"great imaging and other desirable sonic attributes?"
Zephir, that's an impressive list that you have put together. What makes things so deliciously complicated is that "one man's guerrilla is another man's freedom fighter". . . or in our terms, what is one audiophile's desirable attribute is likely to be someone else's sonic flaw. Very much like DCSTEP, I am extremely fond of the JRDG Capri and Criterions for their extension, top to bottom linearity, and harmonic exposure. On the other hand, a high degree of musical linearity is not necessarily of everyone's taste. Some may very well prefer the slightly warmer sound of an ARC Ref 3 for example, or the much warmer presentation of a BAT VK51SE, just to make a couple of examples. G.