have you ever bought stereo without listening first

The fact of the matter is high end stores may be accessible in big cities but high end components never are. By the time we drill down to exactly what we want and even if we find say a dealer who carries Synergistic Research he will never have in stock the ones we want to audition. No dealer has any Swarm or Tekton in stock- impossible! Is there anyone here lives within driving distance of being able to hear a Raven, Onkk Cue, Schroeder, or Herron? 

This is why all the guys I know who have actually heard a lot of the good stuff, they are like willgolf and have flown all over the world. This stuff is just that rare and hard to find. It seems like there's a lot only because the internet makes it so easy to find anything anywhere no matter how rare. Great for electrons, perfect for pixels, don't do squat for listeners. 

When my dealer - who had flown all over listening to everything, for years and years- retired and I lost my connection I had to learn how to use the internet. Its a different approach but it has been working just fine for me. I do like big_greg and search with a plan, read everything I can find, and usually as the final step and whenever possible talk to the builder. Following this approach I have not only never been disappointed, I have actually never failed to be satisfied beyond all expectation.

Do it right and I don't think it matters where you live. Internet, UPS, and a brain- all you need.

Interesting. In the beginning and for a good 10 to 15 years I was settled in the camp of buying only what you've heard- and preferably at home. I was convinced, especially in the beginning, that a lot of these technical design features really mattered. That specs and measured performance really mattered. Over time, as listening to one thing after another proved that was all wrong, that all went away. There was a time when I would pay attention to all that stuff, even though I knew it doesn't really matter. But reality wore me down. Now I only pay attention to the one thing that matters, how it sounds. I read reviews paying almost no attention to anything other than how it sounds. Now well into a dozen years doing this I have yet to be disappointed in a purchase. 

Don't get me wrong. There are a few technical considerations that do matter. Speaker sensitivity and impedance does need to be within some generally amplifier friendly range or you'll never be able to find an amp. Cartridge output, ditto. Hmmm... I seem to be running out of specs that matter. 

Oh well. Point being, if you were happy with the listener impressions you read for this amp then probably you will be happy. If you relied on anything else I wish you good luck.