Conrad Johnson vs. McIntosh Tube Gear

This thread illustrates a dilemma we all face. It is very difficult to find and listen and compare for most of us. We wind up buying on blind faith and hope we have done well. I have owned both Mac and more recently cj. My current cj is a an ET5, an ARTsa, and a TEA2MAX. I think this combination sounds wonderful, but at the price is should. I did audition Mac 275 VI and 2200, and ARC, but can't recall the models. But chose the cj for a variety of reasons, most significantly comfort with my dealer. Frankly when considering gear at this level, I don't think you can go wrong and whatever you buy you will enjoy.

VAC is not "better still" in my opinion. Compared to either cj or Mac, VAC sounds no better (it typically sounds damn good though) and yields to both in terms of reliability. ARC is also worthy of consideration. Some of their better stuff is sonically peerless, but ARC would also yield to both cj and Mac in reliability.

FWIW, my cj ET5 is so full of expensive capacitors that you can barely find anything else.