First off, price does not equal performance. Since I build components and upgrade them, I have yet to see the quality of capacitors, resistors, transformers that I use in any typical manufactured product past or present. Have you seen Caddock or V-Caps in any product built? I have heard a few Class-D amps over the years, not many but a few, and those did not sound better than my old Lafayette KT-550 tube amp, not even close. But I am open to try anything. So if you are saying the cost does not justify the means (sound) maybe you are correct. Even the Counterpoint products that I upgrade sound better than most of the components I have compared them to today. Go Figure! It comes down to the implementation of the design. For example, not all R2R DACs sound great. Not all Class-D amps sound great. Not all conventional components sound great. I also don’t like circuit boards with surface mounted parts. To my ears, they do not sound good!
Happy Listening.
Happy Listening.