Upscale Audio and Primaluna

I have the PrimaLuna EVO 400 and have never been happier.  I talked over several months with one of their sales reps and never felt pressured not did I find him overly critical of my current gear.  He even looked up the specs on on of my pieces and said “it was no slouch” and that I could test drive the PrimaLuna to make sure it was an upgrade (30 day return policy I believe).  All of his feedback was based on what I said I wanted to achieve to plug some gaps in what I was hearing.  
I have talked to two other reps there and never felt like I was pressured or steered to a product.  I’m fairly sure they are not on commission.  I recall watching a video of Kevin Deal saying he was hiring and that they pay a very competitive wage and the staff are not on commission.  
My experience has been great. 

During my research for an integrated tube amp I stumbled upon PrimaLuna and upscale’s videos, I have to admit they were very convincing and I liked the no bullshit approach. As I live in Switzerland I didn’t buy from upscale, but from a known speaker manufacturer who also distributes them here. I’m very happy with the EVO 400i. Although I have to admit it works better with >90db sensitive speakers which I’m testing right now. I get wide soundstage, beautiful separation even with big orchestras, punchy clear bass, amazing vocals and details. I can only compare it to my previous Rega Elex-R, which sounds also quite good, but it’s in a different league. 

For me it's a matter of approach.  "Goodness" is a relative concept and relative goodness can be expressed in two ways - by extolling one’s virtues or denigrating the virtues of others.  Given a choice between buying from a company that employs the former tactic vs. the latter I will always choose the former.  I remember watching an Upscale Audio video comparing the PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium preamp to an Audio Research LS17SE.  Much of the video was spent in running down the 17SE (it weighs less, it looks empty by comparison to the PL, etc.)  A company’s choice of the low road in the treatment of their competition will always cause me to question the road they would choose in dealing with their customers.

I demo’d the Primaluna tube DAC and it went back after a couple of days. Compared to the Chord Qutest (which I owned at the time) and the Denafrips Pontus, it is not as good. I was disappointed with the Primaluna and a lot of Kevin Deal’s videos are just for sales. Who cares if the Primaluna gear is heavy and packed full of bits and pieces, it’s the sound that is important and it wasn’t good to me.

I had nothing but good experience dealing with Kevin @ Upscale.

As far as PL goes, I own their DiaLogue Premium (EL34) power amp and it is one of the best in the business.  Drives my Maggies very well and the sound is to die for.