Chris, I would urge you to include the Silver Breeze from Silver Audio. Max is very accommodating and will send it to you on approval, so you have nothing to lose. At under $600 it's an amazing performer far outclassing similarly priced products (like the LeoPard, IMO ;-) I liked the SB better, for instance than the Cardas GR which was recommended to me by the SME person at Sumiko. Had I not got my Venustas a week later at CES (for 60% off!), I would probably have bought the Silver Breeze. I mention this because occasionally, there are (under-priced?) products, which if they happen to work in your system, then you lucked out! But most of the time you get what you pay for.
I can agree with Buconero, but only in spirit ;-) Some products are indeed overpriced for what they offer in performance, and if the customer has NOT done their due diligence, they may find themselves defending the Emperor's new clothes;-) But the really BEST performing products are NEVER the cheapest, and usually worth every penny of their astronomical prices! Yes, it's true they tend to cost more and more for less and less incremental improvements; but this happens for a lot of understandable reasons that have nothing to do with a desire to gouge the public.
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I can agree with Buconero, but only in spirit ;-) Some products are indeed overpriced for what they offer in performance, and if the customer has NOT done their due diligence, they may find themselves defending the Emperor's new clothes;-) But the really BEST performing products are NEVER the cheapest, and usually worth every penny of their astronomical prices! Yes, it's true they tend to cost more and more for less and less incremental improvements; but this happens for a lot of understandable reasons that have nothing to do with a desire to gouge the public.
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