Needed: Honest Advice on high-end amps- either mono or stereo

The incremental value a $20,000 amp has over a $200 amp is $0 if you yourself can't hear it. 

Having said that, I'd suggest you listen to Luxman, a close sound cousin of D'Agostino even in the integrateds, Ayre and Pass as amps that can sound different enough to you to justify the spend. 

This is particularly important when selecting them to drive specific speakers as they will interact somewhat. 

I own 2 amps I swap between that I consider to be as good as it gets. A single ended class A tube amp from Dennis Had (Inspire Firebottle HO for High Output) bought when it was a month old or so in 2017 for around 1100 bucks, and  a Pass XA-25 that costs around 5 grand...had that for a few years. Does it leave me wanting some other possibly way more expensive amp? Nope.

How many people in this forum can afford German pre, ampli and speakers for $200,000? What are we talking here? Are we discussing audio or just bragging about $$$$$ ? Most of the forum participants would be, in my guess, in a range of $10K-$40K. I guess my place is not here. Sometimes there are real practical discussions, but they seem get less and less common.

How many people in this forum can afford German pre, ampli and speakers for $200,000?
 

@aspertnt You can’t be serious with such a silly question? It’s called a 401K loan - and it’s something that I’ve done on many occasions (highly encouraged). HSA is also another avenue, and if that doesn’t work there’s the cash-out refi on the home.

Financially responsible? Absolutely not, but the possibilities are endless if not risk adverse. 

Being sarcastic of course. Last time I checked I have about $40K in my 401K, all in bonds, with a time horizon of 40 years.

My honest advice:  there are great amps out there these days for a mere $1k.  Maybe less.  But you have to be smart enough to find them.

Or, if your goal is to compete, the sky is the limit so start jumping hard now and be ready to spend.....