Rega io

Rega is a long-established British maker, born around turntables and with a precise philosophy: put the money where you can hear it, in the circuit, not in the surrounding functions. The io arrived in 2020 as a "smaller Brio": it takes the award-winning Brio's Class A/B power stage and its linear power supply, scales it to deliver 30 watts instead of 50, and puts it in a compact case.

In our ranking of entry integrated amps it takes first place, and the reason is consistent with the soul of the site: it is the most musical amp in the class, the one made for those who mostly listen to records. The others offer more watts and more sockets; the io offers the sound.

It is a small machine — 18 cm wide, under three kilos — with an aluminium shell and a heavy metal base that helps shed heat. The build is solid and careful in the Rega tradition; the one criticism is aesthetic, the glossy plastic front panel that does not shout "premium". But it is a declared choice: Rega has put the money in the circuit, not the face.

Inside, the substance is the Brio's: Sanken output transistors, an Alps volume potentiometer of a quality above the class, a linear power supply. The headphone output is driven directly from the power amp via relays — so it genuinely sounds good, it is not an afterthought — and inserting the jack mutes the speakers automatically. The remote is included. The one practical limit: being narrow, the rear sockets sit close together, and with thick cables the connection is a little awkward.

Here the io does what it was born for, and it is the reason for first place. The sound is the Rega signature: rhythm, timing and musicality above all. On a track with drive — a soul cut, a piece of jazz with push — the io holds the timing with a contagious energy, the kind that makes you want to play another record, and another. The press treats it as a class reference for exactly this: it is not the most powerful, it is the most involving.

It is not an analytical or cold amp: it lets the music flow naturally, without obvious colouration, and it is even forgiving of imperfect recordings — a virtue worth gold at this price. The thirty watts look modest on paper, but with speakers of normal sensitivity they are more than enough for high volumes in a real room. The limit is with very demanding speakers or large rooms: there you would want the Brio.

This is the heart of the review, because it is the heart of the io. The built-in MM phono stage is the same circuit as the Brio's — not a reduced version, the same — set to 220 pF, with plenty of gain for any moving-magnet cartridge. In practice: you connect the turntable directly to the io, without buying a separate phono stage, and you get a phono of real quality, not the usual thrown-in built-in stage.

This is where the io really saves you money. An amp without a phono stage forces you to add a preamp — even a good one, like the iFi ZEN Air Phono 2 — and on the io you do not make that spend: it is already inside, and it is of real quality. For those who mostly listen to vinyl, this changes the total cost of the system, and moves the io ahead of rivals that look richer on paper. The limit, consistent with the philosophy, is that the phono is MM only: with a moving coil you need an external MC preamp.

In the Rega range, the io sits below the Brio (50 W, more inputs) and the Elex (more power and features still): if you have demanding speakers, a large room or want more sources, the step up is toward those. But for most people entering hi-fi with vinyl in mind, the io is more than enough — and the price difference is better spent elsewhere in the chain.

Against the rivals in our ranking, the positioning is clear. The closest comparison is the Marantz PM6007, which sits a whisker above in the composite score: it sounds superb and adds a DAC with digital inputs, but it costs a third more, and that premium buys features rather than vinyl musicality. If the turntable is your main source, the io puts the same money where you hear it; if you also need digital, the Marantz is its natural senior. Amps like the Yamaha or the Cambridge offer more power and digital inputs — a DAC, sometimes streaming — and are more versatile if you also listen from digital sources; the NAD adds Bluetooth and a hybrid soul. They are excellent for those who want a do-everything system hub. The io does the opposite: it gives up digital and bets everything on analogue musicality and a phono stage done well. It is the purist of the class — and it is why, for the vinyl-first listener, it is our first. It is not the amp with the most functions: it is the one that plays records best.

The io is the natural centre of a vinyl-first chain: a turntable in the phono input, easy-to-drive speakers on the output, and optionally a line source in one of the two RCAs. With 30 watts, the pairing must be judged on speaker sensitivity: efficient, easy speakers like the Triangle Borea BR03 (90 dB) are ideal partners, while thirsty or low-sensitivity speakers would call for the Brio.

In our bookshelf-speaker ranking you will find several suitable pairings. It is also the amp we cite when a chain built piece by piece needs an integrated with the phono already inside — the idea of the £800 system: turntable, io, speakers, and you are set without an added phono stage.