Yes, many people like the sparkle. That, and all the dials make it look very very high tech… they are very cool looking. Like McIntosh, but in a completely different way.
@retiredfarmer Yes. I was trying to avoid a term that had outright negative connotations. Lots of folks like that sound.
I audition systems and components and constantly go over my experiences with my own systems and what others value. My values have changed enormously over the last fifty years as I have learned and then moved my system to sound like real music and away from a “high end” sounding system. I feel I am slowly getting to be able to identify a few “sound types” that appeal to groups folks that pursue high end. But it is still a work in progress.