20 Year Old Amplifiers compared to 2017

Class D's don't make the music I want to listen to.   The only Class D amp that would work for me is the Merrill, but it is expensive

Carver sunfire sig will still run circles around many amps to this day. 
  Isnt it a switching class H amp ? Regardless, its sound is amazing

@stringreen 
Up until a couple years ago, I had an Ayre V-1xe. It was very musical. I'd argue that for around $4K, which is about the used price on this amp, nothing of current production could touch it. I've had to spend quite a bit more money to get better sound.

These endless arguments about whether all properly designed amplifiers sound the same are a bit amusing. As a previous post noted, "certain unique speakers present loading that will cause good amplifiers to sound slightly different." Arguments arise over the level of difference "slightly" means perceptually to each of us. Personally, I have difficulty imaging the perceptual apparatus of one who can't hear differences in amplifiers. Even my wife, who has stainless steel prosthetic implant replacements for stirrup bones in both her middle ears and wears high end hearing aids can hear the difference in good amplifiers with upper tier speakers and she really doesn't care that much about the issue at hand. I also find the insistence that blind testing is the only viable methodology for determining if there are differences between things like amplifiers, musical instruments, etc. places unwarranted faith in the ability of humans to make meaningful consistent distinctions in stressful testing situations. Many of us have heard a great deal made of the recent blind testing that alleged to have shown that concert violinists cannot really distinguish between a Stradivarius and a quality modern violin.
 The following account by a participant in the test rather succinctly points out the flaws in the belief that the blind testing was an accurate arbiter of differences: http://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/20121/13039/
 For those that are unaware of this test, here's a summary of the results as widely reported: https://www.thestrad.com/blind-tested-soloists-unable-to-tell-stradivarius-violins-from-modern-instruments/994.article
 Closer at hand to the topic under discussion, I have a highly modified PS Audio HCA-2 (much improved over the stock amplifier) and a brand new Mivera Audio AS1200 amp with the latest iteration of B&O's Icepower modules. Fifteen years separate the two amps. I'm not sure I could distinguish the differences in a rapid fire blind test with short listening segments. However, when you have a longer listening sessions to familiar recordings one does hear differences in things like the way different parts of a snare drum more or less prominent, a vocalist sits in a different soundstage perspective in relationship to the orchestra, cymbals sound slightly different, etc. Subtle, perhaps meaningless to some, but apparent nonetheless.