Doesn’t switching gear take away from the sound stage, the quality?Not necessarily, IMO. While I suspect that a lot of audiophiles would assert that it does, I doubt that very many if any of them have performed an evaluation of a variety of well chosen switchboxes (note the selection criteria I cited in the second thread I linked to, involving isolation of negative as well as positive amplifier outputs, as well as power handling capability), and in a variety of diverse systems, and in a thorough and disciplined manner that is sufficient to support that assertion with any conclusiveness.
Regards,
-- Al