Of course switching is a relevant factor, but the fact that Demians' finger prints all over this design is an indication that is an exceptional piece.
You cannot name one single engineer at Technics going back to 1980, that has designed high end components on the scale of the Spectral pieces designed by Demiam Martin. If that were the case, they would be way ahead of Accuphase, and that will never happen and wouldn't surprise me at all that Accuphase is exploring the Class D route. Facten, regarding my zeal for Belles, that was my last straw effort to stay in the
A/AB camp, but after experiencing my second hernia injury in recent months, and having surgery next week, I can no longer lift the heavy stuff. Wake up and smell the coffee and accept the fact that we are now in the 21st Century and the doors have already opened to NEW AGE AUDIO and this old A/AB technology is collecting dust. The ongoing perception in recent years that moving forward with Class D, lightweight designs is a venture we all look forward to, and Technics could've just as easily designed a lightweight Class D amp with GaN transistors with an excellent power supply as the Evolution One.
You would be better off buying Brunos' excellent Kaluga's also at $17K..
Technics makes outstanding direct drive turntables, but the fact that the companies engineers lack the ability to design a lightweight version of
SE-R1 tells me they missed the mark. The ping pong game continues...
Musicphile vs.Technophile.