I have never heard ASR but a friend whose opinion I highly respect on these matters says it’s the best sounding integrated out there.
Yes but they can go crazy, and that heatsink cracking and popping is the bias going nutz, very dangerous.
When the battery supply gets too low, weird things begin happening, like the inputs start switching on their own making the music go back and forth between glorious and blah. The Direct no longer is Direct but Input 5, even though the lights indicate it is Direct. The amp is susceptible to weirdness when the heat sinks suddenly pop and crack at random intervals and scare you with low level musicCheers George