the adage you get what you pay for is generally true, however there are certain high-end brands were many dollars spent on the look of the case.
however, we have direct experience in testing different reference amplifiers,
we tested the original Parasound jc 1 vs Elecrocompaniet aw400s
vs chord spm 600s vs chord spm 6000
these amplifiers were all at very different prices and employed very different technologies and topologies
jc1 class a/b 10k a pair
aw400 class a/b 14k a pair
on a direct comparison the elecro amplifiers were dramatically better sounding
then the chord starter Monos were even better faster cleaner and more dynamic 16k a pair
then the chord reference mono blocks 32k a pair
these were the best of all with the widest and deepest sound stage that made the KEF blades come alive
Dave and Troy
Audio intellect NJ