Of those you've listed, I did a direct comparison between Merrill Veritas and Rowland Continuum S2 over a period of several weeks.
The Veritas monos prevailed over all comers, right up until the Rowland CS2. There's a pretty big difference between the two, although both are highly worthy. Veritas seems cleaner, more transparent, and adds nothing to what's coming through. Rowland has a 'house sound' that seems more rounded, a bit softer and easy to listen to, taking the edge off for better listenability in my system. Merrill is pretty much a one-person operation (though extraordinarily responsive!) Rowland is a larger and more established company.
And on, and on... It can be a tough choice, but a fun one to go through.
The Veritas monos prevailed over all comers, right up until the Rowland CS2. There's a pretty big difference between the two, although both are highly worthy. Veritas seems cleaner, more transparent, and adds nothing to what's coming through. Rowland has a 'house sound' that seems more rounded, a bit softer and easy to listen to, taking the edge off for better listenability in my system. Merrill is pretty much a one-person operation (though extraordinarily responsive!) Rowland is a larger and more established company.
And on, and on... It can be a tough choice, but a fun one to go through.