with an impedance of 8ohms, not dissimilar to the DM602's I had been using. I also tried the Mira driving Dynaudio Contour 1.3's (deeply discounted and close in cost to the CDM1 NT's). Those Dyn's are rated at 85dB and 4ohms. The Mira had no trouble with them at all -- in fact sounded as good (to my ear) as the separates this (other) store had driving the speakers. The moral seems to be that the Mira doesn't mind lowish impedance (though it will run hotter) but does like a fairly flat impedance curve, which is what the Dynaudio's have but the B&W's do not. So now I live happily with these wonderful Danish speakers, and have no sense that they are being shortchanged by the Mira, especially when...

2...I tried using the power-amp-in connectors of the Mira. That is, I had the IC from my cd player going straight to the power amp. The volume was thus uncontrolled and thus tended to be loud--on some recordings (especially rock) unbearably so. But where this set-up gave a listenable volume (on classical-orchestral recordings or on jazz recordings when I was alone in the house) it also gave a marked improvement in transparency and a dramatic improvement in detail in the bass. These days I'm experimenting with an attenuator between the CD player and the power amp in. There is sometimes loss of dynamics when I do this, but not on most recordings. And the transparency and sheer tonal accuracy I get on recordings where the attenuator works well is definitely worth the trouble of occasional IC switching around.

System: Rega Planet CD player & Mira integrated; Music Hall 2 TT, Grado Gold cart.; Dynaudio Contour 1.3 speakers on Atacama stands; Luminous Audio Technology "Axiom" Attenuator; DhLabs BL-2 IC; Kimber 4VS speaker cable; Granite stands and homemade ball-bearing feet.

Good price/performance, good soundstage, powerfull sound

volume controll, not the most detailed, cheap connections but at this price that's easily forgiven.

Having played with the Rega Mira for 2 years now I finally decided to give a review on this amp. Like most people before me I also spin my disks with the Planet CD-player and wend out looking for an good amp. Having good experience with the Rega Planet didn't mean I was loyal to the Rega brand, so I listened to quite a few amps.

Very dear memory's I had of the Moth 30 combo which was analytical and very muscical. Never had such goose bumps from a recording before. In the end it did'nt offer enough gain and bass response. The amp which was close to the Moth's character was the dutch Duson PA75. Very musical and detailed indeed, but I missed the right timing and 'life body' to the sound. Not enough goose bumps I guess.

But since this is the review of the Rega amp I will skip my findings of the other amp. Finally I went for the Rega Mira because this amp surprised me with a good soundstage, full bodies voices, very good timing and .. well, just the feeling it was right. It is not the most detailed amp I've heard nor the most thrilling. Bass response is cetainly very good for an amp is this price range. Full bodied, believable and well controlled, it was easy to follow bass lines. Mids and highs are of the same quality why I choose the Planet CD-player; not the most detailed but good separation of instruments, easy to follow and very musical (again timing?). I guess this is the reason why so many Rega Planet users chose the Mira Amp. It is not just about synergy between the 2 but more about a family sound, if you like the Planet you certainly like the Mira.

Are there any downsides. Yes there are. I few people stated a in your face sound which I can relate to. The dynamics and the bass response of this amp are very good but that all is price related. More expensive amps give you the same or better dynamics and bass and even more detail and will do so in a more neutral and controlled fashion. The bass of the Mira goes deep but there is more to gain. Treble is a bit rolled of but sometimes still in your face. With a $700 amp I guess it is about making design choices. Same goes for the speaker connections which are very plastic indeed.I don't mind about the not gold plated tulp-connectors. I rather have them naked as they are instead of being coated with inferior gold-looking stuff.


A genuin trade-off is the volume setting of this amp. Most people believe this amp has power to spare since they don't go beyond the 10 to 12 setting. This is not the case. The volume pot of this amp is just very sensitive in the first half. It is so sensitive that it is hard to find the right setting using the remote. I learned that this is solved with the new Mira model which has a better volume setting and improved terminals.(Even an detachable power cords, so you can upgrade that one as well) So this goes only for the 'old' model. Good for Rega! Just a pity that the new casing of the new models, also of the Planet, are just not my cup of tea. Too plastic and cheap look for my liking.

