All I can say, for me are technical specs (very good ones) essential. And the next step is a sonic layout which can deliver a real thing sound. That combination is rare. We find a lot of units with top specs which sound dead like a piece of wood and you find a lot of good sounding units which have no technical standard, which can be rated in the wide, endless
"I like it Section. This "I like it" has nothing to do with High End. It is a personal opinion. You can like your car stereo, or MP3, or something expensive which is cheap internally. In a way, I would say, modern High End is loaded with low end "solutions". The term High End is stretched too much in the last 15 years, it is time to create a complete new chapter.
How about "Fun End"?
Some time ago, when the Allnic Hype flooded Audiogon I went to an owner who had the top line Pre and Phono (I think it was 3000 or something like that at that time). He had a similar electronics, Turntable, Arm, cabling and a Lyra Olympos.
We let it run and to be honest I never say something when I am invited. It is my experience and I respect every owner. It is his money, his time, his Fun. Or, when someone is a Fan of Dudley's Finest...I have no problem with it. He asked me several times what I think about it and after a while I said "You don't want to know that".
Anyway, he insisted. Fact was (or is), those Allnics blow up the Tone but that's it. The Phono was not able to deliver the abilities from the Olympos. I need some time to believe that but no matter what setting we used, 70% was not existing AND it was in a way wrong. I had no explanation for that and the last chance for us was to bypass the Phono section via MM with an external SUT (that one had top specs and was a custom made one) and from the first second all in the room said "THAT is MUCH much better"....To finish that story, I was only allowed to leave him when he could keep the SUT.
I deleted Allnic from my memory and when I did read the comment from JA it came back. did it astonish me? Well, no.
