Is Luxman a poor man's D'Agostino ?

I’ve had extensive use of the dag progression integrated and luxman 509x in my system.  I find the luxman to be an outstanding product all around. It’s a neutral sound without much editorializing. It’s definitely a high end sound in a luxurious package. it’s not however a lower cost dag. the progression unit is clearly a higher end sounding amp. It’s more refined and has the best midrange that I’ve personally ever heard. The dag to me is a richer sounding amp which might not be the best match with speakers that aren’t very neutral. Both are great units but the difference in sound quality is reflected in the price of admission. IMHO

Anyone heard Soulution 330 and 530 integrateds ? 

4425849 posts02-14-2021 2:34amI’ve had extensive use of the dag progression integrated and luxman 509x in my system. I find the luxman to be an outstanding product all around. It’s a neutral sound without much editorializing. It’s definitely a high end sound in a luxurious package. it’s not however a lower cost dag. the progression unit is clearly a higher end sounding amp. It’s more refined and has the best midrange that I’ve personally ever heard. The dag to me is a richer sounding amp which might not be the best match with speakers that aren’t very neutral. Both are great units but the difference in sound quality is reflected in the price of admission. IMHO

Good post. I did not compare the DAG Progression integrated to my Luxman L-590AXII but have owned many integrated amps in the past. As we all know, there is no amp that is totally neutral as all are coloured to a certain extent and "voiced" to have a house sound of their own. In other words, the perfect or ultimate amp does not exist, at least in my book. The Luxman goes very close to neutrality and sounds balanced without anything sticking out like a sore thumb. That is one reason some people find the Luxman to sound a bit pale or lacklustre in comparison to more dynamics amps, one being the Krell. Amps such as Krell or Naim push out the bass and treble more while some amps sound more forward and brighter, some amps sound warmer and laidback.

The DAG Progression may be a winner in both sound and looks but it’s twice the price of the Luxman TOTL integrated. As we all know, system matching is everything and in the right system with the right loudspeakers the Luxman is capable of achieving excellent results in the realm of high-end. It’s not a Vitus, Gryphon or well, the DAG but there’s quality to the sonic presentation.

Well, maybe we got to save up for a little longer and get D'Agostino. I certainly would do exactly that. I don't want to spend almost $10k and have something which is pretty good, better spend $20k and have an amp which is on a different level.
Personally, I am not interested in Japanese transistor electronics, American and European for me please. As for tubes, that's different, here I don't discriminate. That Wavac has always been mine, I just can't get a hold of it.
Soulution gets excellent press, appears to be quite different from D'Agostino, and Gryphon is different still. The choice would probably very much depend on taste and speakers, that are also chosen according to one's taste. 

Quote from Terry London’s Coda amp Stereo Times review...

In January of 2019, I did the first professional review of the Coda Technologies’ Continuum No. 8 amplifier and found it to be a stellar performer (reviewed here). I never doubted that the No. 8 amplifier’s build quality and engineering would be at a reference level, based on the history with Coda Technologies equipment. Still, I was quite impressed with its beautiful music presentation that competed with solid state-amplifiers that cost thousands of dollars more. For example, I had the Dan D’Agostino Progression Stereo amp (which retails for $15,500 more than the No. 8) in for review and the Coda amplifier outclassed it in tonality, transparency, speed, and soundstaging ability.