As long as his gear is SS or a mix you will get a good idea knowing that your gear is slightly to the warmer side of neutral. As the North American distributor always preferred to show them with Blue Circle hybrid gear you combo of ARC and Pass should fit the bill. Since one of your current favorites is three times the cost of the other I would go listen and possibly keep a lot of money in my bank account. In audio cost is not always or many times a determination of quality or sound. Even used I paid a good bit more for the C7ES's than I did for the Bliss Jubilee's and after many hours of comparison the higher cost was not justified to me. Trust your ears and nobody elses.