Does the Rogue Cronus Magnum III have any real competition in its same price point of $3k?

I've owned both a Rogue Cronus and a Raven Audio Blackhawk, though not at the same time. For me, the Raven is a much more musical, better built piece of gear and you get exceptional customer service from Raven (never had a reason to ask for help from Rogue.) At the time I owned the Cronus I also had an AES/Cary AE-25 amp and matching AE-3 preamp and it also sounded clearly better than the Cronus with the Merlin speakers I had at the time.

+1 Black Ice Fusion F-35.

Sfar:  So you were ok with the amp being 20wpc?? You didn't  miss anything compared to the Rogue?

@sfar 
It would be helpful to know the specs as far as sensitivity of the speakers you were driving with the Raven?

FWIW,  I replaced a 100wpc Rogue Sphinx with a 20wpc Raven Blackhawk, and the Blackhawk plays as loudly with the volume at 10-11 o'clock as the Rogue did.