Will a New Amp Sound Better Than My ML333?

As with everything audiophile, if you try something new you will be excited by whatever you have heard from pundits is the defining difference (more bass, air, soundstage, etc), only to eventually realize that it sounds no better than what you substituted. How many times have we tried a new component armed with preconceived notions of how it should sound, only to discover after some time that it is no better than what it replaced (assuming you have the previous component available to substitute back in)? As audiophiles, we are all chasing something that can never be caught. If you say you have an “end game” system, you are not an audiophile. 

@cleeds 

Why might that be best? I think I speak for many audiophiles I know. At least the ones who are honest with themselves. 

@jjss49 

That’s “Mr. 5 posts” to you, buddy. 😂

I’ve been an audiophile for almost 40 years. Not posting here does not disqualify me from having an opinion, nor does it make my opinions any less valid. I’ve bought and sold on Audiogon for many years and have been reading these forums for quite a while. Now that I’ve submitted my resume, let’s get back to that double blind 27.5 vs. 333 test. 😁

@jjss49 

I somehow feel that posting my system is not going to convince you of the point I was making. Let me clarify: I don’t feel that the quest for sonic bliss is necessarily linear. I think it is just as likely to be cyclic. We are all chasing the best sound reproduction we can achieve. That we can agree on. I have shelved or sold gear that I felt was either inadequate or no longer for my taste, only to circle back years later and rediscover and embrace those sonic merits that I felt I had moved past. I’m a big fan of classic gear. I feel that well designed gear from years past can hold its own with most of the components of today. At an absolute FRACTION of the price. I sometimes find myself reaching into the past to move “forward”.
 

The beauty of being an audiophile is that you can never be accused of being wrong. Everyone’s impressions of sound are unique and individual. Just like there is no best “style” of music, we all have opinions of what sounds good to us. You may not agree with what I think sounds best, but that doesn’t mean either one of us is right and the other is wrong. Your sonic journey may take you on a path where you never look back from where you came. My sonic journey is more of a circuitous route that intersects itself at various points along the way. I’ve read countless people on here lamenting the sale of a component that they got rid of years ago. I’m sure at the time they felt it was all in the name of progress. Would they trade what they have now for what they had? Maybe not, but the fact that they are lamenting getting rid of older gear makes me wonder how much progress has really been made.