Has anyone upgraded from an AudioTechnica ART9?

 Ortofon Winfield, and Benz LPS are better than the black at about that price.

@lewm we are not discussing the same thing I guess. I am not a vintage lover or anything. I have actually used modern stuff mostly in my system. The Garrard 301 is the only classic item I have. 

What I meant was, with all the limitations in the past they were able to make products that sounded like music. Many of them. Today the same McIntosh has nothing special to offer so they reissued the MC275 and still could not better it with all the great parts they have today. And 275 was not their best sounding amp anyway. Same with Marantz and Quad and others. The point is we have great parts today but the sum of the parts is not as great in many cases. Probably because it is all about voicing something to show in Munich and sell. After a couple of years its gone. Unlike the timeless classics we just discussed. A single guy makes a "me too" product dressed in a fancier chassis and sells for $$$, thats how we see most high ends today. In such a world the Shindos and Kondos are rare geniuses who know what they are doing. 

The best example is as you rightly pointed out, Pass Labs. On one hand we have firstwatt which sounds pure, clear and lively like real music and then we have the Pass Labs amps which sounds boring and lazy with a sameness in tonality no matter what you throw at it. Totally 2 different sounds. Why ? Is it so difficult to hear which one sounds more like real music ? Naa...the idea is to sell a big monoblock which can put out 1000 watts. After all it is price per watt! I am not saying all big amps sound bad but this is a typical case where it is a clear step backwards even with all the great parts resulting in great SNR, accuracy, resolution etc etc.

On the contrary it is quite opposite in the AV, Television and automotive industry. May be music is too niche and narrow to accomodate too many great minds.

I guess one can argue both pro and con on the comparison between "modern" and "vintage" gear, by one's selection of products to argue about.  Surely I would not disagree that there is some very expensive modern junk out there.  In vintage gear, the greatest values may be found in speakers, I think, such as the Quad 57 and KLH 9 ESLs, for two examples. Then there are the vintage direct drive turntables, which have come into vogue partly because there are so few modern direct drive turntables from which to choose, and the ones we do have are very expensive.  It's selective.  But I won't concede that the 1970s and 80s vintage Japanese amplifiers and phono stages have anything special to offer us in the here and now.  They're cool and collectible, but that's about it.
I have heard older Pass solid state amplifiers, and they are fine.  I have also heard First Watt amplifiers and like them as well, on efficient speakers.  But I would not have thought that the latest Pass amplifiers were as flawed as you say.  If so, that's too bad, because Mr Pass knows more about solid state circuits than most and can apparently do whatever he wants.

Pass experimental platform is First Watt and those amp for many years have been handmade by him only in very small quantities (100 units each). Then he start making more units of each. But each amp is unique in its design, each one is different. As he said in the interview they are tested and voiced on Tannoy. I adore his design, because i'm using crossoverless Zu Druid speakers (Nelson also own Zu and like them). But he made several FW amps not only for high efficient speakers. Anyway First Watt is like laboratory for unique design from the genius. People collect different First Watt amps. After an audition of First Watt amps no one can say anything bad about Solid State versus Tubes. Actually i think First Watt is superior to tube amps, but my experience with tube amps is limited. The price for any First Watt (except maybe SIT monoblocks) is so affordable, it's a clean winner. Highly recommended.   

In my opinion a highly valuable vintage gear is Cartridges, Reel to Reel machines, DD Turntables, Speakers, NOS tubes. 

P.S. Nelson has mentioned some extremely rare transistors made by Sony back in the day.    

Yes, Pass knows everything and thats the point. Very few people know their stuff and even they have reasons to create junk. Anyway, these days I am struggling to find a fine sounding tube phonostage for $5-6k. Something uncolored and true to the source. SS sounds too grey at that level.