McIntosh and Brystons: Fair comparison ?

I have the Lexicon/Bryston 501 monos on my B&W 800N's. I home auditioned the Mac 501's for 10 days against them in a diligent manner. I love the Mac appearance and resale value, but must say that I could not really ascertain any real difference in sound quality--it was a wash to my ears. Considering the price difference & unmatched Bryston warranty, unless cost is not an object, the Bryston wins easily in my humble opinion---Mac wins easily in the appearance category:-)

A Shakti to the wallet I'd say, and a placebo effect at the most and they don't even look pretty.

An autoformer can lend a tube like sound to a solid state amp. This can and will make an amp smoother and less detailed like all but the best tube amps. After all sending a signal through hundreds of feet of wire is not going to increase detail. The sound derived is not necessarily a bad thing but a matter of preference.

Anyone considering the shatki stones should take a look at my Audio Peas. These are bags of frozen peas (highly tweaked) that you simply set anywhere in your listening room for instance improvement in sonics. A bargain at $75 per.

One study said the Peas were nearly 2.5 as effective as shatki stones. Yes, those stones are a RIP-OFF, pure and simple. I'm sorry to be blunt.

What do the peas go for used? They must be great because I never see them used here.

I don't want to be accused of hijacking the thread. :)

(PM me and I'll make you a deal.)