Haven't been following this thread closely, but a look at the last few replies indicates that it should be reiterated that there's something that all well-designed amplifiers do, i.e., amplify transparently without adding any sonic signature of their own, and other things that they don't do, e.g., add "tightness", "speed", "warmth", "fullness", etc. or other fanciful descriptions. Again, the bottom line is audibly flat frequency response with inaudibly low noise and distortion; that's all there is and all engineering considerations lead to that. Basic principles of audio engineering indicate this and claims to the contrary collapse when put to the(blind listening)test and shouldn't be taken seriously. The editor of The Audio Critic summarizes this basic principle well in "Electronic SignalPaths Do Not Have a Personality!" .

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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.