Anything as " fast" as SPECTRAL gear?

^^ that has been my experience. The ear/brain system is the final arbiter and not enough is known about how we perceive sound to be able to go off of bench specs (which rarely have anything to do with human perceptual rules) to create a good design. Those who rely entirely on a goal of good bench specs tend to make lousy sounding equipment.

I'm with you Atmasphere. Soundstage is a far 'deeper'effect of speed. Even with just the Spectral gear I use (supposedly 'fast') I've had an education on speed with experimentation of AC isolation and conditioning. The cleaner the signal the faster my equipment sounds. My experience is the faster the end signal the better the clarity of the different instruments and their place in the mix. "Speed" provides a deeper experience of the 'timbre' and 'nuance'of the instruments and the sense of air around them, delicacy in spite of a complex orchestral piece. For smaller combos speed provides a greatly enhanced appreciation of the genius of the players. Without "speed" these emotionally exciting cues simply don't have time to be created. Speed is far more than that immediate crash of the cymbals; and it gives me a deeper pleasure in all types of music. Slow is simply far less involving.

I would have to agree. However no conditioning here except for dedicated lines. But not sure how noise floor plays into this. I have no poor examples to compare but the ones with the lowest noise floor have seemingly infinite depth.

^^ Noise can obscure low level detail, which includes minor soundstage cues. So getting rid of noise should reveal more detail and more depth.

The 'fastness' (or 'slowness') of circuitry isn't something that can be picked out by ear. When distortion is low, the music sounds good. Making circuits 'faster' is just one way among many of lowering distortion.