I liked the lower powered offerings of the likes of Shindo, Kondo, and Yamamoto. Some of the older Kondo gear, like their M10 preamp, are stunningly good sounding. I sort of found that out the hard way. Many years ago, I was in the market for Stax Omega II headphones. I heard them at a dealership and bought a pair with the Stax tube amplifier. When I listened to them at home, they sounded good, but not as good as they sounded at the store. When I asked the store owner about this, he explained that when I auditioned the headphones, they were hooked up to a Kondo M10 and I don't have anything nearly as good in my system.
