@georgehifi I always enjoy and learn from your posts. Have you done any comparisons between Pass and the others (Sugden, Belles, Clayton) that puts it first and foremost for you?
No A/B’s, but just looking at the internals, the Sugden looks to me like it could be a "anaemic" version of Pass amps, look at the transformer size, amount of output transistors and power supply capacitors.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0212/2502/products/A21SE-INTERNAL-1-WS_large.jpeg?v=1496938402 lots of empty space.
There’s also a reason they are saying the Pass get’s hotter, even though it’s bigger heavier and got more heatsinking, it’s most probably because it has more "music making" Class-A bias than the Sugden.
Cheers George