Conclusion. This amp is realy good for it's price. It easily won in AB comparison with equaly or even higher priced models. One of the key benefits is it's musical presentation and good soundstage. And it is a good match for the Planet CD-player. The power rating is enough for a small to medium sized room and good enough to drive my recently bought Epos ES22 speakers. In an upgrade I think I won't use the pre-amp out socket to go bi-amping or using the Mira as a pre only. Just because I know that better quality costs more and other people very much want to buy my Rega Mira second hand.

Similar Products Used:

Moth 30 active+stereo, Rotel 985 and other Rotel pre+power combo's, Arcam 8?, Duson PA75, Cyrus III, Audioanalyse pre+A10, and some others

Price and appearance

Cheap controls and buttons. Volume operation with remote. Operation of source selection

The Mira is an OK amp but it is let down by some odd manufacturing and design choices. I previously owned Quad 77 gear when I lived in the US. I purchased a Rega setup when I got to the UK.

Listening at any set volume is fine enough, but trying to adjust your selected volume just a little louder or a little quieter is a problem using the remote. The intertia of the motorized volume pot just goes too far with even the slightest touch on the remote's volume button. Normally this trait isn't so problematic at high listening levels, but when listening quietly at night, searching for subtle adjustments at lower levels seems impossible. So, you end up jumping out of your seat to manually adjust the volume.

Which brings me to another problem, very cheap knobs and buttons. Power buttons feel like they cost 15 cents and the volume knob makes a bit of a crack noise when you turn it; like it might split or crack. And the source selector button has the most vaugue feel to it. My first Mira actually had a source selector switch that broke on the first day of ownership with manual usage. That unit was replaced. Needless to say I try to use the remote at all times for source selection and volume control just because the knobs and associated mechanisms seem so fragile.

Lastly, the source selection process is a bit odd. I have the Planet CD and the Rega Radio R and I usually turn everything on at the same time. If I'm listening to a video source through the Mira and then select CD the selector knob slews through all sources in between prvious and selected source giving you a good blast of some radio noise while it travels from video through radio and finally to CD. An annoyance.

The Mira sounds fine, and has a nice black design that doesn't bring attention to itself. But it seems a bit cheap and the finese of the remote volume makes it unsuitable as a long term choice for me. There are better designed units out there.

Similar Products Used:

Quad 77, Meridian

My system consists of the Rega Mira, the Rega Maia, the Rega Planet and paradigm studio 60.
The Rega Planet, I am sure I do not need to introduce here. The Mira and Maia are the integrated and power amps produced by Rega. Rega in my opinion is one of the best hi-fi companies in the world at present that presents an immense value/price equation. The Mira is a warm sounding, no holds barred powerful performer. It has a rough, but not grainy sound. if the recording is bad, so will the sound. In other words, the mira does not round off the edges in the music it amplifies, it does not sweeten the music as the Audiolab and LFD Mistral does. The Mira is an "in your face" sound. Both Audiolab and LFD are great amps, but if you want true music reproduction, Mira is the one to beat. The only amp that comes close to the truthfulness of the Mira is the Creek 4330R. The 60W output is ample to drive any decent sized speaker. I also recommend the Paradigm studio 60 as they seem like a great match for the BOLD sound of the Mira.

Simply put the Rega Mira is a wonderful amplifier. Its rated output (61 watts into 8 Ohms, 91 Watts into 4 Ohms) belies its subjective power. This little integrated amp sounds much more powerful than any 60 Watt amp has any right to. Its sound is musical, detailed and involving.
I am a musician, so I perfer to listen to music and not Hi-Fi systems (my system is as follows Mira, speakers: Linn Kan 2, cable: DH labs Silver Sonic, sorce: Rega planar 3 with Rega elis cartridge). Audiophile jargon like: liquid midrange (I had no idea that sound could be viscous) etc. have very little meaning to me. When I listen to the Mira I have the sensation of being a part of a musical experience. Most so called Hi-Fi amps bring attention to themselfs, not so with the Mira. The Mira does its job in the most unassuming way possible-I never feel as if I am listening to the amp, only the music.

