High End Amp Price Collapse musings

It's all about what you are familiar with. If you never heard a good class A amp, or heard a not so good class A amp, a class D can be impressive. I had a Pioneer Elite receiver about 12 years ago and it sounded great. However, I purchased an older B&K st140 and there seems to be a deep soundstage where instruments are at various places. Whereas the Pioneer sounded as if every instrument was lined up front and center ( if that makes sense). Now I have not heard a recent class d amp

Most Audiophiles who know the difference between class A and D , etc, will pay a premium for their preference. The used prices will stay steady, imo, until the people who demand such dies off. If enough new audiophiles who care keep "sprouting up" through the years, expect steady pricing.

The general buyer who buys a Pioneer Elite receiver and streams "lossy" music from their phone to various rooms in their house will care less about amp class.

The thing about many of those big, heavy older Class A amps is that they were made so good. Think about it. Many people still have 1960’s and 70's McIntoshes at the heart of their system. That really says a lot.

I'd be curious if McIntosh, accuphase,etc produced a Class D amp how it would compare to their normal line