Atma-Sphere vs. Supratek

I'd pick... over this mess in a minute.

@sns  Is your own room (per your system page) an arbiter for sound quality... or lack thereof, based on your above post? I think not. : )

@reimarc This is going to come down to synergy between the components and your own preferences. Try both. Your system deserves it. You deserve it. Report back. 

An interesting choice in the use of the word "complex." Is your "complex" someone else’s "messy"? Is it possible the designer of Supratek sees his creations as you see yours: complex and purposeful vs. messy?

Absolutism in our hobby is not healthy nor helpful. The audiophile equivalent of judging a book by it’s cover gets in the way of moving our shared passion forward.

A gentle reminder from Marcel Proust on the influence of our own biases over actual evidence:

"We pack the physical outline of the creature we see with all the ideas we already formed about him, and in the complete picture of him which we compose in our minds, these ideas have certainly the principal place. In the end they come to fill out so completely the curve of his cheeks, to follow so exactly the line of his nose, they blend so harmoniously in the sound of his voice that these seem to be no more than a transparent envelope, so that each time we see the face or hear the voice it is our own ideas of him which we recognize and to which we listen."

- Marcel Proust, Swann's Way

@reimarc  My apologies for my part in getting your thread off track. 

I'll repeat my first response to you:

Try both. Your system deserves it. You deserve it. Report back. 

No one here can advise you. If you can get both units in for evaluation, evaluate. And choose.

We don't have your components, your room, your preferences, your experience, your unique ear-brain combination.

In isolation, should you only get one of the two/three options in...whichever unit it is, will still be good. 

Listen. Choose. 

@sns 

I don't see this as subjective opinion or biases affecting our judgement. 

I wouldn't expect you to. That's the beauty and effectiveness of bias.

It is entrenched, so it masquerades as self preserving and confirming... and btw as authority (you know what 9 out of 10 would choose, as an example):

I presume showing people side by side internal photos of Supratek and Atma-Sphere and asking which one appeared to be better constructed, I'd bet nine or ten out of ten would pick the AS. 

I just know...

I just don't trust ...

My point is that your first post was about you, not the OP. 

@reimarc in his opening sentence states he placed an order for the Supratek Cortese LCR...and in the first reply you disparage, disqualify and question that decision. 

Now you are asking for:

I'd like to throw out my above comments as to assembly tidiness and best build pracitces to audio equipment manufacturers out there.

Start a thread. It's a good question.