If you are in the market for an amplifier in the very competitive under $1500.00 range, please listen to the Rega Mira. I think you will be plesantly suprised. I sure was.

The Rega Mira highly recommended.

My system: Rega Planar 3 (RB 300, Dynavector 10x4 MK II, Ringmat), Rega Planet, Rega Ela, Rega Connect (NF-cable) and the Rega loudspeker cable.
Formerly I have owned Naim NAC 62/NAP 90 amplifier. I'm a fan of integrated amplifiers and wanted a remote controlled unit. I checked the following revials: Naim Nait 3R, Linn Majik, Mission Cyrus 3i, NAD C320. I didn't heard the Arcams and Creeks becaus I don't like their designs.

(Many "audiophiles" are lying if they say that the design is not important!)

All revials are not bad. But the NAD misses a lot of details (strings are rather rough), the Linn and the Mission lack the warmth and the Naim is very good but in comparison with the Mira expensive. I can't wether of both is the better one. It's a question of taste.
The combination Planet-Mira is not really worse than the CD 3.5-Nait 3R. But the naims are far more expensive and I like the loudspeakers of Rega (Ara, Jura, Ela) much more than the loudspeakers of Naim (Intro up to DBL; don't know the new expansive NBL).
I don't know how good the Creeks 5250SE sounds - it's not interessesting for me. The Mira sounds and looks so cool that I'm simply happy.
Can I get more???

Yes! I wish the Mira has golden sockets, a MC phonostage and the metal front panel in the genial aluminium body.

Sigh, you can't get everything

Have fun

Uwe

value, build quality, sound quality

none for the price

provides excellent value for the money. sound quality is first rate. equals the naim nait for half the money. rega equipment is built like a tank and has a reputation for not breaking down. rega's entire line provide's about the most sensible equipment you can own. they don't charge you a penny more than the gear is actually worth.

Similar Products Used:

naim nait3

Great sense of rhythm, balanced sound.

Not the best soundstaging I've ever heard.

I say traded UP from above, and I know some would argue that point...I traded a dual-mono power amp and pre-amp that were very well regarded when the company still existed to an English integrated amp, and I say upgrade? Yes, it's true. The Mira sounds better than the whole mountain of electronics that it replaces, and at a lower cost no less. I am very happy with the decision to switch to the Mira...
I am a big analog fan, and one of the Mira's many strengths is the ease with which it renders my vinyl - so sweet, so very listenable.
This is a highly recommended piece of gear.

Similar Products Used:

Audio Alchemy DLC and OM150 (not the most similar, but that's what I traded up from)

excellent phono stage, value, crisp sound without being overly bright,nice remote

poor binding postsand difficulty in attaching spades to speaker inputs on back of amp

I am a happy camper since buyying this amp. When used in conjuction with my Rotel 971CD, KEF reference 102/2 speakers with biwire "BetterCable" speaker cables, and Music Hall MMF-5 turntable with Goldring cartidge, I have a system producing high quality sound for less than $3000. The amp is very powerful for the nominal rating of 61 watts into 8 ihms and 91 watts into 4 ohms. The volume control never has to go beyond the 9 oclock position to provide more than adequate volume with my speakers (lots of "headroom") There is excellent clarity and warmth to the sound. I can hear the brushes on the snare drum and rosin on the fingers of the bass players. The binding posts for speaker connections are poorly placed and difficult to work with. I recommend bananas rather than spades to make this easier. Great value. I prefer the sound to the Creek 4330, which I also tried before buying this unit.

Similar Products Used:

Creek 4330R