How important is component “aesthetics” to you?

@lalitk
It’s not particularly special aside from the facts that I built it, it runs hot rails, and it has no current limiting. It's doing 41 watts instead of the standard 25 watts. The thing that surprises people is that the actual amps are so small and simple compared to the massive power supply. The boards literally have 25 components each.

Great, I am happy for you. Not everyone possess the know how or inclination to build their own class A amps. 

However, I do hear that one can easily build a class D amps with available DIY kits (thanks to HYPEX).  Whether they sound as good as Class A is purely subjective (please, let’s not debate class A and D merits here). 

Trust me. Class A amps are very easy to build. The F5 is very simple compared to typical commercial products, but if you want to see brutal simplicity, go look at Nelson's Zen Variations. You'll never find a class D that simple. I honestly think class A is where to start building amps. They avoid a lot of the complications that plague other designs. You're going to be extremely hard pressed to beat something like a simple PassDIY amp built in dual mono. You'll never buy that kind of quality for equivalent money, not even close. What is 41 watts of Pass class A power worth? Way more than what it cost me to build, and that's why I go that route. 

Well, since I don't believe in differences between amps (given the standard caveats), aesthetics is paramount. That's why I have a collection of vintage gear ... 77-80 silver-face and late 80's Pioneer Elite. When it comes to looks and feel, they don't make 'em like they used to.

It must look good. Even before I went off the deep end and into high end stereo, I've replaced a silver face plate DVD player in my old system to a black one. I like my cars silver and my stereo black. In my opinion, the prettiest ones to look at are McIntosh components. MC352 hands down the prettiest item in my system.