I use Audison or AudioControl DSP and agree with your sentiment. I don’t think were really on different pages in our knowledge, just different applications with different result objectives; sorry if It came across any other way. I've been building, as a hobby since 1983, I'm 62 and been around many many times. First real system i admit to having was a Concord PL515 Dolby A/B/C cassette deck and Linear Power 100/100 watt beast of a clean A/B amp. Had to source aftermarket Phillips speakers (woofers and tweeters) and Pyle woofers (back when Pyle didn’t mean a Pyle, literally) or RadioShack to find anything in the way of separates back then. I used to run all class A and the Reference Sound Stream amps and the Van Gogh’s were some of my favorites, loved them! Also ran Adcom’s for a while, they were exceptional too. I was a Rep for Atomics’ back in the day too (Greater Idaho/Northwest) I’ve run RF, SS, some JBL/Crown models, Pioneer GM Champion and PRS, Zapco, Brax, Focal amps, you name it, I've probably treid at least one. Reemmber the huge Sony Big Red Mobile ES XM-7547 and that huge gold one, the dual mono setup, the PPI art series, (real) Orion HCCA's, had all of those at one time or another. For playback, more specifically CD playback, love the Pioneer PRS HU’s with the Burr Brown DAC’s, currently using a DEH-80PRS with a BT dongle installed (yeah I’m also late to the game but getting into the streaming, lossless high res source material too). I think that when you get into the realm of what you’re doing, you’re always going to be pushing the envelope and blowing stuff here and there; these models that we're talking about are all pretty damn impressive. Coming from where I started, they are pretty amazing as far as the watt for dollar goes. Competition builds are for true diehards (and younger bucs) just not my thing .I still don’t agree that any output as long as it is the same, irrespective of everything, sound the same, Again, maybe in the realm of SPL 150DB drag races, but not in SQ setups that I've built. Maybe if all components are the same and you’re talking about simply trading one 5000 watt mono amp for another, maybe, but not in all applications.