Peterayer: I did not "imply" that high-end two channel gear has not improved much since the mid 1990's - I clearly stated it, and as a general proposition, I stand by the statement. But your point about the Pass gear is well taken, and on a very resolving high-end system, I have no doubt that you can hear and enjoy the improvements. Again to your point, is my darTZeel better than my Rowland Model 6's from the mid 90's? Sure. But as you point out, current gear is very, very expensive.
To my point, I will put my Rowland Coherence II with battery power supply up against any current production solid-state preamp short of the darTZeel. These days, the odds of finding Vishay-level quality parts in gear is slim - in the mid/late 90's, this level of parts quality was almost standard in statement designs. Aside from Atma-Sphere, you will be hard-pressed to find a current maker of high-end gear that hand-wires its gear - everyone went to boards because there isn't enough business volume to employ techs to do it. Alas, there are few companies like Pass Labs that have the resources and market presence to bring meaningful improvements to this type of gear (many high-end two-channel brands are in fact one-to-five person operations, often operated out of homes).
Happy New Year to the Audiogon community.
To my point, I will put my Rowland Coherence II with battery power supply up against any current production solid-state preamp short of the darTZeel. These days, the odds of finding Vishay-level quality parts in gear is slim - in the mid/late 90's, this level of parts quality was almost standard in statement designs. Aside from Atma-Sphere, you will be hard-pressed to find a current maker of high-end gear that hand-wires its gear - everyone went to boards because there isn't enough business volume to employ techs to do it. Alas, there are few companies like Pass Labs that have the resources and market presence to bring meaningful improvements to this type of gear (many high-end two-channel brands are in fact one-to-five person operations, often operated out of homes).
Happy New Year to the Audiogon community.