7es-3 + Line Magnetic vs Vandy Quatro + AR VSI 55?

Wow- what shame you are getting so few responses. I wouldn't have thought. That being the case, maybe I will ad this. St.Louis Stereo carries all four lines you are mentioning here. Maybe if you go w/ Vandy/ARC, you could do business with them. I have never spoken with them, but they have a great reputation. I have heard from a dealer that the Harbeth 5 is a killer match w/ the Leben 300. If you are looking at the gold series, I would think a Leben comparison would make sense. That said, no Leben has the power of the KT120/88 501 Gold amp.

Just in general, the lower cost ARCs, in my listening, are no match for the Line Magnetic amps. There's a realism to the LMs that you aren't going to get from the ARC until you get into the REFs. I'm less a fan of the Leben with Harbeth, although that's from listening to P3s and 30.1s.

I was somewhat in your shoes recently - local shop carries ARC, Leben, Shindo, LM, Rogue, others. Went there to hear Rogue stuff, and incidentally they also had a used mint ARC VSI55 on hand. I did listen to the LM, and it sounded great, but to my ears the ARC sounded just as good (through a set of Proac D2). The LM stuff is gorgeous, but the VSI55 was priced right and too good to pass up, so I got that and the Proacs. I would still love to own an LM amp. I can't say that one amp would sound better than the other, too many variables...different rooms, different source, different speakers. What happens in my listening space may not happen in yours, and vice versa. My over-riding sentiment for you is this: everything you're listening to, or considering, is great equipment. There isn't a dog in the bunch. So I have to think that there's a very happy ending in your immediate future, whether you go LM or ARC.

Side note - I also heard the LM 502CA DAC and loved it. That's on my want list. But I found it odd that the LM website doesn't even include that model, no specs, driver download, etc. Not a big deal, but odd for equipment at this price level.

Side note 2 - Maybe I'm quirky in this way, but the fact that the LM only comes with a 1 year warranty bugged me a little. We're talking about amps in the $4K-5K range. One year seems short to me. But I still would like to own one, and may still buy the 502CA dac.