Welllll...I'll agree to disagree, because I know that "The one that truely specs out great MUST sound great" is not true. It only means the unit performs well on that test. Music is much more complex than audio industry specs are good for. Furthermore, many companies don't test specs uniformally. Some test 20-20. Some with a true load. Some some with a test resistor. Specs show CDs sound better than LPs. They don't. They are more convenient. Researchers recenly found 2nd and third order harmonics above the range of human hearing affect audible tones and thus are perceived by listeners. Specs don't test for that. How many other unresearched areas of acoustic and psychacoustic interactions are not addressed by "slew rate" , "damping factor" and "Total Harmonic Distortion". Plus, you DID miss my point that in designing to ACE spec A, a designer might screw up spec B, C, and D.