Question for Merlin VSM/ARS Sonum owners

Hi all,
After 3 weeks of listen to my new Filar SE with stock tubes, here is my comments in comparing to my existing Cary SLP05/CAD120S:
Cary pair give more punch, body, and detail. Sound is rounder (?) even at low volume.
I would give 7/10. Now, I'm satisfy - ARS Sonum can do so much, but not miracle.
I'm keeping the Cary pair!

this is perhaps a little unfair because your fila is an older model and not one of the latest which sound a lot better. please keep that in mind.
best, b

What changes exist between old/new Fila's?

Yes, actually a bit unfair since my Cary pair are loaded with NOS (kenrad black bottle 6SN7s, Mullard Blackburn 5AR4, Gold Lion reissue KT88) along with Herbie tube damper rings on all tubes and Revelation Audio Labs umbilical cord - About $1500 worth upgrade

Well, you do have a preamp/amp combo selling for a bit over 3x the price versus a small, lower powered integrated "voiced" for the speaker, seems like a fair fight to me. Should not be too shocking you might prefer a $12,000+ combo (and Dennis Had is not chopped liver) to the Ars, but the question is how far does the Ars take you at a far lower price point? Pretty far I think. Ultimately, I prefered my $13,000+ Atma-sphere combo, but I sort of expected that. That being said, one could easily live with the Ars/Merlin combo, get off the merry-go-round and just enjoy the music without worrying about the next upgrade, tweak, buying expensive ICs or NOS tube rolling.