Advantages of owning equipment from major audio brands vs. boutique shops?

I have found with boutique companies they are usually less costly 
and more flexible if I wanted upgraded capacitors , and other parts. Don Sachs preamplifiers is a good example of that .
my friend. Owns one and it is very good .
in digital I own a Lampizator dac and the only thing proprietary is the digital chips,and board layout,the rest my Vacuum tube tech friend did all my mods with just upgraded parts quality ,and a 5v rectifier transformer upgrade. I just bought the a New Jolida Now called Black Ice. audio  F35 F integrated amp.the F is for Fosgate designed. I consider Black Ice a boutique company with  excellent quality and service.BTW none are built in China !!

I guess most of my system would fall into "boutique" category, except speakers (and some other stuff I used to own) which are by far the most expensive pieces and are from a major brand. Now, which brands gave me most in terms of service, support, communication, upgrade path, etc?? The so called boutique ones! Mind you almost all the stuff I own are second hand items and out of warranty. When I had a problem with my mega brand speakers the support was laughable, I ended up having a local guy, not affiliated with the brand at all do the repairs because the obstacles the major brand presented, was not worth it. Also it was quite a bit less expensive (although not easy) to acquire those boutique items than what I'd consider major audio brands. Boutique doesn't automatically translate to expensive, just less known. For example Wilson Audio is absolutely not a boutique brand to me at all but sure one of the most expensive ones (I'm sure their support is great btw). So a lot depends on your definition of the word.

Sophia Electric is also a boutique brand of electronics that gives great value, great support for their products after purchase and they have been around for decades.

Best of all is the ultimate boutique: DIY. No more trying to shoe-horn big caps into little boxes. Etc.

I have purchased products from Modwright and Linear Tube Audio and both companies have outstanding service before, during and after sales. These folks are not just in it for a buck like so many large companies. These small boutique companies are run by music lovers and audiophiles like me.