D'agostino amplifiers: where's the beef?


So I've owned two of the classic monster Krell amplifiers from the distant past, the KSA 50 and later the KSA 250.  Both great amplifiers in their time and both collectible for those interested in that kind of stuff.  I'm generally a fan of D'agostino as a consequence.

I'm currently shopping for a new solid state amplifier to pair with potentially new speakers (Wilson or YG or Von Schweikert or Magico or Joseph - long story for another day).

 So recently while auditioning at my local dealer the system was powered by the current D'agostino M400 mono amplifiers.  While the sound was good I couldn't help but notice how TINY the $65K amplifiers were sitting on stands near the speakers.  OK they had nice metal work and were shiny but I couldn't help wonder WHY are these things so expensive?!  Later at home photo's of the insides of these amps on Google led me to wonder even more!!  The power supplies and interior construction in these things are nothing like the monster supplies and parts in the classic Krell's

Plus while the Krell's were expensive in their day (with great sound) the current D'agostino's have absurd pricing, far exceeding inflation.  

Are people spending this kind of money for fancy heat sinks?  Really?

I'd rather have an old Krell and a new Porsche Boxster or C8 Corvette for the same money.

Any one else have similar impressions?
bobbydd
With pulse width modulation and a high enough sampling rate it should be possible to make an excellent sounding Class D amp. TacT did it once before.
There are very good class D amps, but I don't think they will ever sound as natural as a class A amp.  Class A amps are obviously much less efficient.  

CD vs Vinyl is a good analogy to class D vs class A.  Viny offers continuous information, class A uses continuous full bias, but digital music is broken up into bits and class D has variable bias.  Both are solutions to reduce cost and increase efficiency and convenience.  
bobbydd-----"I'd rather have an old Krell and a new Porsche Boxster or C8 Corvette for the same money"

I almost agree with you.  I have a 35 year old Krell KSA-80B factory recapped driving my Apogee Scintilla One Ohms--and a BMW X3 30 e Hybrid.  Feeding them with Roon/Nucleus+ and a Meridian Ultra Dac.  Love them all.
after having owned many amps, i now run the Dagnostino Momentums and my "sound dreams" are fulfilled. My wife says, finally a piece of equipment that looks as good as it sounds. No regrets here on the cost. I have also found the company to be very responsive to my inquiries.